Feeling our Feelings in the Writing Center 

Chances are that every consultant in the writing center has experienced a conference like this: the student is sitting with their arms crossed, glancing at the door every couple minutes, and nodding because they simply want the greenlight for their paper. 

It hurts, doesn't it?

When students are passive towards us, their body language conveys what they cannot say out loud:

"I'm bored, 

I don't really care about the paper,

I don't really want to be here".

Quite a blow to these consultants' ego. As writers ourselves, we often strive to make sure our words matter and that our commentary is purposeful. Students who are disengaged from our space can spark a wide variety of emotions, but what is this called? 

Emotional labor! 

Without realizing it, we engage in emotional labor before, during, and after a session. As described by Arlie Hochschild, emotional labor is about how we express and regulate our emotions in order to fit with the organizations' display rules. The Emotional Sponge Perceived Reasons for Emotionally Laborious Sessions and Coping Strategies of Peer Writing Tutors on JSTOR

When display rules set the guidelines for how we express and manage our emotions in the context of the writing center, what does this implicate for consultants? 

It implicates that our organization has influenced what we say, how we act, and how we should to try makes others feel. A simple hello as we walk in for our shift, the immediate attention when a client comes in, the goodbye to fellow co workers as we leave are all examples of the effects of display rules. 

This comes as no surprise. The writing center is known for its welcoming environment, and therefore, the faces that consultants put forward. What may come as a shock is that the faces we put forward are part of a perpetual cycle to show up as the best version of ourselves in classes, in workspaces, and in daily interactions. 

Every day, we find that working at the writing center is not your typical 9-5 job. With it, come many liberties and responsibilities. Among these responsibilities is showing the engagement for our clients in and out of the writing center. These clients may be the people sitting next to us in class, standing behind us in the lunch line, or in our path toward the mailroom. 

Everyday, our engagement as consultants is a part of who we are. Pair this with a personality conflict and an emotionally laborious session, and you can feel a range of emotions. 

From feeling annoyed to disappointed with clients, personality conflicts with clients can have a significant impact on consultants. Given that personality conflicts pertain to when a writer's behavior makes it hard for the consultant to work with the tutor, shedding a light on the consultant in the aftermath of a session is important. 

When asked about a time when a writer showed no interest in engaging in the conference, Hailey Schipper, a senior consultant,  said: "I felt dissatisfied." 

Feelings of dissatisfaction and exhaustion are not uncommon, but learning to cope with them is. 

Displaying and Disclosing 

The writing center may not have outward display rules, but what about the display rules we may have for ourselves? As consultants, we come from different backgrounds and upbringings. We may not share the same display rules as requested by our organization, but we could come to an agreement on what display rules we want to partake in.

For a long time, the writing center's display rules have been in the shadows, always along the lines of "Make sure you're not talking bad about clients." It's important to not badmouth clients, but it's also important to understand why clients might feel the need to divulge the contents of their session to others. 

As mentioned in the Enchiridion, the focus of our work as writing center consultants requires “complex skills, and the situations can often be frustrating. Some papers are difficult to comprehend, some students can be difficult to motivate…student writers become defensive as they protect their texts from alien readers."

Bella Journet, an upcoming Junior consultant, said: "Yes, it can be so hard when I don't know what to say or if I'm even being helpful...I feel so bad, and then they're gone and I'm just unmotivated to do my work."

As students too, we are often in a state of overwhelm with papers to write, resumes to build, and work to uphold. Often, we'll find ourselves operating after pulling an all-nighter, having eaten no lunch or breakfast, and feeling the residue of classes that we are struggling in. 

So what can we do to make consultants a part of the feel-good experience we give to clients? 

We can start by using the emotion wheel! 

Coping With The Feeling 

By learning to identify our primary emotions, we can explore the layers of those emotions in depth, leading to an increase in reflection and understanding for our experiences. 

Once consultants have an idea of the emotions they are facing, they can take active steps towards coping and bouncing back from these emotions. Introducing cognitive restructuring, relaxation practices, and reenergizing are some of the many tools that consultants can choose from. The Emotional Sponge Perceived Reasons for Emotionally Laborious Sessions and Coping Strategies of Peer Writing Tutors on JSTOR

Not only can the emotional wheel be an excellent toolkit for helping consultants grow their emotional vocabulary, but checks ins with coworkers and from our supervisors can play a big role in increasing employee productivity and satisfaction.

Short and simple check in questions such as these can help consultants feel seen and heard:

"How are you, really?"

"How can I better support you in your work?"

"What is your greatest challenge at the moment?"

These questions can prompt supervisors to go beyond the superficiality of their employees and get to know them on a closer level. Hearing consultants' answers may provide insight into how the writing center can continue to build resilient and motivating workers alongside students.

When people feel cared for, they function better, knowing that someone is interested in their day, their stressors', or their emotionally laborious conferences. 

What are the implications for bringing emotions into the workplace? A lot! Research has found that “employees working in cultures of joy and compassion show increased commitment and reduced burnout.” Bringing Emotions Into The Workplace (forbes.com)

The writing center is already halfway there, with our never-ending jar of jolly ranchers, white board jokes and questions, and available coffee and tea for all students and employees.

Coping with our emotions as consultants can be challenging, but it will also prompt us into reflection and get us in touch with our humanity.

Next time you finish an emotionally laborious session, give yourself a pat on the back

and ask yourself "What am I feeling right now?"

Lau, Y. (2020, May 6). Bringing Emotions Into The Workplace. Forbes. Bringing Emotions Into The Workplace (forbes.com)

Chen, C. Im, H. Shao, J. (2020). The Emotional Sponge: Perceived Reasons for Emotionally Laborious Sessions and Coping Strategies of Peer Writing Tutors. The Writing Center Journal, Volume 38. 1-2, 204-223). The Emotional Sponge Perceived Reasons for Emotionally Laborious Sessions and Coping Strategies of Peer Writing Tutors on JSTOR

 

The Coe Writing Center White Board and What it Reveals About the CWC Staff

 The Coe Writing Center White Board (CWCWB) serves many practical purposes. It allows students and consultants alike to engage in a small, fun break from the reality of college stresses to answer a silly question that will have absolutely no impact on anything, ever. It serves to show newcomers that we are not posh, uptight, and serious English majors, but showcases a quirky little snippet of vibes we foster here at the writing center. The board, however, can sometimes reveal the true intentions that lie in the depths of the minds of our consultants.  It also can reveal our competitive nature. Finally, it can showcase where we, at times, fall short. Here are a few examples that show some of these identities at play. 

#1 - Battle of the Worst States

The question on the board on this cool February 27th day was, “What is your least favorite state?” This question revealed where some of our consultants lack in the brainstorming  department (which happens to be quite a large part of our job). While explaining why South Dakota was their least favorite state, one student wrote, “does it really exist?” South Dakota is in fact a real state, actually, as of November 2nd, 1889. News of South Dakota hardly ever reaches Iowa, so I can see how one would come to that conclusion.

Additional information on South Dakota: https://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/south-dakota-admissionanniversary.html#:~:text=South%20Dakota%20was%20admitted%20to,boundary%20as%20the%20present%20state.

Another student chose Nebraska, adding two small bullet points under their answer which reads, “IDK, Iowa culture says so…” which is quickly followed by the word, “corn”. This answer was particularly perplexing to me, because it is often the words “Iowa” and “Corn” are used interchangeably. Is this student an Iowan? Because Iowa culture also says that Iowa corn is the backbone of our nation, so corn couldn’t possibly be a reason why Nebraska is the least favorite state when having 49 other states with great reasons to choose from. But we forgive anyway. Finally, a student wrote Maryland, because they are not trusting of its shape. THAT, I can understand. It’s just wrong. 

#2 - Forbidden Fruits (or other, inedible objects)

I found myself in the writing center on April 27th, eyes wide with my fist over my mouth, simply staring at some of the answers on the board for a forbidden “nom-nom” or snack question that revealed a bit too much about our consultants. One student answered, “Tide Pods”, which unfortunately does not come as a surprise. In 2018, teenagers across the United States representing any gender, religion, race, and creed, came together to partake in what became commonly known as the “Tide Pod Challenge”. To complete this task, one was to ingest a Tide Pod and consume it whole. 

More on the "Tide Pod Challenge": https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tide-pod-challenge/

When taking this…stunning piece of history into account, the answer on the CWCWB began to make more sense. For example, “sponge” would fit right in with the theme of cleanliness. “Shaving cream” could also be categorized with the previous responses. We do have some nature enthusiasts, popular answers of plants, flowers, sand, and clay decorated the board. Small chewy toys found a place, polly pocket clothes and lego tires brought back good memories. I even thought back to the days I used to chew on the little pieces of sticky plastic that came in the mail behind the new credit cards and gift cards my parents would receive. 

“Lava” did worry me a bit. The “yummy” under it implies this student has tasted and seen that lava is good, but lava does seem to on average hold a temperature of 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit. Now, I am no expert in human anatomy, but I do not believe the average tongue can hold such a heated temperature. I could be wrong though. What really did it for me was “The Mechanic’s Fingers”. I was hoping it was a movie title, or the poorly translated brand name of some foreign chocolate. Unfortunately, I came up short every time in my extensive research of these three words. All I got was many pictures of dirty, stubby, well, a mechanic’s fingers. Needless to say, I did not set up a conference at the writing center anytime soon after seeing we had a cannibal running loose in the writing center. 

#3 - Spelling Bee Champions 

This was one of my favorites. One thing you would not expect from a writing center staff would be to find themselves lacking in the spelling department. However, we have discovered that we’re not like other writing centers, proving ourselves time and time again set apart from the rest of those in our industry. As someone who was experiencing this CWCWB question, “irl” as the kids like to say, I found myself feeling proud of the little group of rag-tag consultants in the room that night, all enthusiastically answering the question, “What word can you never spell? (your version)”.

 I would have found it funny the entire night if it wasn’t for the visit we were receiving that day from consultants from the Cornell College Writing Center (their CWC, not to be confused with our CWC). When they walked in on one of our consultants writing “restarant” on the board (meaning to write restaurant), my blood froze. Would they think we were stupid? Would other words like “philsophy”, “chochlate”, and “prefrance” give away the true extent of our capabilities? As it turns out, no! They went right up to the board and began adding their own commonly misspelled words. So, world, although we may fall short in the spelling department, it seems like everyone else does too! Our generation has now proven to be completely unreliable without the internet, and you know what? That is a-okay. Let’s hope that the Zombie apocalypse our government has a plan for never happens, so that we may always have wireless internet access. 

Additional information on the government plan of action for a zombie apocalypse: https://www.history.com/news/are-you-prepared-for-a-zombie-apocalypse-the-u-s-government-is 

#4 - What would YOU do? (the not family friendly version and definitely without John Quinones) 

Now, the CWCWB is all fun and games until you reach the point of no return - a consultant’s real inner thoughts and feelings. Not the question, but its answers, made me wonder about my own personal safety in the world. You see, writing center consultants at Coe College tend to be all around great people. They smile at you when you walk in, they laugh loudly at jokes that sometimes are not that funny, and they offer you a Jolly Rancher and coffee for your troubles. With sweetness personified as staff members in the writing center, what could ever go wrong? Well, the board is about to give us a list. 

See, disturbing the peace I can understand. A little protesting here and there is bound to rile up a couple people. Vandalism….ah, okay okay I guess you could maybe argue what really counts as vandalism. Some of these though….they get kind of scary. One student answered, “Theft!”. Not even just your regular, good old “Theft” but “Theft!” with an exclamation mark!! This student was ready and enthusiastic, just waiting for the chance to reveal their true intentions. Next, AGGRAVATED ASSAULT?! WHAT?! You’re telling me I could get drop-kicked in the throat when I walk into the writing center?! And okay, okay, ARSON?! And WHY IN THE WORLD IS THERE A TIMES FOUR NEXT TO IT INDICATING THAT AT LEAST THREE MORE PEOPLE AGREED WITH THIS?! And don’t even get me started with vehicular manslaughter.

In conclusion, there are many different types of students that frequent the writing center, with many strengths and many, many, (many) weaknesses. This, however, is how we build our little family here at the writing center. A little misspelled word here, a little arson there, a little competition and many tasty snacks. Next time you are in the writing center, take some time to consider the board, and what that tells you about the lovely human beings running it.