High school consultation

I know I am very far behind in the high school student consultation but due to logistical issues (5 hour time difference) with the person I was consulting with, it was not until last weekend that we were able to Skype. I was given her college essay a few weeks prior to the session so I had ample time to review it. Her essay was for her common application and in case you don't remember writing that essay, basically you can write about anything. She chose to write about her most important experiences in life by examining the different shoes she wore while experiencing them. For example, her dance shoes for all of the dance teams she was on, her wellies which she wears around London, and her hiking boots from her trip to South Africa.

Fortunately for her she had no problem with her concept. Often with college essays the most difficult part is the beginning stage: figuring out what to write about. However, the essay lacked cohesiveness. She was able to talk about each shoe and the experience that when with it, but it almost seemed like 3 separate stories. In the Skype session I brought this up and had her talk to me about what the overall point was that she wanted to convey. After talking through it for a couple of minutes she was able to come up with a common theme that arose from all 3 experiences. While she was talking I wrote some notes down and relayed them back to her at the end of the sessions so she could have a copy.

I found this experience to be very beneficial to me as a writing consultant. Considering it was the first time I had ever properly consulted with someone I thought it went very well. Even though we consulted from two different continents, the session went just how I expected any normal consultation would go. It was nice to be able to put into practice all of the things we have been talking about in class in terms of how to run a good session. I made sure that she was talking for most of the time and I was listening, taking notes, and synthesizing her ideas. I did notice however that I had to do a bit more for the student than I would in a normal session. The reasons for this are 2-fold--she was probably very nervous to be meeting with me and she is still in high school. There is a big difference between high school and college level writing and it was quite evident in her essay. However, I noticed that the same theories applied in terms of how to be a good consultant so it did not matter either way. The experience altogether made me realize that our roles as writing consultants are not just to help college students but can really be used on anyone.