I believe in the human touch, which cultivates sympathy with my fellow men and mutual helpfulness and brings happiness for all.
I believe in the human touch, which cultivates sympathy with my fellow men and mutual helpfulness and brings happiness for all.
The Miller Writing Center
Student Peer Consulting
Fall 2022-Present
Peer TutoringThe Miller Writing Center offers free 50-minute consultations for Auburn undergraduates and graduate students hosted by peer consultants. Students can book a writing center appointment for any writing project at any point in the writing process from brainstorming to organizing or final drafts.
Image presented with permission from participants. |
Student EmployeeAs working students, the consultants are led by the Miller Writing Center staff through professional development trainings that include projects that develop resume building, ePortfolio training, and employee certifications, all while working to build up and give back to the Auburn community.
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Lead Consultant
During the 2024-25 Academic Year, I was promoted to Lead Consultant at the Miller Writing Center. As a lead, I was a part of weekly planning meetings with MWC leadership and other lead consultants that prepared us for leading our own circle meetings, which are weekly meetings that present tutoring topics or professional development to the MWC's peer consultants. During my time as a lead, I learned to manage a larger work load, organize and lead weekly meetings, and support other student workers.
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As a lead consultant, I created a lesson plan to be used during one circle meeting in Fall 2024. I chose to discuss and teach on the topic of ethical literacy. Attached is a copy of the lesson I wrote.
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My Fall 2024 circle meeting consisted of three peer consultants. During the course of the semester, I made it a habit to ask my circle members to rate their week on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best). This allowed me to map out the semester to help me identify times during the semester where peer tutors may be experiencing more stress. This also allowed me to build community with my circle members by establishing a regular system to monitor the wellbeing of my teammates.
Image of chart presented with permission by all participants. |
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Another initiative taken on by lead consultants was a collaborative involvement with Auburn University's Core Composition. As leads, we attended a First-year writing class to speak with the class about the importance of peer feedback and the services that we offer.
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During our time at the Writing Center, peer consultants work with lead consultants to grow various elements of our professional portfolio. We are offered trainings in a range of topics from ePortfolios, professional documents, tutoring skills, teaching skills, and general writing skills like grammar concepts. We meet once a week with other consultants to share our experiences and discuss the topic of the week. For example, during one week, we worked through a training program on LinkedIn Learning on common grammatical concepts. The program provided many new ways of teaching and explaining grammar concepts to students that might visit the MWC. Pictured to the left is the white board illustration that I did of what I learned from the program and provided a visual aid for me to practice teaching the material.
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Committees
Hiring Committee
Spring 2024, Spring 2025
During Spring 2024, I worked on the Hiring Committee, hiring student peer consultants and front desk representatives for the Miller Writing Center. The Hiring Committee meet once a week to promote the job opportunity across campus through emailing, to conduct trainings to ensure that our hiring process was unbiased and equal to all applicants (we also worked through a LinkedIn Learning trainings, see certification to the right), and to review application materials. In early stages of the hiring process, we reviewed completed applications and, during the last stages of the application process, we helped facilitate student interviews.
Contest Reviewing
Outstanding Sustainability Essay
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Outstanding ePortfolio Contest
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Images presented with permission from University Writing
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Certifications and Awards
Online Training, Spring 2024
Outstanding Leadership Award, Spring 2024 |
Online Training, Spring 2024
Sustained Service Award, Spring 2024 |
Professional Development Module on Oral Communication Completion, Spring 2025
My Tutoring Philosophy
Client-Directed Appointments |
Future-Focused Responses |
Growth-Oriented Encouragement |
In August of 2022, I started working for the Miller Writing Center as a Peer Writing Consultant. Working at the Miller Writing Center, I encounter a diverse set of challenges and opportunities. My goal as a Peer Writing Consultant is to encourage students to pursue writing well and confidently in their respective fields and teach them essential skills for effective written communication. I do this primarily through three avenues: client-directed appointments, future-focused responses, and growth-oriented encouragement.
Client-Directed Appointments
Every student (client) that books an appointment comes in with a different piece of writing and different objective, so each 50-minute appointment is unique in design. Students can visit the Miller Writing Center for any type of writing project at any point of the writing process. This inclusive jurisdiction means that I have worked on many different types of projects from the classic literature essay to multicomponent projects like portfolios and PowerPoint Presentations. Many projects are too large to cover every section and still give thorough feedback so keeping the direction of the appointment in the hands of the client is vitally important. Even when I have some preliminary information available about what the student is working on, I still begin every appointment with the prompting question, "What are you working on today?" so that the student will formulate in their own words the details and difficulties of their work. Another question I often ask is, “what areas of your work do you feel the most confident with and what areas are you still unsure?” This allows the client to give me an idea of what parts of their work they might want more help with and is usually followed with the question, “which part do you want to start with?” so that they can dictate to me where they want to focus my attention. These questions help me to shift the control of the appointment over to the client so that I can know that they are able to use the 50 minutes they get to work with me in whatever way will help them progress the most. This often means skipping sections or having to go out of order in their document. Students are restricted to having only 3 appointments a week but often only visit once or just a few times a semester. So, there is often little opportunity to develop an in-depth understanding of the learning needs a student has. Keeping the agency of the appointment with the client recognizes that they are the most qualified judge of their own needs and allows me to serve them in an individualized and responsive way every time.
Future-Focused Responses
Learning is a fundamental aspect of society and necessary for each student to develop individually. Each student has natural tendencies towards specific learning styles. Students also have to develop good learning and studying habits that complement their natural learning demeanor. One of my favorite parts of this job is having the opportunity to work with students to develop those habits that complement their natural tendencies through introducing them to the methods necessary for them to succeed on their own after the consultation. This is not just specialized to the needs of the students but also frames their time in the MWC to develop skills that are transferable to their learning outside the MWC. A few ways we do this on the job is by introducing new concepts and showing them resources on campus. Another way is to introduce students to new writing practices like reverse outlining, research methods, and brainstorming exercises, giving them new tools that they can use in the future. In the past, I worked with a client who was developing an ePortfolio for her class. Not only was I able to walk her through the creation process and teach her the basics of creating an ePortfolio on the software of her choice, but I was also able to show her the ePortfolio project on University Writing’s webpage that had many examples of ePortfolios that she could review and reference later. Another example of an appointment that benefitted from this was a student who brought to me a very long research paper and asked for feedback on the order and cohesiveness of his argument. Knowing that I would not be able to read and provide feedback on the whole essay, I walked him through the steps of a reverse outline. Reverse outlining is a method of revision that involves rereading and noting the main ideas in the sections that are written as they appear so that you can create a map of produced content rather than an outline of projected content as a traditional outline would have provided. This method allowed him to walk away from the appointment not only having accomplished a thorough review of ALL his content but also the knowledge of a practice that he can use for future assignments. This future-focused method of responding to a client’s needs allows me to help teach them in the moment and provide a foundation for long-term improvement and learning.
Growth-Oriented Encouragement
A major component of giving and receiving feedback is positive encouragement. As a student, I am frequently faced with criticism of my own work in my classes from other students and professors. However, developing the ability to receive feedback is very different from developing a strong ability to give feedback in a manner that will be received and applied well. As I have learned to give constructive and practical feedback to students, I have found one universal tenant to use in all criticism: all criticism should be accompanied by compliments. Many students come to the writing center lacking confidence in their writing abilities. Providing feedback to these students means not only an opportunity for learning but also an opportunity to bring positivity into their educational challenges. Thus, it is vitally important that they get feedback on what they did right as well as feedback on what can be improved. I had an appointment early in my career with MWC where the client began the appointment talking about how he was a math student and was terrible at writing. I reminded him that even though he spends less time writing than some students, he was still a talented and capable student. After focusing on what he did well in his paper, I could see confidence return to him about his writing and he began to engage with the work in a new way so that when I began pointing out areas for improvement, he viewed the feedback as opportunities to change rather than criticism on his abilities. Offering feedback and criticism are an important aspect of the MWC so accompanying criticism with compliments for the purpose of encouragement is very important and an applicable way to give back to the Auburn community.
Client-Directed Appointments
Every student (client) that books an appointment comes in with a different piece of writing and different objective, so each 50-minute appointment is unique in design. Students can visit the Miller Writing Center for any type of writing project at any point of the writing process. This inclusive jurisdiction means that I have worked on many different types of projects from the classic literature essay to multicomponent projects like portfolios and PowerPoint Presentations. Many projects are too large to cover every section and still give thorough feedback so keeping the direction of the appointment in the hands of the client is vitally important. Even when I have some preliminary information available about what the student is working on, I still begin every appointment with the prompting question, "What are you working on today?" so that the student will formulate in their own words the details and difficulties of their work. Another question I often ask is, “what areas of your work do you feel the most confident with and what areas are you still unsure?” This allows the client to give me an idea of what parts of their work they might want more help with and is usually followed with the question, “which part do you want to start with?” so that they can dictate to me where they want to focus my attention. These questions help me to shift the control of the appointment over to the client so that I can know that they are able to use the 50 minutes they get to work with me in whatever way will help them progress the most. This often means skipping sections or having to go out of order in their document. Students are restricted to having only 3 appointments a week but often only visit once or just a few times a semester. So, there is often little opportunity to develop an in-depth understanding of the learning needs a student has. Keeping the agency of the appointment with the client recognizes that they are the most qualified judge of their own needs and allows me to serve them in an individualized and responsive way every time.
Future-Focused Responses
Learning is a fundamental aspect of society and necessary for each student to develop individually. Each student has natural tendencies towards specific learning styles. Students also have to develop good learning and studying habits that complement their natural learning demeanor. One of my favorite parts of this job is having the opportunity to work with students to develop those habits that complement their natural tendencies through introducing them to the methods necessary for them to succeed on their own after the consultation. This is not just specialized to the needs of the students but also frames their time in the MWC to develop skills that are transferable to their learning outside the MWC. A few ways we do this on the job is by introducing new concepts and showing them resources on campus. Another way is to introduce students to new writing practices like reverse outlining, research methods, and brainstorming exercises, giving them new tools that they can use in the future. In the past, I worked with a client who was developing an ePortfolio for her class. Not only was I able to walk her through the creation process and teach her the basics of creating an ePortfolio on the software of her choice, but I was also able to show her the ePortfolio project on University Writing’s webpage that had many examples of ePortfolios that she could review and reference later. Another example of an appointment that benefitted from this was a student who brought to me a very long research paper and asked for feedback on the order and cohesiveness of his argument. Knowing that I would not be able to read and provide feedback on the whole essay, I walked him through the steps of a reverse outline. Reverse outlining is a method of revision that involves rereading and noting the main ideas in the sections that are written as they appear so that you can create a map of produced content rather than an outline of projected content as a traditional outline would have provided. This method allowed him to walk away from the appointment not only having accomplished a thorough review of ALL his content but also the knowledge of a practice that he can use for future assignments. This future-focused method of responding to a client’s needs allows me to help teach them in the moment and provide a foundation for long-term improvement and learning.
Growth-Oriented Encouragement
A major component of giving and receiving feedback is positive encouragement. As a student, I am frequently faced with criticism of my own work in my classes from other students and professors. However, developing the ability to receive feedback is very different from developing a strong ability to give feedback in a manner that will be received and applied well. As I have learned to give constructive and practical feedback to students, I have found one universal tenant to use in all criticism: all criticism should be accompanied by compliments. Many students come to the writing center lacking confidence in their writing abilities. Providing feedback to these students means not only an opportunity for learning but also an opportunity to bring positivity into their educational challenges. Thus, it is vitally important that they get feedback on what they did right as well as feedback on what can be improved. I had an appointment early in my career with MWC where the client began the appointment talking about how he was a math student and was terrible at writing. I reminded him that even though he spends less time writing than some students, he was still a talented and capable student. After focusing on what he did well in his paper, I could see confidence return to him about his writing and he began to engage with the work in a new way so that when I began pointing out areas for improvement, he viewed the feedback as opportunities to change rather than criticism on his abilities. Offering feedback and criticism are an important aspect of the MWC so accompanying criticism with compliments for the purpose of encouragement is very important and an applicable way to give back to the Auburn community.
Student Feedback
I came to Abigail for help with my resume and she was very helpful! She showed me her own resume to give me ideas for formatting and directed me to Auburn University sample resumes within my college. She actively listened to what I was saying and gave me incredible feedback on my writing! She gave good constructive criticism that allowed my essay to effectively say what I wanted while having a logical flow. Overall very very helpful. She was really clear and explicit with her critiques and was willing to explain things I didn’t understand. Very kind and welcoming, would definitely recommend!! |
Abigail was very helpful and made me comfortable throughout the appointment. We reviewed my paper and I got constructive advice on my draft. I genuinely had a great experience and will be scheduling another appointment with her. She did very good. I feel bad that I just walked up and asked if there was room for an appointment, but my questions came very in the moment is she was very able to help me orient my resume towards what I am applying for. She did such a great job! She was patient and very helpful. She was great at explaining what I needed to add to my paper and how I should re-word certain sentences. She was also very knowledgeable about my topic. She helped me SO much!!! |
She helped me set up my work cited page & better organize my body paragraphs. Abigail did a wonderful job at mentoring me in what to write for my consulting philosophy statement. She made great descriptions of where I could improve my writing which I greatly appreciated! Abigail was so so so helpful. I thought it was very beneficial to have another person read! Abigail was great! Great job explaining things and showing me how these websites work and being patient with me! |
CONTACT
CURRENT
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I am currently seeking full time employment opportunities in Birmingham, AL in anticipation for relocation to the area. My work experience makes me a qualified professional writer and editor, and I am excited to explore new opportunities. I am available to work in-person or hybrid in the Birmingham area or work remotely. Please contact me below!
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phone |
334.695.3058
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Social |
Instagram: @abi.odom
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abigailadrake/ |
