#DEACTIVATING COMPUTER GRAMMARIAN PRO HOW TO#
#DEACTIVATING COMPUTER GRAMMARIAN PRO PROFESSIONAL#

Also, we’re not here just to help them with a particular class, but to empower students with the ability to communicate through words. I know I’ve done my job when a student leaves the center knowing what the assignment is asking of them and with a clear idea in their mind of what they want to write about. Many of my sessions consist of brainstorming paper ideas or directions to take papers in.

#DEACTIVATING COMPUTER GRAMMARIAN PRO HOW TO#

A lot of people come in with no idea of how to start or what their assignment is asking of them.

I would add too that some of the most important and common feedback students need is being told that they are a good writer. Shelby: I totally agree that while we can certainly help students with the details like helping them to proofread or fix citations, we also spend a lot of time on the bigger picture stuff, like helping students make sure they are fulfilling the requirements of their assignments. We met several times more and he produced a really great essay. It became my job, then, to help him figure out how to address the prompt more directly – something he said was not a common approach in his native language – without losing his unique writing voice. Unfortunately, the essay was not really working within the boundaries of the assignment. He was working on a literacy narrative for a composition course, constructing this vivid poetic landscape with colorful, fascinating language. I once met with a non-traditionally aged, English-as-a-second-language (ESL) student who wrote beautifully in English. Sometimes, this includes understanding the expectations of specific kinds of writing assignments. Sometimes students really just need help steering all their knowledge, language skills, and ideas in the right direction. Nick: Yeah, while there are definitely times I have to play the grammarian, obsessing over sentence structure and living up to all those notorious English major stereotypes, I prefer to act as more of a facilitator with students.

So many students come in for brainstorming and outlining sessions! But being mindful of, and attentive to, students’ expressed goals is what I believe to be the most important part of my role. Students are often most anxious about their grammar, which is definitely an area where we can support growth, but that’s not all we do. Either way, I try to make the student’s concerns my top priority-my responsibility is to help the students become better writers and self-editors, not necessarily to perfect one piece of writing. Kathleen: I see my role as constantly changing-some days I feel like a coach helping students discover their individual writing processes or gather their ideas, while other days I feel like a translator enabling students to better understand their assignments. What kinds of roles do you think we play? Nick: I guess the best way to start a conversation about the University Writing Center would be to talk about what we do as tutors. We asked three staff members: Kathleen Kryger, Shelby Morris and Nick Reich to talk about their work and what it’s like to provide so much support to so many students. From understanding an assignment for a freshman paper to tweaking a dissertation, the team at the Writing Center offers a vast array of support to all UAB students, ensuring their academic success along the way.

#DEACTIVATING COMPUTER GRAMMARIAN PRO PROFESSIONAL#

Jaclyn Wells, and a slew of professional writing majors, the Writing Center last year offered more than 5,000 tutoring sessions to more than 1,700 students from across the entire campus, including those from the graduate and professional schools. Staffed by Department of English faculty, including director Dr. Tucked into Sterne Library is one of UAB’s best kept-and most powerful-secrets: the University Writing Center. Photos by Nik Layman and Shannon Robinson. By Kathleen Kryger, Shelby Morris, and Nick Reich.

Deactivating computer grammarian pro