Professor Sharon

100 Day Project – Day 17 – 9:47 p.m.
If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

A student that I had last semester came up to me (she’s currently taking two courses with me), and asked to speak to me.  Of course, I said.  She then replied,  “I want to tell you how proud I am of my writing!”  Her face was beaming.  Mine was as well when I answered that she should be proud.

She has a ways to go, but her writing is becoming visibly improved.  At the beginning of last semester, with her first written assignment, I wrote on her paper to come and see me after class.  I gently shared with her that I felt her writing was weak and needed a good deal of work to begin to be college level work.  I recommended she see the Peer Tutoring Program.   She agreed, and was eager to improve.  She had a weekly standing appointment with a peer tutor and her work improved.

This semester, the improvement is palpable.  She is carrying a heavier load and doesn’t have as much time to use a Peer Tutor, yet her pleasure in the written word, and her belief that what she has to say is important is strong.  Each piece of work she submits is better than the last, and I see such potential for even more improvement.  So exciting for her and for me!  Incredibly rewarding!  I see, as well, changes in her interpersonal interactions in the classroom; choosing excellent students to partner with, obviously creating friendships, and exploring her own development.  It’s a great way to end a work week.

In our department we talk often of the power of, and our continual support of, the personal transformation that is so important in the first two years of college.  And, for some of our students, maybe the only two years of college for many years as it is their goal and intent to work with young children in early care and education settings right away (and a 4 year degree might happen years later).  It’s so exciting to watch this personal transformation.  Today I’m thinking about the power; the power of learning, and the power of self.