Mothering at the WC

So---last week I wrote about how my past life as a hair-stylist and having to read what people really want when they can't express it correctly. This week I have discovered that my 'now' life as a mother for the past 20 years (OMG...my daughter is almost 20!!! Freaking out!!! No more three teenagers. I have 2 teenagers and an adult child. That makes me sound AND feel even older!) will also carry over to my work at the WC.

I got to sit in on a session with Phil where a young Hispanic girl was needing to increase her paper for Rick's class to be at least 5 pages. I could tell that the 2 1/2 pages that she had already written had been more then enough for her. The thought of adding more was frightening to her. She just kept saying how she hated writing. As I learned yesterday in class, it is more that she fears writing, not hates it.

Phil did a great job helping her narrow down where she could expand in her paper. There were times I could tell she wasn't understanding all that he was saying, the whole blank-look-on-the-face-thing that someone sitting across the table has a better view of. The mother in me was concerned that she wasn't writing down any of what Phil was suggesting (and now I know it is good to encourage them to do so...scoot the paper and pencil in front of them as Melissa said). But the approach and progression of Phil's session was good to see. The mechanics are there. What I got to add was the personal touch.

Phil asked if I had anything to add, which I thought was awesome! I held back though, not wanting to over do it my first session (I will wait until my third) and addressed her hate of writing. This is when she talked about going to school being bi-lingual and not being able to written in English as well because she thought mostly in Spanish. I asked her to think of something that she liked about writing, or at least something that she could see being positive about writing. She thought about it and said that getting her ideas across correctly would be good. YEA!

It might be because of teaching my kids are home and having a personal touch that draws me to this internship/job at the WC. I can see that probably the majority of our clients will be those students who 'hate writing' or feel that they could never be good at it. More then just grammar help, idea prompting, and general organization, these kids are going to need encouragement. I hope to be able to sense when that is needed and give it in the way that each individual can benefit from the most. The mother in me, which takes up at least 90% of who I am, should be able to tell how much and how far to go. Who is resistant, and who is searching. If even clients leave knowing they can correct their grammar and put their paragraphs in a more efficient order, then that is awesome. But if even one student leaves feeling better about how they write and not 'hating' writing, then I will be one happy mamma!

One boy came into the WC just to see where it was (he was being lead by his 101 teacher) and said that he would have to use the WC for at least this class, because after that he wasn't going to be writing much! It was so hard to just not bust out laughing! Poor kid. Will be seeing him allot over the next few years. That is, if he stays. It makes me wonder how many kids drop out of college because it was allot more writing then they thought it was going to be. Shouldn't the high school counselors and teachers be warning kids that college IS writing? No matter what major they settle on. I have even heard people in the past saying they chose a certain major because it didn't involve any writing. Come on people! Life is writing! You can't go through life without having to get your ideas across on paper, or computer, or even phone. The better you can get your ideas across, the more people are going to be impressed and consider your ideas. And then you can reap the benefits.