"Is it secret? Is it safe?" a.k.a. Blog Post #10
Ok... that was a Lord of the Rings quote too... but it has to do with Writing Center... I promise. In order for the Writing Center to function correctly, a lot of different things have to happen. People have to sign up for appointments, consultants have to come to work... they have to know what they are doing etc... but one aspect of the WC that might get overlooked is who the space feels. What I mean by that is, is a friendly environment, is comfortable, is a good space to work in, etc. Again a lot of different things come together for that to happen, but one in particular is on my mind. Often after a session a consultant will walk, maybe ten feet to a table and debrief with someone about a session, and that can happen in a lot of ways. They may have had a bad session and perhaps need to vent(see previous post)... or something of that nature. But one thing that consultants need to keep in mind is that other people are in the WC and they can hear just as well as you and I. Now I am just as guilty as anyone else when it comes to speaking my mind a little to freely in the WC, but I think it needs to stop. If we want people to have a positive experience when they come, then we need to be careful about what we say and do. We do not want clients to feel judge or uncomfortable when they come the WC, so we need to find outlets to talk about sessions. One place for that happen, could be the blog, or have a section in the staff wiki... but one place where it shouldn't happen is in the WC itself.
As Primary Consultant #4
Last time I talked about a bad session, so I thought it would be fun to recall a session that was one the better ones that I recently. I think this session sums up part of what we try to do in the WC. So this session was a brainstorming session... one of my totes faves. These sessions usually start pretty slow, as I am trying to figure out what the assignment is about and the client usually has some kind of writers block. So in this particular session, I asked tons and tons of questions, about everything... how they liked the class, or what was interesting about, how did you like the book you had to read... what about the assignment makes sense to you... what do you know about the subject.... These kinds of questions really helped my client get to think about here paper in a lot of different ways. From there we ended up coming up with a general thesis and the start of an outline. She even said, you asking all these questions helped me understand the assignment more! So I was pretty pleased with assignment all together.
Satellite Observation #2... The Library
Now Im going to speak in generalities, mainly because I have worked a lot of hours at the WC in the library. The library in my mind is hectic... mainly because of the 30 min. appointments in my opinion, but more than that there is just a sense of urgency in the library at all times. The tone of the clients is that the paper is usually due in less than 24 hours, making the suggestions you make all the more important, or so they seem. It is not uncommon for someone to be a little late, and when you are usually working with 30 min appoints, that is time that sorely missed. The fact that there is no copy machine also makes it difficult to be less directive. The reason I say that is because I usually need to read it myself in order to understand what is being written, which means a lot of the actual paper is in front me. Now, there is still a lot of good being done in this location, the pace just feels quickened... also there is no coffee.
Well team... Almost there...
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