Almost There

It was nerve wrecking and a little strange, but what could I really do if the writer had a great handle on her assignment and it was well-written.  Today was my first lead on a tutorial and I think I handled it fairly well.

The appointment was a half-hour time slot and the writer had not designated anything she wanted to discuss when making the appointment.  Needless to say, the suspense was killing me.  I have been at the Writing Center for about four weeks now and I was excited today to start off with a blog writers meeting and the idea that today I could finally be shadowed.  Luckily for me, a tutor was willing to allow me to take the lead on the appointment and the writer was as well.

The feeling of now being the person asking questions was a bit odd at first.  The most important thing that I realized now being in the lead versus what I observed when shadowing was quick adaptability.  Now that I was the reader the writer was depending on for feedback and discussion, I had to be more aware of taking in the assignment and the article and then getting her active in summarizing the response she had written.  Admittedly, I was a bit frazzled and felt I was not giving enough feedback to the writer after she read out loud.

As it turned out though, she had a really good grip of the assignment and had written a great response for it.  It was during that tutorial that I really learned the importance of staying on top of everything, adapting to the events as they unfold (even if they mean the writer is just really good) and reassuring the writer that she had skills.  I suppose that’s really the most helpful thing a tutor can tell a writer – that he or she is doing well as a writer.