A Writing Coach's Guide

By: Gabriella Gayoso

Within high school, the concept of writing is a developing process. It is a construct of learning that plays an intricate role in the identity we choose to present to the rest of the world. But, along the way, many undermine the importance of having someone to both help you, and support you, as you continue your academic journey.

   So far, as a tutor, what I noticed is the amount of increased engagement these students have, (at Asheville High School), in regard towards their academic writing ability. It is a very rewarding experience for me because it helps me identify their goals of writing, outside of the classroom. By being able to spend one-on-one time with these students, I recognize the amount of strength they possess in wanting to become successful writers. This is very inspiring because it exposes how tutoring can have a positive effect on the growth and development of their learning.

   What I have been able to accomplish with these students has greatly changed my thoughts on both teaching and learning. What I have noticed is how everyone learns and processes information differently. Not every student follows the same pattern, or requires the same amount of attention within their writing. Teaching students takes time and effort, which is why it is important to be patient with the learner, without becoming overbearing or intimidating. Bombarding them with too much information can create a lack of momentum, and therefore lead to a slump within their progression. Overall, this experience has taught me the value of good teaching/tutoring skills, and how it plays an intricate role within advancing the students’ academics.

   As I continue to work at Asheville High, I hope to help learners attain writing goals that will prepare them for the unknown world. Writing plays such an important role in the way society functions. By tutoring, I have the amazing opportunity to help developing writers reach one step closer towards a goal of academic success and accomplishment. Whether they need help composing a poem, or a lab report, I want these students to know that they are capable of achieving great confidence, and intelligence, within their own writing. 

  I never thought I had the skills necessary for improving the understanding of writing. The world it encompasses is always changing, and I was unsure as to whether I could offer the fundamental tools for others to become successful within it. But, what I have noticed from tutoring, is that I possess the capability of helping learners navigate the “murky waters” of writing. This is important because it allows me the opportunity to communicate with the students in a way that can positively enhance their writing skills moving into the future and beyond.

Unfortunately, I was not able to be a tutor at Asheville City High school because my soccer schedule did not allow.  Professor Pisano decide to assign me and a couple other people with busy schedules to work on different projects better suited around our schedule. The first project we did was downloading YouTube videos onto a flash drive.  This was used to allowed inmates in prison, who didn’t have access to internet, to watch videos in order to help them write a research paper. The thing that stood out to me most while doing project was just realizing how much help this was going to be to the inmates and how important these videos could be to help them write their paper. This has influenced my understand in writing in one way which is that people learn in and comprehend things in different ways. These inmates are not just going to be using these videos they are also going to have books and articles and by providing them with these videos we are giving them a different avenue to find information and write their paper. My future goals for whatever projects I’m assigned to in the future is to make sure I do the best I can on all of them because I realize that my effort will affect others. If I put half effort in, people receiving whatever my projects I worked on will get half effort out. So not only I’m I cheating myself but I’m also cheating others. My service-learning experience has influenced me personally in exactly that way, If I’m cheating myself I’m also cheating others so I now realize I have to give my best on everything to not hurt others. With this being said, I’ve really enjoyed my service-experience and can’t wait to do more projects.

I, unfortunately, I have not started my service-learning project. It has been difficult figuring out how to make this work with my schedule and the high schools. Playing a sport and then trying to do more extracurriculars is proving to be as hard as it sounds. It has been frustrating throughout the whole process. Even the beginning of getting approved. Then we found a day that would work and had it all planned out, until the next day them saying that the one day we could go and would work with our schedules was not going to work for them. So, therefore, we have done nothing. We should be getting something figured out in the near future and hopefully helping out other students with something on campus.

Walker Lezotte

This whole process was a giant headache from start to finish. I have literally not started the volunteering yet because the first problem was that I got delayed the first couple of times. When I did my background check, it took forever to get back to me so that I could even start. The second main problem was finding a time to actually go. Being an athlete and doing school was hard enough and finding the little time to do this was really difficult. Don’t get me wrong I was excited to actually start and volunteer and help young minds grow and grow as a writer myself. So I found the only day that I could go was Thursday mornings. There lies my next problem. Thursday is the only day I could volunteer with my busy schedule and at first there was no problem in volunteering on Thursdays. Contacting the head of the program had its own hurdles in it of itself. When she said I could do Thursdays I was excited, but the day before I was going to go, she emailed my professor that Thursdays was a no go for their schedules. Three weeks have gone by and I have not been to tutoring. This is getting really frustrating for me because I know that I have to get a certain amount of hours in before the semester is done. Being an athlete and having a busy schedule is hard in itself and considering that I am now three weeks behind schedule and having big competitions coming up. It was one big headache. The end of the third week, the head of the program emailed my professor that it was good to go. I was again excited, then not even the following Monday I got an email saying that it was no longer a viable option to volunteer on Thursdays. Thankfully all that is behind us now. I am glad to hear that I will not be failing this class due to lack of volunteer hours. My professor and I sat down and talked about helping with the upper-classmen and shadowing them for a project they are doing.

The writing center is an elegant, cosy place meant to foster comfort and creativity. The leather chairs and long tables make excellent work stations for one-on-one meetings. The room is nicely decorated with Cougar pride items, equipped with its own Cougar merchandise. There is a small laptop where students can fill out surveys after their appointments which will provide feedback for changes in the center. 

 I have not gotten a chance to coach yet, but I am excited to begin helping students soon. Having an extra pair of eyes is always beneficial when undertaking the writing process. I am sure when I start helping students with their writing that I will become much more aware of habits that I have when I write. I hope in turn they will learn from me whether we are tackling organization of the paper, the development of ideas, transitions between paragraphs, reducing wordiness, explaining grammar rules, generating outlines, brainstorming, the works!

I am also looking forward to improving the ways I communicate with people and learning how to best be helpful in this writing endeavor. I hope to help dissolve any stigmas around writing or having aid with writing. I really like UNC-Asheville’s motto for our writing center which employs people to come to the writing center not because they cannot write, but because they do. Even the greatest writers had editors. Even Thomas Jefferson, the famed writer of our Constitution had editors. He hated them, but he absolutely had them. It can be discouraging to have your paper marked up, but I do not want it to stay discouraging. I want my methods of helping writers to be nothing but encouraging.

 I hope this service learning gives me confidence to do more service learning in the future. I hope to make a difference in the way students at Asheville High view writing by providing them a comfortable space and reassurance that writing is hard but they can do it!

Being in this class has taught me a lot so far. We have been fortunate enough to be able to use our knowledge to help others. Since I can’t tutor at the high school due to baseball, I get the blessing of helping out prisoners. I download videos and put them on a flash drive and Mrs. Pisano shows them. It’s not really frustrating or anything but sometimes it can be challenging. I try to get the best videos I think will benefit them the most so trying to find those can be challenging sometimes. All in all it’s rewarding because I’m still helping out at the end of the day and that’s what this class is all about. 

I think this experience has taught me that teaching can be fun but a little challenging. Finding the best material to show your students can be hard. So I can see why teachers are so passionate about what they do or why they get upset when we don’t do our homework. Finding quality material takes hours to find sometimes so when students don’t do the work, they could feel like they wasted their time.