Get to know Codey Oswald, he is an academic writing tutor here at the Debbie Nye Sembler Student Success Center, as well as an adjunct instructor in the Verbal and Visual Arts Department. Codey is a USFSP alumni who received his Master’s degree in liberal arts, with a focus in rhetoric and writing studies.

 

He finds himself drawn to teaching at the university level. It is an atmosphere he will have the opportunity to gain some experience in when he teaches English Composition I this fall at USFSP.

 

His desire to teach writing stems from his own personal interest in writing. His favorite class while in school was writing studies. The course gave him an opportunity to learn about the history of writing and develop his own philosophy on teaching writing.

 

Codey believes that taking a graduate level tutoring course and teaching an English composition class while in grad school served as developmental tools. Not only have these experiences assisted him in becoming a better teacher, but have made him a more thorough tutor. “As a teacher I improved my skills at conferencing with students, and some of those communication skills transferred over to tutoring,” says Codey.

 

He thoroughly enjoys writing and simply describes it by saying, “It is just really fun.” Codey interprets the writing process to be a cooperative effort. He believes there isn’t one way of writing something and finds pleasure in working with students to determine the best way to help them express their thoughts.

 

For Codey, the most rewarding part of tutoring is the variety of writing scenarios he encounters. “I never know what a student is going to bring into the center.” More than just a tutoring experience, it is a learning experience for him. “Helping students work through a large variety of assignments keeps tutoring interesting and shows me how writing is done differently in different fields,” says Codey. His tutoring process, he says, begins with knowing as much information about an assignment as possible, which in turn allows him to give quality assistance.

 

Codey finds true value in being a writing tutor and notes the importance of having others check your work. “No one person ever thinks of everything,” says Codey. “Students need others trained to look at well written writing to help them get out what they want or need to say.” With a strong appreciation for writing and an interest for helping others, Codey has the skills and the opportunity to help many achieve effective written expression.