In high school, I found myself wading through competition that I felt was mostly needless (at least for my mentality as a 17-year-old in the middle of considering applying to a trade school or applying to colleges). I found myself working alone on papers, projects, and dreadful college applications. Looking back, I still believe my high school was one of the most competitive environments I have ever been in and also one of the most isolated.
During my time there, I felt pressured to join clubs and activities for the sake of standing out amongst the competition. Now, I was definitely a tech theatre kid, but aside from that, there was no debate club or model UN that could get me out of my shell for the sake of a nicer college application.
At the same time that we were being encouraged to seek out these activities, our teachers rarely encouraged group projects, and never encouraged us to foster collaboration with our peers, even in such a highly social environment, which now I view as another roadblock to having made the most of my early education. But either way, in all four years of high school, peer-to-peer work, outside of poorly managed group projects which felt stilted and unconnected, was rare.
I found that this trend continued in college, but without some of the same pressure I felt in high school. This is not to deny the stress and competition that exists in any academic space. However, in college, things shifted, and I discovered a new way of thinking about my work and interacting with my peers.
Collaboration at the Writing Center
At the Writing Center, there is no way to not learn from those around you. Here I have found a group of people truly invested in helping each other and a group of people who have skills and specialties that are unique and complex. We aren’t all English majors, a fact that surprised my family when I told them I had gotten this job, and even if we all were, our various approaches to tutoring, and the way each tutor works to provide meaningful and positive collaboration with our peers, would still be one of my favorite things about working here.
One of our core values here is collaboration, which is the one I feel aligns most with what I value in learning and how I want to approach both my work and the interactions I have with my peers. Since beginning to work at the Writing Center, I have genuinely rethought my approach and thoughts on working collaboratively with my peers. Most surprisingly, I have felt that my skills in active listening and brainstorming with others have been useful in other areas of my life, from the classroom to my personal relationships.
The Value of Collaboration and Curiosity
Now, as a student at DePaul, I am among those who still are not fond of group projects, or relying on the participation of others for graded work. But I have developed a different mentality toward collaboration now, which I credit to having started working at the Writing Center.
At the university level, you find people of all different skill sets and backgrounds, many of which people may not be exposed to in a high school environment. I recall here, a recent appointment in which I worked with a professor on a conference proposal, and the appointments in which I work with those obtaining higher degrees than the one I am working toward now. Getting the chance to learn and help others learn in such a direct way has flowed over to other aspects of my life, which I carry with me every day.
While in the Writing Center, there may be the assumption of a power difference between peer and tutor, I find it helpful to emphasize, both in appointments, and outside of my work at the Writing Center, that working together with people, and learning from each other, is not about who holds which position, and does not have to be a stilted or tense process. Collaboration, in my mind, is essential to growth in any academic setting (and really, anywhere in which a learning opportunity exists) and can be done between any amount of individuals or on a one-to-one basis, regardless of age, position, etc.
Working at the Writing Center has inherently shifted my perspective, away from being fearful of looking uneducated or behind or seeming out of the loop. I feel that natural curiosity is required to approach tutoring, which working here has fostered in me and has changed the way I interact with peers and friends while working on projects or helping each other plan out how to get assignments done. It has reinvigorated a natural curiosity for life and learning, which is vital to me and to learning.
Now, I feel more prepared to show up in group settings and allow myself to voice thoughts and ask questions. Working with my peers at the Writing Center, helping writers with all kinds of assignments, and learning from writers who make appointments with me, have been essential to expanding my views on collaboration.
Ultimately, working at the Writing Center and getting to find a love for collaboration, which already aligned with my personal beliefs on education and learning, reinvigorated an appreciation for what my high school education failed to provide. Spaces in which peers can learn from one another are spaces of immense growth and from my experience, being a peer writing tutor has taught me the amount of knowledge that people carry with them is something to cherish, and sharing our knowledge and skills in a collaborative environment should be encouraged.