"Stepping out: From tutoring to business (learning business skills in the writing center)"

This article by Amy Blackmarr is fantastic information about how tutors can benefit from being tutors in other aspects of their careers. 
Blackmarr goes in depth on how tutors can gain the following skills about business: 

(I) Information-gathering (how to get people to talk to you)
(2) Flexible thinking (how to break your attachment to the idea that there is only one way to do something) 

3) Problem solving skills (how to diagnose problems, uncover workable solutions and demonstrate results)
(4) Tolerance (developing your sense of humor)
(5) Composure (how to keep yourself together in an uncomfortable situation)

(6) Teamwork and management skills

(7) Awareness of approach (non- directive or directive)

(8) Better writing and computer skills. 

I found this article to be very encouraging, since I know a lot of the interns might be moving on to other careers. 

https://writinglabnewsletter.org/archives/v20/20-1.pdf  (page 9)

A Helpful Grad School Essay Writing Source

"The Grad School Handbook: An Insider’s Guide to Getting In and Succeeding, by Richard Jerrard and Margot Jerrard."

Reviewed by Carole S. Appel 

In this really helpful review, Appel explores the never ending questions about how tutors can help tackle graduate school cover letters or essays. Since I've experienced at least two of these in the time that I've worked in the writing center and since I plan to write a few of these myself, I figured this article would provide useful for other tutors as well. 

Appel's review begins with the questions: 
"What do we do about an essay that is original but quirky, that amuses us but may lack the substance the graduate school faculty is seeking? How does a student who dropped out for a few years and resume school in his late twenties account for the gap in his academic chronology? What kind of mental checklist can we use in scanning a draft to see whether it includes the essential information the student should be providing? Where should we start with a student who has not begun to write yet?"

In seeking the answers to these questions, she found that the book, The Grad School Handbook, Richard and Margot Jerrard, provides help. She reviews the book and finds a chapter on the personal essay which provides great advice on writing an essay or cover letter for graduate school applications. 

"The chapter deals with how to explain the occasional poor semester or account for gaps, and it provides examples of both good and bad paragraphs from actual essays, including anonymous quotations from “two whose essays wrecked their chances.”

"Creative problem-solving: Building a bridge between information and art in the writing center at American University"

This article is unique because author, Audra Chantel Fletcher, creatively integrates her dance choreography developmental steps with the way writing can be developed. Since it can oftentimes be difficult for tutors to help bridge the gap between academic information and the creative, more magical process of writing, Fletcher uses what she's learned in dance to provide alternative steps to approach papers: 

"When I encountered its five-step process for creating choreography, I suddenly realized that these steps to creativity in dance could apply to the writing process as well. The five steps are:
1. Decide on a problem to be solved.
2. Have the right kind of prepara- tion.
3. Allow enough time, and work for the discovery of appropriate solutions.
4. Experiment with the use of the different solutions discovered during step three.

5. Decide whether the project needs further work or if it is complete."

Throughout the rest of the article, Fletcher goes further in-depth on how to implement these creative steps. She discusses how the steps can be used to guide students to a more efficient means of language and skill and to bridge that gap between language and art. 

https://writinglabnewsletter.org/archives/v28/28.2.pdf (page 6)

"Rifts in Time and Street Cred Via Skullduggery: A Study in (Non)Traditional Peer Tutoring"

In this article, Tremblay explores the effects of having a significant age difference between tutor and tutees:

Studies have shown that “cross-age tutoring, or unmatched age pairs may be more effective than peer tutoring or matched age pairs” (qtd. in Fresko and Chen 125). More specifically, “significant academic gains . . . were observed in tutees who were taught by older tutors” (qtd. in Fogarty and Wang 452). Author Deborah Sheldon theorizes that the reason for this improved chance for success is because “older, more experienced students are more apt to have mastered targeted skills” (35).

Tremblay concoted is own research within peer groups that he led. He tried very hard the first day to establish that each of them were in a "peer" review, meaning that they all held equal contribution to the group. After developing a rapport and sharing equal interests, he said the group successfully remained equal. However, during the next session he had with the same group, it was clear and evident that the students viewed him as the "instructor" or superior of the group: 

"Essentially, the situation was far removed from the idea that “more often than not tutors are valued first for their friendship and concern and then for their teacher-like esteem” (Fogarty and Wang 453)."

By the end of the session, Tremblay decided to tell the other students about his personal stories about how his writing skill has made up for certain deficiencies in other areas of academia ("stories where being a good writer "pulled [his] feet from the academic fire"). By the end of his study, he found that the non-traditional peer tutor (in this case, an older student) might need to make extra efforts in order to find commonalities with the younger students. 


https://writinglabnewsletter.org/archives/v32/32.8.pdf (page 14)

Writing is a game! It's fun!

I enjoyed the article, "Playing Around with Organization" by Jennifer Kimball because she offers really fun advice for tutors to use in inspiring and guiding students with their writing. Kimball encourages tutors to think of new ways for students to view their work, such as games like 20 Questions. This could give writers "a different perspective on their ideas and arguments, and can help writers find a logical organization scheme that considers audience and purpose." 

Kimball goes through a very specific example of "playing" this game with a student in which she had the student explain every rule and step to her writing assignment (like she would before playing a game). She had the student pretend that she (the tutor) was a reader who didn't easily understand the arguments/directions of the "game" and could only follow the specific directions and steps that she was instructed. 
This was a way for the student to not only be better guided in her organization but to also have fun with writing. 

"Tutors can also help writers tackle their assignments by helping them see the writing process itself as a game. Writers may feel that assignment requirements only hinder their ability to construct a meaningful text. However, tutors can help writers see this challenge as a tool for creativity." 

https://writinglabnewsletter.org/archives/v32/32.5.pdf (page 14)

"Learning to Listen" by Beth McConnell

In this article, McConnell discusses the importance of being sympathetic to a student's needs and to really listen. She explains how tutors must "listen between the lines" and in order to do so, they must not dominate a session. Tutors should be conscientious and let the student speak more as they listen. The session should be more of a discussion than a lesson. McConnnell suggests asking more open-ended questions rather than asserting your own opinions. She also suggests to first listen to detect the student's insecurities in order to be able to offer better encouragement.

https://writinglabnewsletter.org/archives/v23/23.4.pdf (page 10)

Creating a common ground with ESL writers

https://writinglabnewsletter.org/archives/v24/24.7.pdf

Working with ELL students in the writing center is very common and can be challenging for both the tutor and the student. This article describes different approaches to take during an ELL session. Sometimes the approach being used is not showing success, so  a role reversal may be in order. This article talks about how to go about that role reversal approach and how to develop topics in a common way that is understandable. When an approach works the session will move along and the time will be well spent.