"Writing Center Tutors Have the Luxury to Focus on Individual Student Care Giving as Opposed to Formal Classroom Settings That Are Less Care Centered"

In our case, I think Renee A. Pistone, author of this article, is preaching to the choir. I believe our staff is especially caring, and we show it in a number of ways: asking about students' home life or their weekends, commiserating with their frustration over a particular assignment, and being sensitive to their vulnerability in the case of very basic writers. I liked Pistone's analogy of a midwife. Surely a writing project that can finally stand on its own can be compared to a brand-new life. It truly is a new life--for a new idea or an insightful new perspective. (It may be even better in that it doesn't involve any diaper changes or middle-of-the-night crying jags.) My only suggestion is that we keep pulling our conversations with students back to writing. Although we're caring and friendly, we are tutors--not therapists. The boundary between the two sometimes seems blurred, but it's a boundary we need to acknowledge. By putting friendship before tutoring, we're not really serving the student. That student may need our caring, but he or she also needs our expertise in writing. How do we recognize this boundary? How close is too close regarding our relationships with students? Or should this not be an issue? What do you think?

"Helping Writers Across the Curriculum"

This is a chapter from The Bedford Guide to Writing Tutors. It's really more of a reference than a heavy-duty scholarly piece. I like it, though, because it speaks to the importance of understanding one's audience and that audience's expectations. In fact, when working with students on their research essays, PowerPoints, resumes, etc., we could look over the appropriate checklist with the student.

I'm intrigued with the question of audience because so many writers appear to be oblivious to it. I'm not talking just about students--we see it in public spaces, too. For example, Gov. Walker states that he's complying with the wishes of Wisconsinites, completely ignoring the thousands of protestors at the capitol in Madison and all the negative media coverage.

I guess the deeper question is: Why? Do some writers/speakers just not think about who their reader (or listener) is, or do they just not care? Is it difficult for some of them to imagine any attitude different from their own?

What do you think?

"Building an online writing center: Student tutors look to the past to construct a future"

Written by Karen Kalteissen and Heather Robinson and published in the April 2009 Writing Lab Newsletter, this article speaks to some of the concerns I've heard from you regarding our online tutoring. The main concern appears to be that it's too easy to become a proofreader online. I've also struggled with this.

Fatima Salemassi created this online system for us, and she emphasized the importance of requiring our online students to specify which aspect of their paper they wanted us to focus on. I believe that she did this to promote metacognition ("knowing about knowing") in our online writers. It's something comp professors do when they assign reflective letters with portfolios. The research reveals, again and again, that when writers think about their own writing, they become better writers.

We moved to live online tutoring because it reflects the Writing Center's philosophy of interaction with students. We don't want them to e-mail their drafts to us and passively wait for a response. Successful tutoring is a social activity, a back-and-forth, and we were missing that with our old system.

But live online tutoring has some drawbacks, too, as we're finding. We're a creative bunch--how can we address these drawbacks? This article seems to indicate that combining live tutoring and e-mail works best. What do you think about that? And how do we cope with those "uncomfortable silences"?

"Responding to Texts: Provocative Revision"

Although this article, written by Toby Fulwiler, ostensibly focuses on Writing Center tutors, much of his advice seems to target instructors more. He does add a caveat on page 166: "Many professors who assign research projects will have a specific idea of what such reports should look like, and tutors need to be careful to counsel the student in those directions." I like many of his ideas, but I'm not sure we tutors want to take on as much authority as he seems to suggest.

Still, Fulwiler targets some of the areas that inexperienced writers often struggle with, specifically, "over-generalizations, prejudgment, and directional uncertainty." But that's what early drafts are for: to figure out the perimeters of a student's topic and to understand exactly what she wants to write. How does she know until she starts writing?

We've read other articles about writing-as-discovery, and that theme is repeated in Fulwiler's reference to the potato paper. Sometimes early drafts are simply exploration, that pre-writing that Ellen Harcourt likes to emphasize with her students.

However, many of our students convey the attitude of "Just tell me what to fix so I can be done with this assignment." The idea of using writing as a tool for thinking more deeply and imagining more broadly is difficult for some students to wrap their minds around. They're busy and they may have to be here and they may not want to be here. In some cases, they just want to be told what to do so they can do it and leave.

So how do we engage students in their own writing? How do we get them excited about the possibilities? How can we encourage them to recognize the importance of finding their own writer's voice? How did you all get excited about finding your voice? Was there a specific trigger or influential person who encouraged you?

"FAQs about Lab-based classes for WRT 1000/1150 Students"

Thanks to Marian for this clear and comprehensive question-and-answer handout for tutors, and another version for students. There's been a lot of confusion about the responsibilities of both tutors and our WRT 1000/1150 students, and these handouts give all of us a lot more clarity. Hopefully, when our students read their handout, they'll know--from the start--what's expected of them.

These lab-based classes are very unusual, and I believe that's why both students and tutors have struggled. We ask a lot from our student tutors in re to WRT 1000/1150: You're expected to provide some instruction as well as feedback. Please, when you feel uncertain or that you're in over your head, ask me or another, more experienced tutor for help. We're a collaborative bunch.

Those of you who have worked with lab-based students: What have you struggled with? What have you found particularly rewarding? What areas--if any--are still a little confusing? As you're probably aware, tutoring is a sloppy, recursive process, and most of us, to some degree, are tutoring "without a net." But that's what also keeps the job from getting dull or stale.

"Thirty-something" Students: Concernign Transitions in the Writing Center

This article, by Cynthia Haynes-Burton, reflects much of our experience in the Madonna Writing Center. The ages of both our staff and our "customers" range from late teens to the 60s. Also like our students, some of us older staff members have experienced dramatic shifts--expected and unexpected--in our professional lives.

You younger tutors may not have had these experiences, but your parents, neighbors, or family friends may have. And we all face a measure of career uncertainty, no matter how old we are or whether we're a tutor or student writer.

To some degree, we can all empathize with our older students. We've seen how uncertain and fearful many of them are when they first come in. Some of our older students who've lost their jobs have also lost a large portion of their identities and self-confidence along with their income. They may have a greater sense of urgency about earning a living than about developing critical thinking skills.

A few of you younger tutors have expressed that, on occasion, older students seemed a little uncomfortable about working with you. Could you comment on that here? Did you modify your approach to put the student at ease? Do you think older students are more comfortable with older tutors? What are some of the unique challenges you've faced with older students?

"Learning Disabilities and the Writing Center"

This article, by Julie Neff, offers some concrete, specific examples about how to work with students who have learning disabilities. However, we don't know which students have them. I suppose when a student feels especially stuck, or can't seem to create ideas on her own, or struggles to organize her thoughts in some logical pattern, she might benefit from these tutoring strategies whether or not she has a documented learning disability.

Also, I was glad Neff wrote about the above-average intelligence of many students with learning disabilities. I consider this common knowledge, but on p. 240, she talks about the lingering misconceptions that some educators have about this population. No wonder people with learning disabilities often struggle with self-esteem issues!

It's odd: A person with diabetes would not likely be criticized for depending on medical insulin to stay alive. We don't make moral judgments on diabetics or urge them to "suck it up" or "pull themselves up by their bootstraps." Maybe learning disabilities are a little like diabetes: These students will probably do very well, but they may need additional support. Maybe the Writing Center is their educational insulin. (Yes, I know; I've completely exhausted this analogy.)

Neff's comments about unlocking the knowledge in student writers' minds intrigued me. To some extent, we all have to learn how we each learn best. Sometimes we do this unconsciously. For example, I realize that if I really want to absorb and synthesize new knowledge, I need some very concrete examples and I need to write about it. Passively listening just doesn't do it for me. Likewise, our students with learning disabilities need to find their own "key" so they can process information most effectively.

It seems that one implication of this (and the last) article is that we need to keep adapting our tutoring strategies to meet the needs of a complex and varied student population. Minimalist tutoring is a theoretical ideal, but certain students need more from us. How much is too much? That's a tough question, and I'm not sure I know the answer.