Portal to my Portolio

Ah, writing consulting. You are so visible throughout our lives that some take you for granted. Instilled in our lives since the day we put pencil to paper and wrote our first essays, you have shrouded us like the very clothes we wear. However, you are so ingrained in our academic lives that only a small minority of students ever attempt to improve upon their consulting skills. I used to be that same way. Every English class was just another chance for me to point out obvious grammatical mistakes in students’ essays. However, like Neo in “The Matrix”, I have been exposed to the real world. While most everyone in America has consulted a writer (most likely in school), it is something that takes skill and knowledge. At SLU, it involves 25 pages of rules and regulations (http://rhetoriccenter.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/staff-handbook.doc). Thankfully for me, as of my freshman year it also involves a class specifically designed to train someone in writing consulting. Thus far in the semester, I have mainly been searching for a better understanding of a writing center, rather than trying to be a good consultant.
As a practice, I knew barely any facts of the Writing Center. Whatever the basic information consisted of, I knew less than that. Accordingly, my first Writing Center visit was a fact-finding expedition (http://rhetoriccenter.wordpress.com/2010/01/18/a-journey-toward-the-unexpected-chris-l/). To be an effective writing consultant, I need to know the basics. Knowledge of said basics then allowed me a more insightful view into how the consultants operate. I noticed one client continually trying to coax the consultant into revealing her essay’s problems. Another visit, which I was quite appreciative of, showed how consultants assist ESL students (A future practice blog topic, of course). In that situation, patience is definitely a virtue. My exposure to the ESL consultation proved that it takes more than knowledge of writing to be of assistance; it takes patience and good communication skills.
Our readings have helped my understanding of writing centers as well as writing consulting, if I may separate them into separate entities. Reading about North, Bruffee, cognitive psychology, social constructionists, process theory and post-process theory’s problem with process theory truly showed me that the Writing Center is more than a place where someone looks at your writing. It is a place where new pedagogical thoughts are tested. That being said, the different pedagogies associated with writing centers surprised me. As mentioned, my first thoughts of the Writing Center were of a place where someone helped you with your writing. I didn’t have a clue that someone identifying with Peter Elbow and the Expressionist movement would most likely assist me by trying to bring out the feelings in my heart, nor did I understand that a social constructionist would want to hold discussions in order for societal contact to reveal my best writing. And I was definitely not aware that some academics today take issue with process theory, which is only the way almost every student is taught since they learn to write essays. However, I was hardly surprised that some students were unaware of how the writing centers operate, since I wasn’t too knowledgeable either. The professors’ misunderstanding of the writing center’s goals is what really shocked me. If I pursue writing consulting or use it in my classroom as a teacher, I could teach them that there is more to revising an essay than just grammar.
This first month has shown me there is so much to learn about a topic of which I had no familiarity. As such, I have been trying to learn about and study writing consulting, instead of trying to be a consultant. I feel that learning the overall goals of a writing center is important to a greater understanding of being a consultant. In the coming months I will get a feel for the consulting, but for now I just want to learn as much I can.