In the #rhizo community, a struggling masters student asked for some help today. Now my life has been a little crazy lately, and I have hardly spend time focusing on things that were non-essential to either my survival (I am a breast cancer warrior) or just getting my academic and professional lives back on track. But when this opportunity came up to help someone, I jumped on it.
I realized as I was reading through his paper, that I really like graduate supervision. I like helping masters students figure out research for the first time. I like coaching people with their writing, helping them figure out how things need to be said so that they are understood in the academic world.
It also helped me reflect on just how far I have come. I recall the struggles my supervisor had with my early drafts of scholarship applications and proposals. The internal fight I had between the technical writer in me and the person who wanted to succeed as an academic. I specifically recall the struggles she had in getting me to use the phrase “The purpose of this study is to …” Technical writing and academic writing are so different – I see now how I would be a better teacher for technical writing, as I better appreciate the difference between technical writing and academic writing.
Anyways, the point of this post is to recognize two things. First, the power of the #rhizo community to help. Someone asked for assistance and several of us immediately volunteered to help (perhaps overwhelmingly so). The second is my personal desire to help graduate students. And perhaps, that I should be seeking out more opportunities for online graduate supervision rather than online teaching. I really enjoy the individual coaching and watching students grow.
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