Writing Anxiety Scenarios by Karah Mitchell https://padlet.com/karahmarie123/f715klucp6cl 3/27/2019 en-us 2019-03-25 16:14:28 UTC 2020-10-08 20:45:36 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Lightdecrease.png Scenario 1: You have an appointment with a grad student in Anthropology who’s trying to finish his dissertation; the student has everything except the introduction written, which he's supposed to have completed within 1 week, and he tells you that he's very anxious about meeting this deadline but there's no way he can push it back. As you talk about his goals for this particular session, he opens up all of his different documents that he’s trying to fit into his introductory chapter (which should be about 25 pages). He has well over over 50 pages of notes and starting drafts, and he’s really stressed about how to take all of his research and ideas and pull them together in a way that makes sense and is what his advisor wants. He establishes that he wants to make an outline for the introduction by the end of the session; you ask if it would be helpful to use the white-board to help him visualize the points he needs to make for the introduction, and he agrees this would be helpful. Throughout the session, however, as he generates points for the outline, he keeps returning to his different documents and questioning himself and the points he’s generating, and continually erases them. Multiple times he throws up his hands in frustration and says, "I just don't know what to do." What do you do? karahmarie123 https://padlet.com/karahmarie123/f715klucp6cl/wish/344908969 -Pause, take a breath, maybe turn away from the computer/white board.
-Maybe try free writing activity where you can't erase ideas.
-Ask "what is an introduction? what does it mean in this context/for this discipline/etc." look at models
-Map a dependence tree
-Offer specific and limited options]]> 2019-03-25 16:30:47 UTC https://padlet.com/karahmarie123/f715klucp6cl/wish/344908969 Scenario 3: You have an online appointment with a student who’s working on his Master’s in Counseling, and he’s having to finish writing his thesis paper (which is about 50 pages). He’s chosen to research the relationship between social media use among teens and personal and social well-being, and the thesis paper is supposed to be a literature review of current research on the topic. His paper is finished, and he feels very confident about his research and very passionate about his topic; however, in the section asking the student to describe feedback already received, he notes his advisor has told him that the writing isn’t scholarly enough and sounds too much like a popular science piece (like something to be published in the New Yorker). In the "top three concerns" section, he makes it clear that he feels very anxious about not being able to finish his master’s degree because his writing just isn’t apparently what it needs to be, and feels like all of his research has just been in vain; in short, he’s very discouraged and he’s just not sure what to do. What do you do? karahmarie123 https://padlet.com/karahmarie123/f715klucp6cl/wish/344918276 Alert staff to the situation to reach out to the student
Acknowledging the difficulties - Hard feedback, about to graduate, a lot going on, having done all the work
Ask about models/literature reviews they've read- why did they stick out as good
Talked to adviser in person about this? Ask for specific examples of the tone
Invite to come in for a face to face]]> 2019-03-25 16:49:18 UTC https://padlet.com/karahmarie123/f715klucp6cl/wish/344918276 Scenario 2: You have an appointment with a student who is working on a 3-page midterm essay that’s due in 1 day. As you and the student talk about her goals for the session, she notes that, while she’s written the entire essay and talked to the professor about her ideas, she’s still really stressed out about whether her thesis and organization are what the professor wants. She notes that she thinks her ideas make sense and that they need to be in the order they’re in because that’s the only way she can think to present them, but she’s really worried that she’s still going to do badly on this midterm, and is very stressed out. What do you do? karahmarie123 https://padlet.com/karahmarie123/f715klucp6cl/wish/344919077 -allow the student to vent
-ask the student to explain the main things that you need to hit on with this paper
-ask the student what order she has and more importantly why she feels this is the only order
-ask what the professor said "what was the actual feedback you got?" - this allows you to understand what feedback to give and what it should look like
-ask "Do you often have this response when you get feedback?"
-ask "How do you/have you managed these things in the past?" & "can you use these same strategies again
-ask the student what they are trying to say and give a reader's response based upon how they answer
-"tell me about how much writing you have done for this course, what sort of feedback have you received and also how does this fit into the context of your other writing/regular assignments for this class?"
-getting more context about who they are as a writer, and how they handle anxiety]]> 2019-03-25 16:50:52 UTC https://padlet.com/karahmarie123/f715klucp6cl/wish/344919077 Scenario 4: You have an appointment with a student who's working on a personal statement for a scholarship application. The student explains that the only way she can afford to stay at UNC is by getting this scholarship, which her parents are expecting her to get. The application is due in 1 month, and the personal statement is quite broad and simply asks the student to write about why they are deserving of the scholarship and what they will accomplish during their next year in school. She has already jotted down a list of things she's thinking about including in the statement, but she's worried about what to include and doesn't know where to start. She keeps emphasizing that she doesn't know what she'll do if she doesn't get this scholarship, and that the statement really needs to be perfect. What do you do? karahmarie123 https://padlet.com/karahmarie123/f715klucp6cl/wish/345342472 -ask: what do you like about your writing? and that could help build confidence to answer "why do you deserve this scholarship?"
- at the beginning, acknowledge that this is a stressful situation, let her know that she is being heard
-ask the student "what would you want to do at UNC with this scholarship?", but this might increase anxiety inadvertently
-look at the list, ask her to pick one, and suggest freewriting for 5 minutes about the topic that the student feels most passionate about/proud of
-ask if the student has examples, knows people who have gotten the scholarship, or has a mentor who could help her
-suggest making an outline out of the ideas to facilitate some concrete achievements in the session (could help with the anxiety)
-emphasize thinking about what do you like about yourself/what have you done to demonstrate that you can write about?
-consider other resources that could help make a plan b, plan c, any other resources to seek to minimize the anxiety (frame it as just one of many things that can help the student remain at UNC)
-suggest reframing the anxiety about finances into something that she can write about in the essay, a convincing personal story
-emphasize the positive: the student has a whole month to work on the statement, we're starting at a good place
-think about "if you were a professor/other person writing a recommendation for yourself, what would you say about yourself and what you've done?"]]> 2019-03-26 16:15:04 UTC https://padlet.com/karahmarie123/f715klucp6cl/wish/345342472 Scenario 5: You have an appointment with a first-year student who's writing his second paper for English 105, a mini conference paper for the Social Sciences unit, which is due in 4 days. The student notes that the professor liked his ideas in his two "feeder" assignments for this project, but then pulls out his Unit 1 paper with the professor's comments on it. The student shows you the comments and the grade (a C -) and describes how he's very anxious about not doing well on this second assignment, too. He wonders aloud if he's just not good at college writing, and is visibly anxious and even depressed. What do you do? karahmarie123 https://padlet.com/karahmarie123/f715klucp6cl/wish/345347663 -acknowledge their feelings/reaction [this could include a comment about how it's totally normal to experience this type of feeling when tackling a new kind of writing for the first time]
-highlight the positive feedback [what do you like about your writing, what positive comments appear on the feeders]
-identify patterns in feedback
-use feedback to talk about what the instructor might expect, steps/approach for the next assignment

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