by Kat Wright

I enjoyed tutoring with Asheville High School this semester — it was a great learning experience for me, especially with us being unable to do any other type of field experience in my education courses due to the pandemic. To be honest, I think the only thing that really frustrated me during this experience was myself — I am a fairly introverted and anxious person, so it was hard for
me initially to “break through” with my student, and really provide helpful feedback.

Luckily, I eventually learned that I felt less awkward/anxious when I made small jokes here and there, or spoke more casually while adding comments and helping the student rework their writing! I also loved helping the student develop their writing in a way that is unique to them — especially when it comes to personal writing like college essays, I feel that it is important that they keep their voice and creative style, while still working on the paper structurally. We expanded on their ideas, especially the ones more personal to them, like their future dreams and past experiences. I think that tutoring taught me a lot about how I want to teach writing in the future, and how I work best. I learned that I prefer when a student gives me the essay to skim over before our tutoring session, so I have more of an idea and understanding of what I’d like to accomplish in our time each
week, but I don’t want it too far ahead of time — maybe just five minutes to skim through it a bit. I enjoyed seeing how different writing styles vary, and I’m so excited to see that on a larger scale, like when I’m teaching an entire class!

I think the most important thing I learned was that I don’t need to completely hide away my personality or replace it with a cold, professional one — that doesn’t help anyone. I do it subconsciously almost, but I am more aware of it now, and will do my best to combat it in the future. Hiding my personality and acting like my idea of a strictly-professional entity like a “coach” or “teacher” made me uncomfortable and nervous, and I think it makes students feel like I’m more closed-off, and less human. As I said earlier, when I started to get a bit more casual in tone, and make the occasional joke, I really became a better tutor!

All in all, this experience has taught me a lot. Although I only worked with one student one-on-one, when we discussed our service learning in class, I caught a glimpse of how varied Asheville’s students are, and in turn, how varied our community is — and I’m so grateful for that! Everywhere in life, we can all be at different levels, and in the end, it all turns out okay. When I am a teacher, I will ensure that all of my students get what they need, no matter where they are in the learning process. We all have room for growth, and we all have room to learn!