I'm so excited to start working as a Chat Cafe leader! I also work at Sweetland as a peer writing consultant, and in the past I worked for the Science Learning Center as a study group facilitator; both experiences have helped prepare me, at least to some degree, for this next challenge. Whereas as a peer writing consultant, I help students with their written language, now I will be helping students with their verbal language skills. I think it will be very informative to compare and contrast the two positions and get a more multi-faceted view on language.
I'm a bit anxious about having silences in the conversation and navigating that occurrence. I feel like I'll be responsible to keep the conversation going when it lags or to revive it if it dies. I suppose I will have to drink a lot of coffee beforehand to ensure that I will be very chatty. It's helpful to understand that silence can be a natural and normal part of conversation, though. Not every second needs to be filled with chatter. Plus, silences give us an opportunity to really stretch our minds for something to say.
The reason I chose to be a Chat Cafe facilitator involves the desire to form connections with people I may never have gotten to know otherwise. It's always healthy to hear about perspectives and beliefs that differ vastly from your own; I think that's how we learn and get better, or at least learn to understand others. I also thought it would be interesting to explore the opposite of what I do at Sweetland Center for Writing which is instead of helping with written word, helping with orally expressed language.
All in all, I'm very excited to begin meeting new people and just having good conversation with them!
No comments:
Post a Comment