Skepticism

I will admit that the conceptions I had for this, and any other, writing center as I enrolled in this class and as a client to the center in years past were that this center only helped students with their writing. I assumed that the writing center services were only open to students, and not other faculty and staff. I also believed that the center was only willing to assist clients in aspects of "formal" writing.

After reading the articles by North, Sheridan, and Trimbur I was a little skeptical about the idea of assisting clients in every stage of the writing process (from brainstorming and thesis creation to final polishing and titleing). I found the possibility of consulting with a professor a little bit intimidating, as well as the notion that I may be expected to consult with clients on technological aspects such as web design and power point lay out. I'm going to be an English teacher...all that I signed up to do was be a writing tutor.

However, after discussing these articles in class and thinking more about the issues I realized that I no longer feel skepticism, but excitment that I may be refered to as a conlsultant of litteracies, instead of just a writing tutor. The notion of a campus writing center only providing services to students seems absurd to me, because of course professors should be welcome to have their writing consulted by students. Limiting the center to only consult on final drafts of formal papers would seriously limit the number of clients that choose to visit the center, and would deter many clients who may feel that there paper is not "good" enough to bring in. After thinking more on the idea of multi-litteracies I realized that formal writing is by no means the only form, and I would even go as far as to say it is not the main form, of writing that occurs in academia. Allowing the center to focus on other forms of writing, wether those are casual emails, blog posts, fliers, web design, or power point content, the center will be a much more helpful resource for students and faculty alike. What is, after all, the purpose of the writing center if it is not to be helpful?

Although I am not completely there yet, I look forward to being comfortable at consulting on all forms of writing. I know the purpose of the center is to be helpful for clients, but I know that developing my own skills and talents as writer, so that I may be an affective consultant, will only be helpful for me as a writer.