Published in the May 27-June 9, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Emily Roth
Emily Roth
Gavilan Community College’s Writing Center helps students at the main Gilroy campus gain the skills they need to build their reading and writing ability. The center’s writing assistants, who are paid students, work with fellow students who need extra help to think deeper and more critically so they can gain a better understanding of the class assignments and learn the skills they need to write a college-level term paper.
The Writing Center’s supplemental instruction is a position held by a writing assistant where students get extra help in an English or psychology class. The role is to support the students academically and help guide them in a deeper understanding of the class material. The writing assistants accomplish this in their weekly sessions with the students, said Writing Center Director Karen Warren.
“A supplemental instruction leader can help (the students) go deeper in the course material by talking about it with their peers and in a way, learning how to approach their studies,” she said.
The center also offers drop-in, one-on-one tutoring where students can get help with any writing or reading they might be working on. This is where a vast number of students get help and get the most help from the writing assistants. A typical drop-in session lasts about 20 minutes and the students can accomplish many things in that time such as understanding the class writing assignment, developing an outline, working on the structure of an essay or proofreading and editing their paper.
“I feel that I have learned a lot in how to come up with a strong thesis and the body paragraphs. It is a work in process, the summary, conclusion it’s all in progress but I do feel it has been beneficial in coming to the Writing Center,” said Gavilan student Sterling Curry.
The Writing Center also offers workshops about various things in formatting styles and research skills. It helps students use their time effectively on campus so that they can be successful in their academic career. A writing assistant will lead the students through the workshop so that they have a better understanding of the material being presented that will often correlate to some aspect of the students work. Students also learn a lot from the workshops as they are geared towards what the students are working on.
Asked what has been the most helpful service provided by the Writing Center, Gavilan student Tiffany Gordon said: “I would definitely say the workshops just as far as teaching us more technical things that you need to know about your writing, especially with citing. A lot of people come here young from high school — 17, 18 (years old) — who have no idea what citing is.”
The Writing Center is an excellent free service for Gavilan students that benefits their higher education, she said.
Emily Roth is a Gavilan College student. She wrote this for Morgan Hill Life.
