Let's talk about goals

Before I had a chance to talk about them, I have already had several goals in mind prior to working at the writing center. Now that the Fall semester is coming to a close, it's time to look back at them: which goals have I achieved and which could still use more work in reaching that goal by the time Spring semester is over.

I'm very thankful for having the privilege to work at the writing center and for it to be my first ever job that actually feels like a job. A laid-back one, but still a job. The readings we were assigned to look over before conferences really made me think what it is I wanted to get out of my time at the writing center as well as changing my view of what a peer tutor is expected to do. Peer tutoring will always pose a challenge and I did have doubts about my abilities. Now I feel more comfortable with what I do to help writers who come see me and it's all thanks to those readings!

tl;dr one of my goals was to make sure writers feel comfortable in their writing without me silencing them in their papers.

It's a broad kind of goal, but it works for me. I knew exactly what I wanted from proposing this goal and I could safely say that I've done a good job at it. I still get some of the same people I've worked with before want to come and see me again specifically, so, that's a good sign, right?

Another goal that I don't think I've quite reached to its potential is to become a better writer myself. Granted, I did learn a few things while working here (how to do conclusions without paraphrasing everything you've already said earlier is one that comes to mind!) but there's still so much more. I want to feel more comfortable in sharing my own writing to other tutors and to do that I need to be more vocal about it. It is nice to see people comment on my posts here, so that's a start!

For someone who didn't have any experience on what a staff tutor is expected to do earlier on this semester, I'd say I'm doing fairly well; better than what I had feared. This kind of thing comes naturally after all.