Fears? More like Reoccuring Nightmares

So I've been trying to visualize my first tutoring session: thst student walks into the writing center with backpack slung over one shoulder and a host of worries clearly read in his face. He sees me, walks toward me with that steadiness that people show when they've found someone they think will understand their challenges, and says something quite simple but yet profound in its rammifications.

"Hi, do you think you could help me?"

What do I say? Of course my first impulse is to say, "yes, of course, Welcome!" But under my not so deep subconcious is the thought of whether I'm qualified to help this student with anything. That would probably be my number one fear: to have all the desire in the world to help people with their writing, but yet lacking the skills to do so effectively.

Throughout my educational past students have asked me to look over their writing. I've always enjoyed that very much in large part because it shows such a large amount of trust, on my fellow student's part, to ask me to look over their pieces. It was that trust that motivated me to check out the writing tutor job listing initially, and now that I know so many of my coworkers I feel like a part of a team: a force for good.

With those good things in mind I suppose that fear will subside with practice (fingers crossed!), but what can I do to make sure that the first experience with tutoring on Tuesday will be better than the reoccuring nightmares I'm having more often all the time? I'd really love to be able to say to that dream student with confidence, "That's why I'm here!"

OK

Well. Some of you have already figured out how to make a post and get it published to the blog. And if you've checked the blog in the past day or so, you'll see that we've already been spammed by people selling debt-consolidation services. Ah well. Those comments have been deleted. I'll do my best to stay on top of the spam, but please, if we get any offensive spam here, let me know.

Now. On to business.

We're done with our first week of classes and we have the long weekend ahead of us, which means that you should all have plenty of time to compose a post. Here, then, is your assignment:

1) I'd like to see you write a post about what kinds of fears/worries you have with regard to tutoring in the Writing Center. You've all gotten a sense, now, of what kinds of essays you'll be dealing with.

2) I'd like to see you leave a comment on someone's post.

So there you go. One post, one comment.

Have a goods weekend, everyone.

Ready, Set, Go!

Hi. This is my first time "blogging" and it's kinda fun. I hope I'm doing it right. It's always a little risky to do something new. But have you considered the creative possiblities involved when bloggers blog? We can share images and color our text. And who knows what else we will discover. Okay, probably not that much because the blog isn't Photoshop or anything... "the blog" sounds like a horror movie..hmm.
Okay, I'm good for now. Thanks for your time in reading my blogget. Have a nice day!

Hello everyone!

Hi everybody this is Kelley! I hope I did this right...am I supposed to put this up with the Writing Center's blog? Or create my own? I'm pretty sure it's the latter...Anyways, other than doing Math homework I prefer the sound of my own typing, which has much more joy and less stress. As of now I am a super Sophmore who is a 19 year old English major. My favorite color is sky blue, favorite food is anything with pasta and mushrooms. My favorite music is the oldies from the sixties (a fetish only my father and I share) such as The Beatles, Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkle, Mamas and the Papas, etc. What the heck, I enjoy all music in any shape or form, it doesn't matter what decade. Movies...I'm pretty much an old soul where movies are concerned, such as actual black and white ones, but I'm open to everything except Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan stuff that they slop around nowadays. Not a fan.I also love books very much. I don't get a lot of chances to read, but when I do it's usually classics. Everything from Victor Hugo to Ray Bradbury to Jane Austen. Yeah! This is all for now.

Welcome!

Welcome to the English 3840 class blog, which we will discuss very early in the class. This is where you will be maintaining your online "journal"--as opposed to simply keeping a paper journal. The idea here is that the information you post will be publicly available to both your classmates and the rest of the world. In addition, you may leave comments on any posts here, which means you can ask questions or add information if you think something is worth discussion.

Before you can add content to this blog, I'll need to make you a "member" of this community. All you need to do is send me an email. I will then send you an invitation to join the class blog. The invitation will contain instructions for how to get yourself set up on blogger.com (it's stunningly easy).

We'll talk in more detail about this in class, but for now, send me an email (from an account that you actually check and we'll get you set up.