This semester as a writing tutor I became more aware of<\/span>\u00a0the need to come to each session prepared and willing to meet students\u2019 individual needs. Early in the semester, I recognized a lack of adaptability in myself and<\/span>\u00a0consistent utilization of\u00a0<\/span>learnin<\/span>g styles and tools that would be ideal for my\u00a0<\/span>growth, but not necessarily for that of the student on the other side of the screen. I found that this\u00a0<\/span>cookie-cutter<\/span>\u00a0approach to tutoring does not cultivate encouragement or growth in the students that co<\/span>me to the Writing Center. Throughout the semester I was able to recognize a need for starting fresh with every session\u00a0<\/span>to\u00a0<\/span>empower tutees in their learning.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For example, I had the opportunity to tutor some students with dyslexia. These sess<\/span>ions were valuable for my learning and also made me respect these individual students<\/span>\u00a0and all students who have various learning challenges. These students exhibited patience for themselves and they were resilient with their work and learning. I needed to<\/span>\u00a0come to these sessions open-minded and ready to tailor my tutoring approach to their needs as individuals by \u201cinvolving the writer in the decision-making process\u201d (<\/span>Dembsey<\/span>\u00a08). As opposed to utilizing learning interventions that targeted dyslexia specifica<\/span>lly, I identified personal needs and priorities in sessions because individuals with the same diagnosis will not present with the same challenges. Unfortunately, \u201cmany writing centers have chosen to identify impairments and then tailor practices based on t<\/span>he impairment\u201d (2) which decreases accessibility and does not meet the diverse needs of individuals. Each of these tutees had their<\/span>\u00a0needs that I determine at the beginning of the session\u00a0<\/span>to guide their learning and provide encouragement. One s<\/span>tudent struggled with spelling, while another had a hard time following along as I read. For each, I adapted my tutoring approach to increase their understanding.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A need for adaptability also presented itself with students in various academic faculties an<\/span>d with ESL students. For some, the pace of our session needed to be slower. Other students required more examples to understand the issue at hand. Each student also came with their<\/span>\u00a0insecurities and fears.\u00a0<\/span>During<\/span>\u00a0th<\/span>is<\/span>\u00a0semester I became more a<\/span>ware of my tutees\u2019 needs for encouragement during this time. Many expressed\u00a0<\/span>discouragement<\/span>\u00a0surrounding the Covid-19 Pandemic and online classes. Some students had very little confidence in their\u00a0<\/span>work or in their ideas. In these brief sessions<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0I needed\u00a0<\/span>to identify how I could best support them. This was just one of the many lessons that I learned during the Spring 2021 semester as a writing tutor. In the future<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0I hope to develop new learning strategies to encourage my tutees and strengthen their writing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n References<\/strong><\/p>\n Dempsey, J. M. \u201cNaming Ableism in the Writing Center.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>Praxis: A Writing Center Journal,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>vol. 18, no. 1, 2020, pp. 1-12.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/repositories.lib.utexas.edu\/han<\/span>dle\/2152\/84343<\/span>. Accessed 20 April 2021.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rebecca’s Reflection Rebecca Tamblyn April 25, 2021 This semester as a writing tutor I became more aware of\u00a0the need to come to each session prepared and willing to meet students\u2019 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":5904,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[214,109],"class_list":["post-5485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reflection","tag-reflection-rebecca_tamblyn","tag-spring-2021"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pad6JM-1qt","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5485"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7106,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5485\/revisions\/7106"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}