by Anna Thach

What stood out to me the most from my work as a tutor so far was that it was rewarding to be able to help someone with their writing skills, despite being a bad writer myself. I’ve always struggled with writing, and I’m practicing everyday to become better at conveying my ideas effectively. I was able to help students become more confident in their writing process by having them initiate conversations and asking them what they wanted to work on. What was frustrating about my work as a tutor is coming up with ideas and helping the student better their writing when I thought, personally, that it was good enough or that they excelled in their writing; I didn’t know what to add or subtract certain components in their essays. How my service-learning experience influenced my understanding of the writing process was that it takes time, patience and kind of willpower and ambition to excel in your writing. The writing process is different for everyone. As a tutor, I had to kind of get on the same level as the student to first and foremost, understand what they are writing about; what they are wanting to tweak and fix; and then come up with small tips and advice based on those components. What I hope to accomplish as I continue my work as a tutor at Asheville High School, personally, is my understanding and comprehension of reading and writing. I’m not a big reader, but I hope to achieve getting into reading and writing more. Writing is essential and important in life because it’s useful for expressing your thoughts clearly and effectively for others to understand and make sense of. My service-learning experience influenced my understanding of the Asheville community because it’s kind of a tedious and patient process to get to know the different writers and trying to help them in any way that you can. Sometimes, I feel as though I am not effective enough in conveying my ideas and ideologies to Asheville High School students but I hope that will change as I continue my work as a tutor at Asheville High School.