Undergraduates as Writing Center Administrators

At a small liberal arts college in Texas, they are pioneering a new model for administrative staff at their Writing Center: peer tutors who show passion and initiative can become one of two Assistant Directors. 

Larger colleges and universities usually use graduate students for this role, but at this small institution they do not have access to a population like that. So instead, the Director used the International Writing Center Association (IWCA) position statement for graduate-level administrators and crafted her own for undergrads. The current draft is:

1. Undergraduate Administrators (UA) should not hold the top or sole position in the Writing Center that is affiliated with the institution they attend.

2. UA should work in pairs or small teams.

3. UA should be selected personally by the Director with input from current or outgoing UA.

4. UA should collaborate with the Director and other UA to write the job description and establish goals for the position.

5. In absence of other staff, contribute to clerical work to maintain smooth functioning of the Writing Center.

6. Receive adequate training from the Director and past UA.

7. Receive funding for travel and research publication.

8. There is no formal evaluation process, but letters of recommendation and networking for successful UA.

9. UA receive higher compensation than the rest of the undergraduate staff. 

Essentially, this position should place an UA as a current Writing Center professional. They have the opportunity to work on projects that they specify, and should contribute to Writing Center study in some way.  

The Writing Center and Creative Writers

This semester I've been able to experience first hand what a Writing Center tutorial can do for creative writing as well as academic. It's like having a 40 minute long,  hyper focused editorial workshop. You have more opportunity to talk about what you're trying to do with the piece, how your characters are being set up, language and tone, and so on. Unlike a small group workshop, you are able to really focus on just your writing for 40 minutes, and on the specific aspects of it that you want to touch on.

However, in their panel on Writing Centers and Creative Writers, this group of students from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln were struggling with how Writing Center tutors could best serve creative writers. They didn't know how to balance letting the writer maintain ownership over the piece while also working to motivate the writer to make changes. They noted how much more personal creative writing feels from academic writing, and that these tutees were much more invested in their pieces emotionally.

What they decided on was twofold. First they would work as individual tutors to establish a higher level of trust and rapport with these tutees before the actual tutoring session. That way, if constructive criticism was offered it wouldn't be taken personally by the student. They also established genre specific writing groups where tutors acted more as the facilitators than actual members. They noted that this kept the students writing, because they were accountable to another group of people that would expect them to share come meeting time. This established a separate community of writers that they could gain suggestions from, but it did not have the authoritative feel that the tutees felt was present in a formal writing center session.  

A cute tutoring poem I found for the holidays :)

Making Good Observations

"Good observations = Good tutoring"

This was what Mark Hall, Director of the University Writing Center at the University of Central Florida, told us in his session at the IWCA. When he came in as the Director a short while ago, he was experiencing some drastic pedagogical differences between himself and his professional tutors. In order to remedy this, he had the tutors first make a list "best practices" that they all agreed upon. Then he asked them all to observe each other in order to see if they were actually carrying out these practices. What the tutors found was that their words did not match their actions.

Formally, Hall called it Espoused Theory vs. Theory-in-Use. The tutors may all agree that something should be done (ex: Prioritize student learning above fixing papers), but what they are actually practicing does not match up. This lead them to evaluate why their actions and best practices didn't match up, and how they could combat it.

This is a central part of making good observations. As an observer, you need to be aware of what you're looking for, so that you can analyze that one aspect. During an observation, Hall noted how you'll never really catch everything, and having this focused view on an observation allows you more time to look for that specific action and how it's being performed or not performed. 

Making the Writing Center a Welcoming Home

Several sessions at the International Writing Center Association Conference focused on rhetorically establishing the physical space of the Writing Center as welcoming and open. It's a main reason that it's common practice to use circle tables just like ours in Writing Centers across the country.

In one of the sessions I attended, the speaker talked about the Ancient Greek tradition of hospitality, and how Writing Centers can use this time-honored tradition and bend it into creating a welcoming space. There are three essential roles in Ancient Greek hospitality:
1. Guest
2. Preparer: This person sets up the home to welcome the guest. Traditionally, this was the wife who cooked, cleaned, and made sure there was plenty of wine to go around.
3. Host: He was the man of the household (this is patriarchal Ancient Greece after all). He welcomed the guest in, made sure their needs were met during their stay, and entertained them.


In Writing Center practice, here's how we could transform those same roles into Writing Center staff and visitors:
1. Guest: The tutee.
1. Preparer: The Writing Center director. They have the most say in how the Center is decorated, be it by adding a couch, painting a couple of walls green, or both. They can also control how private each session will feel by how close the tables are to each other, or if they want to add dividers.
2. Host: This is where us tutors come in. We are the bright, shining faces that our guests, the tutees, will see and associate with during their time in the Writing Center. It is up to us to be sure their writing needs are met, and that they walk away feeling more confident and comfortable about their writing process.

Transitioning from Tutor to Composition Teacher

I've always known I was going to go to graduate school. I also knew that I'd help pay my way through it by, hopefully, securing a teaching position and teaching Freshman composition courses. Then I stopped and thought about it, would I really be qualified? Could I ruin some poor freshman's first semester because I didn't really know what I was doing, and just pushed through teaching without any kind of skills or training?

Then at the IWCA, Kathy Hansler and Maggie Cecil hosted a workshop all about transferring the skills you develop as a Writing Center tutor into real life composition classroom pedagogy. With that hypothetical and devastated future Freshman in mind, I went.

They had us do an exercise to put us into our "tutor" mode vs. our "teacher" mode: We read two different excerpts, but while we were reading we were either a "tutor" or a "teacher". I started as a tutor. I went through the small excerpt, noticed that the sentence level problems I was seeing probably pointed to this student being ELL, but stopped their. When I wrote down some questions I'd ask, I found that they were still focused HOC, and how we could re-direct the paper on more of a global level. Then I was a teacher. Somehow, I didn't even write on the excerpt. I was quicker to jump to those sentence-level problems, and to dismiss the disorganization of the excerpt, rather than ask questions that could lead to its improvement. During our discussion I realized this was probably related to grades. In my teacher brain, all I could think about (even if it was subconsciously) was what grade I was going to give this at the end. That made the writing feel more final to me, and that if these types of errors still existed at this stage then the student wasn't putting any work in.

When I was a tutor, my mind was already framed to accept that this writing was a work in progress. With my teacher brain, it just wanted to pass judgement.

This made me look back at that rhetorical Freshman from earlier. How could I help evaluate them, while also maintaining my "work-in-progress" mentality towards the writing? One example we came up with as a workshop is to have rough drafts that get an "in progress" grade. This grade serves to show the student what they'd get on the paper if they did absolutely nothing else to it. It would also allow me as the teacher to point out some more global issues I'm noticing, and then for the students to find ways to improve upon them.

Writing Center Dialogue: Moving from "thinking alone" to "thinking together"

At the IWCA, I attended a workshop given by Kristen Garrison, Heidi Hakimi-Hood, Anna Lerew-Phillips, and Brittany Norman from Midwestern State University about how tutors can utilize the principles in William Issacs' Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together.

Their main take away from the book was the concept of "thinking together" behaviors. Some of those skills inclue:

• Listening: Allow the tutee to talk for an extended period of time without interrupting them. You may find that they hit on a key part of their writing process that you wouldn't have known about if you'd interrupted that stream of consciousness.
• Respecting: Issacs described this as "as sense of honoring or deferring to someone" according to their handout. If you get that stressed out student, acknowledge where they are. Ask them why they're stressed, or how you think this Writing Center session could help them alleviate some of that pressure.  
• Suspending: One way they described this was to acknowledge that the tutee probably does not have a through understanding of Writing Center tutorial pedagogy. If they don't know why you want to do something or seem hesitant, describe to them the purpose behind creating that web or outline, or why you won't just proofread their paper for them. You need to "suspend" your own thinking process for just a second so that you and the tutee can both be on the same page. 
• Voicing: This part is more on the tutee than the tutor. The tutee has to be willing to engage in a dialogue with the tutor if they are going to be able to work on the writing together. This actually made me think back to ENG 3670 when Liz kept telling us, "You can't be afraid of silence. What may seem like an eternity to you, may be the tutee thinking through something. If you start talking to fill up the space, you could disrupt that."

Thinking together behaviors are some key aspects to how a tutor can build rapport with a student, and not loom over them like an authority figure. 

Emergency Response in the Writing Center: Too Much EMO

I  feel the anxiety running high this week-one week before finals. Students are running late or no-showing.  When they do show up they are generally stressed, overwhelmed, and a bit desperate for help. The article "Preparing for Emotional Sessions" by Gayla Mills seems timely and appropriate for my weekly blog.

There are 5 points Mills discusses in her article:

Being Evaluated: Remind students not to take their Professor's comments too personally.  If a teacher tells the student, "don't write like you talk" it means to make a paper more formal, not that they are stupid or the paper is terrible.  Remind the student that a teacher has the difficult position to "instruct and to critique." Remind the student that academic papers should not be "casual." 

When the Paper is Personal:  Writing assignments can be personal, which can bring out the emotionalism in the writer. Be professional and detached (but sensitive and understanding). Remember to have clear goals and stay focused on them. This minimizes emotionalism-from both parties.

Guys, Gals, and Tears: Women are more likely to cry during sessions, and women tutors may be more comfortable responding to these types of situations. Generalities aside, stress can reduce students to tears.  Assess whether the tutee needs a few minutes "to be heard,"or if they need to step outside to gather themselves. Sometimes people just need a  release before they can focus on the writing task. 

Learning Together: Staff preparation is a good way to learn to handle emotional situations. The 3 main emotions seen in Gayla Mill's Writing Center are anger, stress and anxiety. Staff meetings are a good place to discuss emotional situations. Research on issues and role playing are helpful tools.

Ways to Respond: If the student arrives in an emotional state- Assess the strength of the emotion. Ask questions. How are you? Have you had this problem before? Active listening and sharing a similar personal problem with an assignment or professor builds understanding and trust. Use judgment "about a light touch to the hand" but hugging is "too intimate." It is also appropriate to suggest rescheduling the session if the the student can't focus. If things deteriorate, they may need to be referred to the counseling department.

Remember that extreme emotions are rare in the writing center, however, its always a good reminder to remain calm and caring.  Try to combine the "brain" with the "heart," remembering that as tutors, we try to make a positive difference in the lives our students.

https://writinglabnewsletter.org/archives/v35/35.5-6.pdf

Prattle of the Sexes: A Debated Regarding the Differences Between Male and Female Writing Center Tutors

How could this not catch my eye?! 

The MSUDenver Writing Center has a pretty balanced number of female and male tutors, all of which seem to work together just fine. But how does gender diversity effect the writing center? It's not something I've naturally thought about until now. 

This article takes a female and male perspective (as written and researched by a female tutor, Lauren Gillispie, and male tutor, Alexander Olden), but enhances the gender stereotypes in order to assess the possible differences in the tutoring sessions:

Ben Rafoth, in his article entitled “Sex in the Center: Gender Differences in Tutorial Interactions,” mentions the fact that a female “wants to build rapport or get emotionally closer to the person she is talking with” (Rafoth 2). 

So women are more likely to greet the student with a 2-5 minute introductory conversation about their day or such before jumping into the assignment. It shows the student that the tutor is more of a peer than an upper hand. Males on the other hand tend to be plain, simple, and straight to the point, simply introducing themselves then beginning with the paper.

In a study comparing ten male and female graduate student writing tutors, researcher and professor of linguistics Therese Thonus found that “Female tutors...favored first- and second-person modal strategies (such as, approaching a correction by saying, “I think you should”) rather than the imperatives chosen by male tutors” (1). 

Thonus’s study also notes that “male tutors were more likely to select the most forceful suggestion type, imperatives” (Thonus 15). 

According to Thonus, “females were more likely to resort to interruptions than were their male colleagues” (6). Lauren (the female author of the article) believes females interrupt more because "we are either: a) eager to point out something you did correctly and sounds fantastic in the paper or b) excited to share with you a fabulous suggestion for your assignment"(16). As Ben Rafoth states so accurately, “a common female conversation style is to maintain equality and to avoid any obvious show of power” (2).

Lauren and Alexander both agree that "when it comes to tutoring writers, both male and female, tutors place improving your writing process first. While it would be impossible to completely change an individual tutor’s style, it’s both necessary and beneficial for each gender to be aware and respectful of the typical habits of the other sex. This general understanding will be beneficial not only to the tutors, but their tutees as well" (16).

Lauren and Alexander's Works Cited (as other references)

Rafoth, Ben, et al. “Sex in the center: Gender Differences in Tutorial Interactions.” The Writing Lab Newsletter 24.3 (1999): 1-5.
Thonus, Terese. “Tutors as Male and Female: Gender Language in Writing Conferences.” American Association for Applied Linguistics. March 23-
26, 1996. Chicago, IL.

ARTICLE (pg. 15-16):

https://writinglabnewsletter.org/archives/v31/31.2.pdf

    

Minority status and the writing center

In the back of my mind, I've always held a tiny vision of me tutoring or teaching in another land far from home.  My children are adopted from China, and as I've come closer to fulfilling my dream of earning my degree, I sometimes let my mind wander to the idea of taking my family there-- teaching English and learning about the culture--from a minority point of view.  That's why "The sense of we within the I" caught my eye.  It's an essay on the culture shock and learning opportunities of a young woman far from home. Sayantani Dasgupta's (from India) experiences as a tutor in the writing center focus on her idea that "everyone should be a minority at least once in their  life." She discusses the importance of creating community on a campus that is diverse.  At the University of Idaho at Moscow, there are over 90 countries represented. Many of these students meet at the writing center.  From this place, many connections can be made, and stereotypes and biases can be eradicated. Listening to a different perspective, and from a different point of view, gives everyone, tutor and tutee, an opportunity to grow.  With the world becoming more global, it is imperative to  realize that "borders and boundaries are constantly created and dissolved."  With this idea in mind, the writing center should be a place to share culture, language and values.  As well as helping with that thesis sentence:)
http://emil.uwc.utexas.edu/praxis/?q=node/179