Blog post #8- Samantha Rhynard

My second experience with volunteering at the writer's room (EMK) was interesting, and contrasted a lot from my first experience. It seems like by now we should have volunteered more than twice, but because of the vacations the school we work with has been having—as well as our own spring break—so we skipped the first week, and had a week of training, and have been alternating every other week since. It has been an interesting two weeks though, because we have been working with 12th graders. One of the things that I had been concerned about with the volunteering process was that if we were to be tutoring high schoolers, that they would be smarter than us, and/or not want our help with their assignments. Some of this is true—they either don't want our help, or want us to write their essays for them, depending on the person. And while I don't feel outmatched and rendered ineffective by their dizzyingly large intellects, I feel like their equal—which makes it hard to feel justified in asking them to do things that you set out, because you feel like you have no authority over them. And if I too was a senior, I would not be likely to be enthusiastic about doing something someone who is not even a year older than me told me to do. I also forgot to take into account the very important non-motivator that plagues almost all second semester seniors—senioritis. It makes the lack of motivation in the students a lot more explainable and reasonable, as I remember when I too was largely unmotivated second semester of senior year. All of this amounts to the fact that I would feel a lot more comfortable and generally competent around younger children, over whom I actually hold some authority by being older (hopefully).
That being said, so far has been one that while a little awkward at first, has become comfortable after a little reflection. The people I have tutored so far have not been in a stage where the mantra and process of 826 Boston is an effective tool for them, so I have been more of a friend who can offer advice, and give helpful pointers from time to time. I will say that I am very proud of having brought up the idea that a draft did not have to start at the beginning, and could be an outline with the general gist of a body paragraph or two, and was met by enthusiasm and "Oh! I'd never thought to do that before. That's smart!" comments to the students I was tutoring this past week. So while I was a little bit uncomfortable at first with the idea of tutoring 12th graders, I have adapted to the interesting situation, and can see benefit coming from both ends—the students get help with their writing, as well as my interpersonal relation skills improving.