{"id":828,"date":"2019-06-19T10:54:40","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T10:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/?p=828"},"modified":"2021-11-01T19:25:19","modified_gmt":"2021-11-01T19:25:19","slug":"error-positive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/2019\/06\/19\/error-positive\/","title":{"rendered":"Error Positive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Sarah Kenny: Marian E. Wright Writing Center Tutor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Not all, but many students come to the writing center\nfrazzled, worried, and unsure about their writing. With desperate eyes they hope\nthe tutor can help them figure out what their next steps should be or how to\nmake what they have acceptable to a professor. They fear the red pen signaling\nmistakes and failure, but Sarah Kenny, a recent graduate from the University of\nMichigan-Flint\u2019s English program with a dual-concentration in English\nliterature and Composition and Rhetoric, says: \u201cI believe in being error\npositive. Errors are a way for people to learn and grow as writers.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve watched Sarah blossom as a tutor, and she indeed\nempowers the writers she works with to see \u201cerrors\u201d as opportunities. A student\nwho visited the Writing Center quite regularly was often relieved to see\nSarah\u2019s smiling face since writing caused the student a great deal of anxiety.\nThe student often complained they wished they could be a writer, but in Sarah\u2019s\nnatural, relaxed style, she countered \u201cIf you write, you are a writer.\u201d It\u2019s\none of the things that makes Sarah such a successful tutor. She\u2019s patient,\nkind, and puts things into simple perspective. Students that get the treat of\nworking with Sarah quickly realize writing isn\u2019t a destination, it\u2019s a journey.\nIt may feel like a destination in the moment when they have to turn in a paper,\nbut Sarah has a special knack for helping students appreciate the larger goal\nof seeing themselves as writers and debunking the myth of what it means to be\none. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah said \u201cactive listening\u201d is one of the key tools she\nincludes in her toolbox to help students \u201chone their writing skills\u201d and see\nthat they are growing as writers, one paper at a time. Interestingly, if you\nwatch Sarah tutor, you might expect that she\u2019d always wanted to be one, but\nwhen I asked Sarah why she wanted to be a tutor, she said: \u201cAt first, I didn\u2019t.\nI just took the class to fulfill a theory component to my graduate program. I\nhad some fixed ideas about writing and tutoring. However, it was the theory and\nreadings from the class that made me change my mind. I realized writing was\nmuch more than just formulaic, analytical writing. I saw tutors helping\nstudents with all kinds of writing, academic and creative. I also saw just how\nimportant it was to help students see their errors as an opportunity to learn\nfrom their mistakes and be a catalyst for growth.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah loves writing, especially the final stages of editing.\nFor most people, editing is the most dreaded part of the writing process, but\nfor Sarah, talking about the editing stage brings a smile to her face. \u201cI\u2019m a\ndetailed person. I really love the follow through on a project and seeing the\nfinished piece.\u201d However, she adds editing is quite different from revision. \u201cRevision\nhappens throughout the writing process as one works through their ideas, but\nediting, is the final stage when you get to pay close attention to the details\nand I love that part.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked Sarah how she helps students balance the challenges\nbetween learning to revise and edit their work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, first, I want to help them figure out what content\nthey want to write. One of the best techniques for tutoring that I learned was\nlearning how to be quiet while a student gets the chance to work that out for\nthemselves. It\u2019s really rewarding to see students who were regulars in the\nwriting center and who struggled with writing improve over time. I got to see\ntheir confidence grow as they believed in themselves. Once they figure out what\nthey wanted to say, I could help them notice what patterns of \u2018errors\u2019 they may\nhave to help them learn to spot and \u2018edit\u2019 them for themselves. This made it a\nmuch more positive experience as they learned to do it on their own. Sessions\nlike those have taught me a lot about writing, how to help others, and even\ndevelop my own writing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah has been a writing center tutor since winter 2018.\nSarah is a gifted tutor and writer. She\u2019s served as the prose editor for Qua\nfor two years, collaborated to write a book \u201cRenaissance Matters\u201d with Dr.\nKietzman and fellow classmates: James O\u2019Dea, Darlene Carey, (also tutors in the\nwriting center) and Taylor Mata and Margaret Dikos. The book is \u201cA young adult\nnovel about identity and self-discovery using themes and characters inspired by\nBritish Renaissance literature.\u201d The book will be completed this summer. She is\nalso currently co-facilitating a flash fiction workshop this semester for the\nCreative Writing Circle in the Writing Center. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah is an invaluable asset to the Writing Center. Her\ncompassion, warmth, and friendliness have made many students feel at ease with\nthemselves and their writing. Her career goal is to become an editor. As a\nfuture editor, I have no doubt that authors will shine and grow because of\nSarah\u2019s kindness, editorial expertise, and emphasize on being \u201cerror positive.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not all, but many students come to the writing center frazzled, worried, and unsure about their writing. With desperate eyes they hope the tutor can help them figure out what their next steps should be or how to make what they have acceptable to a professor. They fear the red pen signaling mistakes and failure, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=828"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":833,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828\/revisions\/833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}