By: Elizabeth Grissom

Tutoring in the AHS writing center has helped me understand other students and their struggles with writing. I’ve noticed students often don’t understand instruction from the teacher or do not have enough experience in writing to be confident enough to even start their paper. The frustration from the students is hard because I want to help them understand and enjoy being able to write cohesively. Yet the reward for helping them get through their frustrations is worth the hassle because at the end of the day we are all still learning. I have never taught before and it has given me a new appreciation for teachers and professors especially English instructors. Writing, in general, takes a lot of time and patience and it takes double to the time to help or teach someone how to write. Teaching others has improved my writing skills because I am practicing them often to provide guidance for students. The writing process itself can be a big challenge if you are not able to use the right techniques to write a decent paper. I feel highschoolers have a very different writing process to follow then students in college it feels that highschool has a very strict set way of writing yet college writing gives you more space to roam and discover a way that makes writing good for you. Goals I’d like to focus on during this service-learning project I wanted to work on my own writing skills and improve them more while assisting others. I want to improve my methods of tutoring and work on how I talk to students. I feel like when I communicate to other students I have troubling articulating how I want to phrase something I am explaining to them in a way they can understand. I learned a lot about myself and how I interact with others and it is definitely a skill I will improve on.