Thanks to Cynthia Burgess for finding this (blessedly brief!) article. It addresses a population we haven't work with extensively: graduate students. However, as Madonna adds graduate programs, we're likely to see more demand for this specialized tutoring.
A couple of ideas I'd like to discuss are:
1. More tutor/faculty communication and training; and
2. More faculty/student interaction.
Jeri Ann has made the point that to develop a true writing community, we need to involve not just students, but faculty and staff, too. However, as is probably true at many universities, these three groups at Madonna feel overworked and stretched to the limit (and then some).
I suspect we all agree that we need more collaboration among students, staff, and faculty. Tutors need additional training in tutoring for specific disciplines, graduate students need more direction about the writing process in these disciplines, and professors need to touch base with their students' needs.
So how do we do this?
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I really enjoyed reading this article; it brought up some interesting issues. Frances, I was also interested by the idea of "trialogue" that is brought up in the article. Like the author said, however, this concept has several problems as faculty are not always interested in collaborating with tutors, and the tutor is in danger of becoming a student-advocate, which he/she is not.
ReplyDeleteThis issue reminds me of a student I worked with a couple weeks ago. He had to write a descriptive essay for Eng 1010, and he wrote about when one of his relatives died. Technically, I suppose it was a narrative essay, but the narrative provided him with the framework for description (which was quite good). I saw him in the hall yesterday and he said he got a "C+" on the paper--his teacher said it was not how a descriptive paper should be. I was thinking about going to the professor and talking with her about the paper--very respectfully, obviously. I felt bad because I thought the paper was quite good. Like the author mentioned, I wasn't sure if it was my place to do this.
One of my biggest fears of being a tutor in the writing center is that I will be faced with a situation similar to the one John mentioned above. I worry that, although I am giving students advice on their writing, maybe my advice is not what the teacher is looking for. I believe the best way for students to avoid unwanted grades would be for the professors to give their students better explanations on what they expect in their assignments. This would help the student tremendously and make the tutors feel more at ease when helping. I do not think that this is too much to ask from the professors since they will be much happier when they can easily grade their students' papers.
ReplyDeleteI can understand why graduate students may not accept the advice given to them by a tutor. They may feel that the tutor is unaware of the information and cannot understand it. If at all possible, it might be a good idea to hire a graduate student to work in the Writing Center.
My, we have a consortium of agreement on carrying around less weight on our Affective Filter shoulders. In other words, our dedication as tutors is (without a doubt) unwavering while we sometimes struggle with the concern of servicing the students to the degree deserved. This tends to create at times hesitation in our suggestions. I agree with John and Frances that triangulation of faculty, student, and tutor is the solution.
ReplyDeleteHow do you feel about approaching the faculty with time required as the first and foremost variable? It is usually advantageous to request e.g. 10 minutes, 15 minutes, etc. up front relieving the stress imbedded in the spent instructor. If the instructor knows that it will take only a certain amount of minutes, it gives him/her the big picture, realizing that an hour conference is not the WC tutor's target. Follow this with the importance of the student, instructor, and tutor's triangulation partnership to ultimately alleviate much of the work from the instructor by on target tutoring.
By the way, I thank you for this informative article. Last week, J. Garbus' article was incorporated in my reading and discussion regarding advocacy for ESL students in my L2 Learning class. I came from the perception of how scholarly writing programs are truly needed for graduate students along with ESL students. So...much appreciation is expressed by Lean Cuisine.
Ps...John, you are one of our best tutors and I believe if you approach the instructor who gave the student a C+ by email first, it may lead to a better understanding and relationship between all three of you. Take great care, everyone!
Lynette
The other day, I had a student come in who wanted help with writing a letter of application for a job. It was essentially an advertisement of herself as the best candidate for a position. I was excited to be able to help her with a "real world" paper. Luckily I have attended a workshop on writing this type of paper so I was able to offer help. It was interesting to see that no one had ever really taught her how to write a letter of application. Her letter was very well-written, but the content was nothing that would make her stand out among other job applicants.
ReplyDeleteThe article discussed that many grad students were fine writers in their undergrad classes, but find themselves lost in the new discipline-specific rules for grad school papers. Perhaps the writing center could eventually offer workshops that help students with discipline-specific or special types of writing (Like letters of application for a job). Perhaps this would help grad students, who are already good writers, to understand how to adapt to specific types of writing.
I think that we sometimes even run into this problem with undergraduate students. Every discipline or major, has its own style of writing. I think it would be great if we could get guidelines from the departments about what they are looking for and need in their students' writing. This would help not only the students that come in for tutoring, but also the tutors, because the tutors would then understand a little better what is needed in overall writing of a specific discipline.
ReplyDeleteBasically, we need more contact with the powers that be. Or we just use my favorite line, "Go ask your professor".