Over the past few weeks of volunteering at Asheville High school, I’ve gotten to work with a few different students and help them with many assignments. I really enjoy the first few minutes of working with a student, when we introduce ourselves and discuss what they want to work on. This part is enjoyable to me because our conversation is more relaxed than when we are actually working on their assignment, so I try to come off as approachable as possible so that  they will be more comfortable asking for my help. Because I’ve gotten to help multiple students, I’ve worked with people at all stages in the writing process. The first student I tutored hadn’t started writing their paper, so we worked on figuring out the stance they wanted to take in the paper, as well as their thesis statement. This was challenging for me because I usually struggle to start my papers, but at the end of the session we were both happy with what had been accomplished. Despite it being a little harder than I had expected, the first session was really enjoyable, and it made me excited to go back. The next student I helped had already finished her paper, and just wanted someone else to read it for anything she might have missed. During this session, I was reminded that reading aloud is not one of my strengths, as I kept stumbling over words and losing my place. However, we laughed it off and I think it helped her to see me as more of a person trying to help her than a scary college student. This session was very different from my last one in that it was more detail oriented, but I still really enjoyed it. Working with these high school students has helped to widen my view of Asheville and the people living in it, because I have a completely different perspective on the city than the students I’ve been tutoring do, which has enhanced this experience even further.

As I haven’t yet worked with a student, the thing that stands out to me the most about this experience so far is the school building. It is a huge school, and it looks like an old castle. The writing center itself is located in the alumni room, which is full of old artifacts and pictures. I really enjoyed being able to look at all of the history in that room, and I was able to do so on my first day because there weren’t any appointments. 

Originally, I hadn’t thought I would learn that much by volunteering at the highschool, but that assumption has already been disproven and I haven’t even helped a student yet. Reading chapters from The Bedford Guide has provided me with a lot of knowledge about how to help others with their writing. It has taught me many strategies to use when faced with writer’s block, how to help people at different stages in the writing process, and how to best help students with different writing styles. All of the things I’ve learned so far have influenced the way I think about teaching, as I am now more aware of how many different skills you need to have in order to be an effective and helpful teacher. As I begin helping students with their assignments, I hope to help them improve their overall skill as writers, and not just correct a few mistakes on one paper. I also hope to become more versatile in the type of people and writing styles I can help, as right now I don’t have much experience in tutoring others. 

Even though this service-learning class just began, I have already learned more about the community of Asheville. The highschool we are tutoring at is beautiful, and if I had just seen it in passing I would have assumed it was a very prestigious school. However, it is simply a public highschool in a nice building, and it faces challenges that any other school might face. Specifically, this school has a very large performance gap, which is something I would not have assumed if I hadn’t been told. Throughout the semester, I wish to learn more about what can be done to narrow such a gap, as well as more ways to help people in general.