Olympus Mons is the largest mountain in the solar system. It is roughly 3 times higher than Everest. At some point in my time here on Mars, I think I would like to make the trek to Olympus Mons. Perhaps that is something the aliens could assist me with when this is all over.
I sat in on another interaction with SHarLi this week. This is was a very interesting interaction to witness. This was a multi-lingual being who had a very well written piece of scrawl. I say that this was interesting because instead of needing help with writing, the being needed help with the assignment itself. By that I mean, that there were parts of the assignment that the being did not fully understand. SHarLi spent most of the interaction attempting to explain parts of the assignment to the best of her abilities. Ultimately, the being still did not fully understand the entire assignment but felt okay turning it in the way it was.
The other interesting part of this interaction was that when SHarLi would give examples on how the being could address the questions in the assignemtn, the being wanted SHarLi to actually type out for him. SHarLi handled this awkward situation with grace, unphased. She explained that she couldn't do the assignment for him and instead just gave him other suggestions and examples.
Later in the week during one of our meetings, Queen Melissa had us humans split up into groups and discuss different parts of the assigned reading. (Specifically different sections of Choosing Adverbials in Martha Kolln's Rhetorical Grammar.) This was particularly useful to me because we were able to collaboratively discuss what we thought was useful information and come up with ideas on how to present this information to the other aliens in THe SCrAWl CENter.
We had discussed avoiding confusing lingo that other beings might be as familiar with it. I'm remembering my first introduction to Kolln. I had thought that the alien instructors forgot adjust their dialects. We would not want visitors of THe SCrAWl CENter to feel the same way. It all comes back to the idea where we want them to feel comfortable; we don't want to isolate anyone and we don't want to make anyone feel inferior.
Admittedly, when I had learned we would have to present information from Kolln to the class, my anxiety skyrocketed. Addressing a large group of people has always been something that sends me into a mild state of panic. But I was able to remember that I was in a safe, judgement free space and that seemed to calm me down a little bit. I guess knowing that isn't just for the writers. It's for us too. In documenting this I just realized something:
This week I conquered one of my greatest fears. Maybe I'm already on top of Olympus Mons.
Hi, Michelle!
ReplyDeleteYou have been so fortunate to have many opportunities to see Sharli in action in the WC. This particular consultation is an example of working with the writer on stuff outside of the text. We often work with students on clarifying the assignment's requirements. Talk about speaking in another language! Professors' assignments often need to be translated! We work with students to help understand this language. A professor, for example, will ask for an analysis of some variety. But the student may only provide a summary. We swoop in to help them unpack the term "analysis." The idea is that the next time that student comes in contact with a similar request, they will have a better understanding of what is being asked of them.
I'm having so much fun in class, Michelle, and I always appreciate your contribution. The class wouldn't be the same without you!
mk