As we wrap up our third consecutive quarter of remote operations, I’m sure many of us are counting down the days until we can get back to some semblance of normalcy––not just at work, but in our daily lives as well. As we all know, working with writers is an inherently collaborative process, and so many of the joys of working as a peer-writing tutor come from the personal connections we get to build with our writers and with one another.
While technology has fortunately allowed us to continue on with our work, its limited capacity for recreating the spaces in which those personal connections once thrived is something which we’ve all had to deal with throughout this time. While many of us may have the desire to maintain those connections and stay active in our communities, work-related or otherwise, we may have also discovered that there are limits to how much digital interaction we’re able to handle in a given day. As we make our way into what will hopefully be the last quarter of this less-than-ideal situation, I thought it would be worth taking some time to reflect on what this period has taught me personally and to think openly about how all of us might be able to carry those lessons into the future.
Searching for Connections
For one thing, the common struggle of online learning shared by all of us as students has led me to connect with writers in deeper ways than I might have otherwise. Rapport building has become an even more important part of my appointment agenda as more writers it seems are eager just for the opportunity to connect with another person. Many of the writers I’ve met in my appointments have been vocal about the unique challenges they’re facing in an online curriculum and have needed the space in their appointments to vent about those challenges and to share their feelings.
This has been an eye-opening experience for me because it’s reaffirmed the importance of the role we serve within the DePaul community and has highlighted the importance of always foregrounding the writer’s individual needs in the appointment, whatever those may be. Many writers––and perhaps many UCWbL staff members as well––have been living by themselves throughout the entire course of the pandemic, and so for many of them, human contact of any kind is especially precious.
While we certainly are responsible for keeping our appointments on track and making sure that the time is productive for the writer, I think it’s also important to balance the writer’s personal needs alongside those priorities whenever they express that desire. To the extent that we are comfortable doing so, I believe it is helpful for us to show our writers some vulnerability in our appointments and to remind them that we are experiencing many of the same struggles they are.
Those gestures, no matter how brief or subtle they might be, can do so much to affirm and validate a writer’s feelings. Showing that vulnerability can help us to build more authentic connections with our writers, which in turn helps us to create safer spaces within which we can more effectively collaborate. While nothing about that is particularly new, it’s taken on a heightened level of importance for me in my tutoring.
Staying on Top of Mental Health
At the same time, our own mental health is something to be aware of as we navigate this situation. I’ve missed getting to experience our vibrant work community, and while there are plenty of opportunities for us to connect virtually, I sometimes find it difficult to follow up on those opportunities because too much virtual interaction can quickly become pretty exhausting for me.
During regular times, the things that make me feel connected to our community tend to be small and subtle. There’s something warm and unifying to me in the simple day-to-day interactions we get to have with one another in the office––whether it’s simple greetings to others as they pass by, conversations in between appointments, or just checking in with others to see how they’re doing. It’s little things like these which, for me, make the UCWbL feel like the warm, inviting place that it is. If this time has taught me anything, it’s taught me not to take those things for granted.
Moving Forward
As tutors, as students, and as people, I think there is so much that we can take from this experience to help us grow. Whatever that might mean for you all in your own lives, I hope that we can come out of this situation better in some way than we were before.