Consultant Shadowing (Day 3)

After I shadowed yesterday in the writing center, I could have sworn that the consultation I observed was staged; the consultant did everything we have been talking about recently, as if it had been choreographed lol. After a nice hello and a friendly introduction, the consultant (let's call her Mary) asked to see the assignment sheet so that they could work through it together. After reading it aloud she gave the writer a chance to explain what she felt the prompt was asking for, and then used her response as a starting ground for a conversation about the paper. Even as they worked through the essay piece by piece, Mary always managed to maintain a very conversation-like tone. This is something we talked a lot about earlier in the Semester, because it helps to foster open dialogue between the writer and the consultant. Mary also cited personal experiences of hers that related to the topics as they discussed them, this added to the atmosphere of open dialogue and also encouraged the writer that such mistakes and struggles were common, even for a writing consultant. Lastly, after answering all the writer's questions and easing her concerns, Mary told the writer that even though the center was booked for the next few days before the paper was due, that she would be happy to meet with her at the writer's convenience to go over the paper one final time. I found this very encouraging, that even during midterm week, she was willing to go out of her way to help the writer.