A Sea Journey
I guess the best way for me to describe my writing center experiences are through the metaphor “a sea journey.” Though I have been trained in the “art” of tutoring and given suggestions on how to conduct my tutoring, in the long run, there really is no How-To. Quite like being on a sea journey, one must be versed in the knowledge and experience that has passed before him, but ultimately determine the best path he is to follow. It is an individual experience, an experience that can only be learned during the process. While it is important to recognize the success that has come before and the methodologies that fostered this success, we, as tutors, are inevitably left to find our own voice in tutoring.
A blend of both creativity and critical scholarship, we must approach writing as a discipline of multiple facets. Writing is an expression of culture, something I have come more to recognize as the year progresses. While it is not necessarily an assertion derived at through tutoring, the recognition of culture and writing can be perceived in others’, and my own, papers. All of this can bleed directly into my metaphor. Within an expedition, especially one into the unknown, we are not blind at commencement, but are driven to stray from our original direction: external forces, internal changes, obscure challenges, all of which determine the course of a journey, and all of which are unpredictable. I like the notion of the sea as metaphor because it implies an undeniable, and, though often unwanted, inevitable influence. At sea, we must succumb to the nature of the sea; we cannot change it, but must work with it, work through it to arrive successful. This is essentially the mode of thought that I feel directly correlates with both writing and writing center tutoring. It is a mode of thought that pervades my responses and reflections, and one I feel best presents my process as a tutor in the writing center. Not to mention that I admire the ancient explorers who set sail into the unknown with little more than the knowledge of how to handle the boat. We may all be prepared for the things we are to encounter, though nothing can supplement personal experience, and it is ultimately personal experience that dictates the path we carve for our lives.
A blend of both creativity and critical scholarship, we must approach writing as a discipline of multiple facets. Writing is an expression of culture, something I have come more to recognize as the year progresses. While it is not necessarily an assertion derived at through tutoring, the recognition of culture and writing can be perceived in others’, and my own, papers. All of this can bleed directly into my metaphor. Within an expedition, especially one into the unknown, we are not blind at commencement, but are driven to stray from our original direction: external forces, internal changes, obscure challenges, all of which determine the course of a journey, and all of which are unpredictable. I like the notion of the sea as metaphor because it implies an undeniable, and, though often unwanted, inevitable influence. At sea, we must succumb to the nature of the sea; we cannot change it, but must work with it, work through it to arrive successful. This is essentially the mode of thought that I feel directly correlates with both writing and writing center tutoring. It is a mode of thought that pervades my responses and reflections, and one I feel best presents my process as a tutor in the writing center. Not to mention that I admire the ancient explorers who set sail into the unknown with little more than the knowledge of how to handle the boat. We may all be prepared for the things we are to encounter, though nothing can supplement personal experience, and it is ultimately personal experience that dictates the path we carve for our lives.
posted by Gordon C. Sauer III | 7:26 AM
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