Benefits of working in a writing center--what are you learning?

I signed up to work in the writing center because I personally felt like I needed a lot of practice giving feedback on other people's writing, especially when I felt like it was already "good." In a few classes last semester, I felt almost inadequate to give people suggestions on their papers, and I felt like just saying "it's real good." I knew better than that though, and I really felt like I was not a "good enough" writer to give other writers at a college level suggestions on their work.

I have taken some Boise State Writing Project courses over this past summer, and this really helped my anxiety with feedback with peers. I was working with people who already had bachelor's degrees and that were using them in the real world, teaching. At first I was a little anxious to share with "real teachers," because they had more writing experience than what I had. This anxiety didn't last long because they treated me just like they treated the others, the "real teachers." which gave me more respect for them and also formed some friendships.

After taking those classes, I felt more prepared to work in the center. There was still one thing that haunted me: ELL students. (dun-dunn-daa...) My second consultation was with an ELL student who spoke Indonesian (perhaps?) as their first language. I was intimidated. We have a lot of ELL students come into BSU's center, and I've learned a few things about them that I really never had considered before. I know that ELL students are usually quite fluent writers, at least in their first language, and they usually need a little help with their verb tenses and grammatical structures.

I've also learned that by asking them to tell me a little information about themselves, it really helps understand where they have come from culturally. Interestingly enough, I've actually been able to ask them questions about their culture that I've been dying to know! I like working with ELL students because they have a lot of interesting perspectives and cultural differences to learn from.

In fact, I'm considering getting an ELL Master's degree when that time comes. (But this is one idea among about ten....)