I always thought writing an essay wasn’t that hard and wouldn’t be that problematic when I was in high school. Furthermore, after I wrote my first essay in college, I received a decent grade too. I thought I was fine with my writing skill until I messed up my second essay in my ENG-11O1 course. My Professor then encouraged me to go to the writing center in our campus to fix my essay. The moment when I was there and spoke with the professor in the center made me realize how bad I really was. The professor made me look through the essay and search for errors that I had made. I was surprised about the mistakes and how much I could improve after meeting with the professors in the writing center. I think everyone in the campus who have problems with their essays should visit the writing center more often.
Our writing center is in a small room with two tables and about eight chairs. It always has some students in the room and any student probably has to wait outside the room. There is another table and several chairs outside the room that are available for students to sit while they are waiting. The room looks very clean and organized even though there are many files and tools inside the room. The tutors will call when they are ready for the next student. Each professor will only tutor one student at a time, and this provides privacy to the students and helps the professor to focus on one student at a time instead of serving a whole group as in a normal class setting.
The service hours of the writing learning center is very limited. It is open from 10 am to 5 pm. Professors have a half hour break for lunch which usually happens around 1 to 2 o’clock. There are multiple professors who work in the writing learning center, but every day there are maybe 2 to 3 professors who are at work. Each student approximately takes 45 minutes to 1 hour to have their work examined and improved. The writing center is only there to help students from ENG-1101 to ENG 1121, and mainly provides help on grammar, sentence structure, content and better understanding of the assignment.
I was very lucky that I had a chance to interview Professor Jackie, and there wasn’t a line so I didn’t need to wait or to make an appointment. Professors Jackie invited me to sit down and I asked, “Was there ever a moment when you found it hard or impossible to help a student to understand her assignment or to improve her work?” The professor explained to me that there are always students coming from another country who have difficulties on grammar and sentence structures. She also said, “It’s okay to have a problem understanding, and that’s why we are here to help.” The professors in the writing center are motivated to help students and understand their difficulties. I also asked Professor Jackie, “Do you love what you do? And do you think you are helping those students who come to you?” Professor smiled at me and told me without even thinking, “Of course, I love to see students do well on their English class and it’s great to see students improving every time they return for help.” The writing center is definitely helping students to improve their writing skills. And the professors are all motivated to help and truly want all of us to do well in our class.
So now you know where to go when you have a problem on your writing assignment. The writing center welcomes all students on our campus. Even though you might have to wait on line for a while, but it’s definitely worth it. You will feel more confident about your writing assignment and I can guarantee you that you will learn something from this place. I personally believe this place is very helpful and most of the students are returning to the center for help. I mean, why would they return if this place is not helpful? It’s free and you are welcome to be there anytime you want.
Hey, interesting post! Is the writing center still running at City tech?