By Deepti Dhir
At the Writing Center, I have been discussing the idea of agency quite a bit lately. How do we give students a voice, independence and agency in our sessions? I made a small yet effective shift in my sessions a few months ago that speaks to these core beliefs about student-centered learning. In my sessions, very simply, I ask a question or make a comment and then I wait. And when I think I have waited long enough, I wait a little longer. And then some more . . .
But trust me, what may appear to be a very normal pause in the exchange between consultant and student is a time of great inner struggle for me. During the 15-20 seconds of silence in what may seem like a good time to take a deep breath or get some water, a million thoughts flood my mind testing my ability to resist intervention. New ways of structuring and revamping the writing pound the insides of my forehead as I refrain from offering more suggestions.
Even amidst this mental turmoil, I am comforted knowing that this extra time is allowing the student to compose, complicate, unravel and unscramble his own ideas.
Teacher education emphasizes the use of wait time to elicit more participation from students in the classroom. Teachers often bombard students with a slew of questions. In the time the student has wrapped her brain around the first one, her teacher has moved from asking what the main character did in Act 1 scene 1 to the symbolic meaning of the stone carving in Act 5. Teachers are therefore trained to wait. This sometimes takes conscious effort and requires us to restrain our impulses. But my own attempts toward this goal, which often seems more about inner strength and will power, have paid off.
I can’t say though that waiting works in all cases. Without fail, I encounter the student who turns to me blankly and says, “I don’t know what to do.” But for the ones who do respond, there is a sense of satisfaction in knowing that the added wait time has brought them closer to being agents of change for their own writing in our session.
Published May 27, 2015
