I'm sure it is no surprise to y'all that I really found this article incredibly helpful for me; it's the first I've read about how the WC at a small college can be big--really big. Just the fact that Swarthmore has 70 WAs each semester blows my mind. Their college is the same size as mine, and we have 8 tutors. They had 1275 papers the year the article was written, and at our best we had 300. 1275 when the total enrollment is 1400. That's unheard of. But after reading the article and seeing what happened, it does make sense.
From this I have gotten a clearer picture of how a WC can implement all these ideas people have been talking about: working with WAC/WID, having assistants in various disciplines, having the WC impact the rest of the academic community from the "margins," etc. Sounds like Swarthmore really has an incredible WC for a school this size.
Of course, it would certainly take a full-time person to do the work necessary here. Just to oversee 70 assistants would take someone full time. Because I always want to be in the classroom, I have been imagining ways that some of what they do at Swartmore could be implemented without being quite as extensive. After all, my writing center has two small tables, one for each tutor, and one computer. Where would I put all those assistants? There is a wonderful and perfect room just around the corner from the WC, but right now they won't give it to us because it is used for conferences. Thing is, those conferences are never held during WC hours, so I would think it would be a sharable space. It's a dream I have.
Anyway, I think the idea of having assistants (or whatever you'd call them) working in conjunction with each discipline as we work on revamping our general education requirements (as we happen to be doing right now) is a fabulous idea. I wish I wasn't an adjunct; I'd take this right to the provost. As it is, I think I'll have to take my ideas to the English department and let them make proposals. Irritating. But this was an incredibly inspirational chapter for me. Makes me want to visit Swarthmore--or at least email them.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Getting Tutored
Just a brief discussion about being on the other side for the first time...
I took in my teaching philosophy statement, something I need to work on for the job market, and met with a friend and fellow PhD student. What I came with was an old teaching philosophy statement, one I had used for acceptance into the R&W program; my teaching with technology statement from Danielle's class; and a new bunch of rambling thoughts that I'd like to incorporate. These three documents are very different, and we spent the time finding the choice nuggets from each one and talking about how to make connections between them to create one flowing document.
Here are some of the things I noticed: One, I did a lot of talking, about what I wanted, what I had struggled with, and what I was hoping to accomplish. Two, she read silently, which was fine, probably assuming that there was not much point in my reading aloud. Three, she was very good at picking out the parts she liked and helping me see connections I didn't see myself, yet was hesitant to tell me to cut anything. She did a good job of letting me realize for myself what I needed to cut. It was such a productive and helpful session that I would consider it nearly ideal as a sample writing tutorial. All of the things I would want a tutor to do, she did. And I was a good student, knowing what part I think the students should play in the session. It really was collaborative and went really well.
So I have decided that when I go back for another session, I will take the same documents, but this time I will sign up with someone I don't know. I think the session went so well because we are in the same program and have the same kinds of beliefs and think along the same lines, and she even commented, "This is so nice, being able to spend the entire session on content. I never get to do this!" So obviously not all her sessions go so smoothly.
I took in my teaching philosophy statement, something I need to work on for the job market, and met with a friend and fellow PhD student. What I came with was an old teaching philosophy statement, one I had used for acceptance into the R&W program; my teaching with technology statement from Danielle's class; and a new bunch of rambling thoughts that I'd like to incorporate. These three documents are very different, and we spent the time finding the choice nuggets from each one and talking about how to make connections between them to create one flowing document.
Here are some of the things I noticed: One, I did a lot of talking, about what I wanted, what I had struggled with, and what I was hoping to accomplish. Two, she read silently, which was fine, probably assuming that there was not much point in my reading aloud. Three, she was very good at picking out the parts she liked and helping me see connections I didn't see myself, yet was hesitant to tell me to cut anything. She did a good job of letting me realize for myself what I needed to cut. It was such a productive and helpful session that I would consider it nearly ideal as a sample writing tutorial. All of the things I would want a tutor to do, she did. And I was a good student, knowing what part I think the students should play in the session. It really was collaborative and went really well.
So I have decided that when I go back for another session, I will take the same documents, but this time I will sign up with someone I don't know. I think the session went so well because we are in the same program and have the same kinds of beliefs and think along the same lines, and she even commented, "This is so nice, being able to spend the entire session on content. I never get to do this!" So obviously not all her sessions go so smoothly.
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