Writing Fellow Journal #1

David Colon

Professor Miller

Writing Fellows

9/7/18

The most important thing that stuck out to me from chapters 2 and 3 was Gillespie and Lerner’s idea of establishing a relationship between tutor and student: “You’re also building a relationship with the writer, and you want him to feel comfortable about coming back to you with this or other writing projects” (44). Writing is a process where one becomes completely exposed. Every paragraph, sentence, and word is the result of an idea or belief that the writer is trying to get across. Sharing one’s thoughts may elicit feelings of vulnerability and may make the writer hesitant on either sharing or explaining their work. By establishing a relationship between tutor and student, that wall of vulnerability may fade as the student becomes more comfortable with having their work read by a peer who values what they have to say. As a tutor, you want to establish a relationship where the writer feels heard. By fostering this environment, the writer will feel comfortable to expand upon their ideas, explaining why they made stylistic choices within their paper.

The idea of establishing this relationship is something that I want to pass upon to my fellow Fellows because I believe the text only briefly mentions the significance of this tutoring technique. As Gillespie and Lerner state, the ideal tutoring session “…would look like two peers having a conversation about writing, where each is equally likely to ask a question, move the conversation forward or point out his or her confusion as a reader” (37). To create that conversation, the writer has to feel confident enough to share their work. As tutors, we need to attempt to validate and positively reinforce students as much as we can. By complementing students on what we liked about the paper, there is a greater chance that the session will become more genuine; more like a conversation between two individuals.

Striving to have a genuine session between tutor and student will help address both higher-order and later-order concerns. If there exists an environment in which conversation occurs, the tutor will be able to ask more questions that challenge choices made by the writer. There, the tutor can make sure that the ideas within the paper flow and to make sure that the paper makes sense. One of our goals as tutors is to establish and explain techniques that will assist the writer with their current and with their future writing assignments . The only way to effectively explain these techniques is to establish that relationship. When both parties are genuine, when they talk about one’s work through an open conversation, then and only then will ideas flourish due to the fact that the student becomes more comfortable. After establishing that connection, one can tackle the intricacies within the writer’s paper.