What I Wish I'd Known
Ah, the end of another semester. It is my favorite time of the school year, dead week. All my classes are finished up, except for a take home final in my contemporary American literature class, which should be a breeze. I turned in the bibliographic essay, and now life is easy again. A month off to snowboard everyday, and then I will be back at it again.
So, I made through my first semester tutoring at the Writing Center. Does that make me a veteran? I at least think I should get a t-shirt saying I survived. The question of what I whished I knew when I began. A lot more is what I would answer to that question. Let us see, I am sure that most everyone in the class, excluding Joel who started his paper a month before it was due, will agree that starting of the bibliographic essay much earlier would have been very beneficial. I would have had a much less stressful Thanksgiving weekend if I had started a month ago. It was not the actual writing of the paper that was the most stressful; it was just the fact that I had to write it. It was in the back of my mind all break. Wherever I went that bib essay followed me around. Once I got that paper done I could breath again.
Another thing I whished I had known at the beginning of the semester is how work intensive the class was. I am not complaining about the workload. I finished everything, and I am glad there was so much writing in the class. I have become a much better writer because of the class. I just whished I had known how much of my time the class would take so I could schedule ahead. I was always last minute writing a reading response.
The thing I most wish I had known at the begging of the semester is to have a perfect knowledge of English. I wish my grammar had been perfect then. I wish I could go back and get my hands on every style and grammar book out there and read like a mad man to perfect my grammar. I would study those grammar and style books so hard they would refer to me as the grammar king. Just kidding! The real thing that I wish I had known is that I do not have to have perfect grammar. My grammar is still far from perfect, and no one will ever find me furiously reading a manual. I learned a lot of principles in class and just by tutoring. Another reason to not worry about an absolute perfection of grammar is because there are lots of other tutors in the room to answer grammatical questions, and if none of the tutors can figure it out there is a book in here somewhere with the answer. If all else fails, Google it. Basically, do not worry about not knowing the answer to a tutee’s question. It is ok to ask for help.
I’m out. Peace!
So, I made through my first semester tutoring at the Writing Center. Does that make me a veteran? I at least think I should get a t-shirt saying I survived. The question of what I whished I knew when I began. A lot more is what I would answer to that question. Let us see, I am sure that most everyone in the class, excluding Joel who started his paper a month before it was due, will agree that starting of the bibliographic essay much earlier would have been very beneficial. I would have had a much less stressful Thanksgiving weekend if I had started a month ago. It was not the actual writing of the paper that was the most stressful; it was just the fact that I had to write it. It was in the back of my mind all break. Wherever I went that bib essay followed me around. Once I got that paper done I could breath again.
Another thing I whished I had known at the beginning of the semester is how work intensive the class was. I am not complaining about the workload. I finished everything, and I am glad there was so much writing in the class. I have become a much better writer because of the class. I just whished I had known how much of my time the class would take so I could schedule ahead. I was always last minute writing a reading response.
The thing I most wish I had known at the begging of the semester is to have a perfect knowledge of English. I wish my grammar had been perfect then. I wish I could go back and get my hands on every style and grammar book out there and read like a mad man to perfect my grammar. I would study those grammar and style books so hard they would refer to me as the grammar king. Just kidding! The real thing that I wish I had known is that I do not have to have perfect grammar. My grammar is still far from perfect, and no one will ever find me furiously reading a manual. I learned a lot of principles in class and just by tutoring. Another reason to not worry about an absolute perfection of grammar is because there are lots of other tutors in the room to answer grammatical questions, and if none of the tutors can figure it out there is a book in here somewhere with the answer. If all else fails, Google it. Basically, do not worry about not knowing the answer to a tutee’s question. It is ok to ask for help.
I’m out. Peace!
posted by Eric at 11:43 AM
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