My Admin Project

My administrative project has one goal: to make the entire Alma College population more aware of the Writing Center and our purpose. As I mentioned in class, I feel that much of the campus has a serious misunderstanding of what we do. Although our numbers have increased (which is a good thing, right!?) I know there is so much more that we can do. My hope is to increase awareness and, eventually, increase projects and tutors and money and purpose...

So I have three paper documents: bookmarks, a flyer, and a pamphlet (or brochure, if you prefer). The bookmark is simple, containing just enough info to remind people that we exist and to lead them to the wiki or the website. The bookmarks are the only thing that will cost me any money, since I have free access to a color printer, so the others are free. But the bookmarks need to be on card stock so they will last. The copy center at the college can do these, and they are pretty cheap. For the $50 we had to spend, I can get over 1700 bookmarks (which is way more than we would need), so money has not been an issue here. The bookmarks will be placed in the library at the front desk, in all the academic bays, in the computer labs, and at other various strategic locations. Hopefully students and faculty will stick these in books, leave them lying around, take them home, and circulate them everywhere.

The flyer is meant to be more informative than the bookmark, serving as a reminder and a source of info. Yet it is still relatively simple, since most students won't stop to write anything down or look carefully at the flyer. However, there is a long-standing tradition of posting flyers at the end of all the stairwells in the academic buildings, and students do stop to read these. So I wanted it to at least mention briefly our purpose. Faculty will see these as well, so the idea is to spark their interest and get them thinking, maybe even asking questions about their own assumptions about the ACWC.

The brochure (pamphlet) is meant to be much more informative and detailed. These would not just be placed about, but would be in the provost's office, the registrar's, admissions, etc. They are meant to inform any interested party about the ACWC and our purpose, how we approach the tutoring session, and what other services we offer. I decided I liked the gas station metaphor and put it on the back, but I'd love your input on this before I print them. These were kept general so that they will useful for years to come, as staff changes.

Thus the beauty of the wiki I made. I don't have access to the WC website that is attached to the college, and to get this changed is rather a pain. Besides, we only have the one little space and very little room for creativity. So I made a wiki. Please visit--there you can see everything I've done (on the "readings, etc" page, the "etc" part is the bookmark, the brochure, and the flyer for y'all to see) . The URL is acwritingcenter.wikispaces.com The homepage is meant to be a thorough explanation of what we do, including the basic info like how to sign up and when we're open. Again, I included the gas station metaphor, but could chuck it if you don't think it works. The second link (on the left in the purple box) is a schedule for the tutors. They work on a specific weekly schedule. The schedule posted is pasted in there from last year, so it is irrelevant at this time, but this will eventually be hyperlinked to the tutor's pages so interested people can see who these tutors are. Which brings me to the next link: staff. I just have a brief blurb about myself there because I linked to my own website. But each tutor has a page, and during our workshops each of them will come up with a statement about themselves as a tutor and will write a blurb about themselves on their page. This can help clients choose a tutor if they want to. Then next link (readings, etc) is for the workshops and for you to check out. I will probably take a lot of this down later. The last link is a schedule for people to sign up. This is a new idea, and I'm kind of excited about it. I've been trying to think of a way to have people sign themselves up without all the emailing and calling or having to actually go to the center to see when there are free times. This solves the problem! Any of us can update this from anywhere, as can clients. I'm hoping it works...

The only part of my project I have not completed is a new sign for the ACWC. Right now we have some purple letters cut out of construction paper and taped to the wall. It's very sad. I am going to ask the art department if they would make me a sign that repeats some of my advertising elements and can be a permanent fixture to hang. I also used to be a wood crafter and could do it myself if I have time this summer.

With all of these elements--the bookmarks, the flyers, the pamphlets, and the wiki--I am hoping to peak the curiosity of the AC population who is not familiar with the Writing Center and to get people looking and thinking about what we do. At the beginning of the year, I plan on an aggressive classroom visitation schedule and am going to ask if I can speak to the freshmen at orientation (where there will be faculty too!). I hope that the language of these documents conveys a writing center that is meant for all writers and does more than "correct papers"!

Last Chapters

"Encouraging or Alarming" was valuable to me for a couple reasons: one, it helped me realize that what, to me, might be a good thing could, to others, be considered a negative. I'd never thought before that my excitement about the number of visitors to the WC growing every year might be considered a bad thing. That is just one more reason that it is imperative that the academy understands what we do at the writing center. As I finish up my admin project, I believe more and more that this will be an important step in the life of my little WC; misunderstandings about what we do are causing strange problems, and clearing up the misunderstandings hopefully will create very positive changes in the WC and WAC programs.

The other valuable aspect of this article was the several items Frey listed as the way WC purposes are connected to the purpose of a liberal arts institution. I plan on using these--maybe all of these--in the various aspects of my advertising campaign (my admin project) in one way or another. I think, though, that one of the hardest ideologies to help others understand is the way we perceive the writing process and how that affects what we do. They ("they" means those in the academy that are outside our field) are very likely uneducated about composition theory (why would they be?) and don't understand how writing is, in all circumstances, a collaborative and socially constructed process. They likely think of writing as a solitary event, one that people are either good at or aren't, and those that aren't come to the WC for help. They are very likely not going to understand that good writers are the ones that are already making good use of others in their writing process, whether they talk about their writing with others or are engaged in class discussions that feed their writing, or other possible ways that writing is socially constructed. They probably don't understand that it is those very writers trying to go it alone that are the ones struggling, and that everyone can benefit from the WC, not just the struggling writers. And they likely don't understand that we are not like Midas where you bring in something to get fixed; we're more like the gas station where you fill up, empty your trash, clean your windshield, and buy a cup of coffee as you travel to wherever you're going. I am working hard to find ways to convey this to others. Hmm. I just came up with the gas station metaphor: does it work? What do you think? I might use it...

The last article by Zawacki was a little less useful for my purposes, but I think we can take from it a good list of the characteristics that make a good WC tutor: "an acute awareness of the nuances of written, verbal, and visual texts; an attentiveness to differences in writers and writing practices; the ability to formulate good questions, to listen purposefully to the writer's responses, and to attune one's tutoring approach to all of the above" (261). Sure our tutors should be good writers. But just based on the two experiences I had at the WC at MSU, as a student being tutored, the tutor's ability to write had little or nothing to do with what we worked on. And, from what I observed, how well the tutor knows the discipline isn't all the important either. My second observation concerned a paper for a history course, and the tutor knew very little about the subject (the theoretical reasons for WWII), but this, in a way, became an advantage as he could pinpoint the places where the writer was not explaining things well enough because he, as an outside reader, could not understand the writer's point. The writer was making "insider" assumptions. So knowing the field isn't necessary, as long as the tutor is able to read, listen, and respond well.

Tutee and Observer

Today I completed my WC visitations as a tutee and an observer. I'll begin with the tutee session:

It was very surprising, to be honest. As I said below, I purposely chose someone I didn't know--a grad student from a different department--so I could compare how things went last time when my tutor was also my friend and part of my cohort. I intentionally took in the same documents (my three teaching philosophy statements) that I wanted to synthesize for the job market. Because I didn't know this young man, I thought we could get a lot done. But no, we didn't. First I read the three documents to him. Then he made a suggestion about my introduction, and jotted it down, then began an outline. We worked together (actually he did more of the talking/writing) to make an outline of where this document could go--and then we were done! It took maybe 20 minutes. I don't know if this was my fault because I didn't have as many questions as I did when I worked with J. before or if it was him not knowing where to go next, but we had quite a nice chat for the next half hour. Hmm...

The session I observed was significantly more interesting. Since last time I observed someone rather new, I thought this time I'd observe someone more seasoned. I'll call him N. and his tutee A. A. was an international student, but I never did quite pin down where he was from. He had an Asian/MidEastern coloring and black hair, but a very distinctive accent that was more German or Russian. Never did figure it out. Anyway, he had a 19-page paper on the reasons for WWII and needed two more pages and help with grammar.

I noticed several things: One, N. was very good at focusing on higher order concerns--mostly organization in this case--and on leading the student into finding answers on his own. The odd thing was, though, that he had the student read portions here and there of the paper but never the whole thing and never in order. This gave me a bit of concern about his ability to discuss organization, but I noticed that he asked A. how his paper was organized, they talked about it, and N. could make suggestions and had ideas without even actually reading the paper! We noticed most of the same things, too, like wordiness (as a result of trying to "invent the university", a real obvious stab at academic discourse gone wrong). And while this tutor did a significant amount of talking, most of it was him doing some "active reading" (sort of like "active listening with a twist) where he listened to A. read and then asked him, "Is this what you mean here?" and he would paraphrase. If he was right, they moved on. If he was off, the stayed there to clarify. it worked quit well, especially considering the length of the paper.

Chapter 13 - Gladstein

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.

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.

Connecting the Readings from Last Week

I'm disappointed to have missed class, and there's a great possibility that what I say here may have already been discussed, but I'm going to touch on some of what I felt were the most compelling readings for the past week.

We have been reading about three things: What WCs can do besides tutor, WAC/WID, and WC administration. In light of the first focus area, I have been more than interested to read about some of these ideas, about putting WCs in the position of researchers and advocates for change. This can only improve the marginal status we now hold. I especially was fond of the portfolio research. Of course I don't think I would do things exactly the same way, but the idea of collecting these writings and using them to determine the needs of the institution--especially at a smaller one like mine--seems like an invaluable task that would not just help the WC or English majors but all students. It's a wonderful blend of a research project and a WAC project.

At a school where students' writing is constantly a topic of discussion--often a very heated topic--I know that so much of what people complain about is due to a misunderstanding of what WCs--and composition courses, for that matter--are all about. The article about reading our own rhetoric was important, because it reveals what we do to ourselves, how we shape what we are, and how others may read what we write. So this comes right back to this idea of shaping ourselves as something more than editors--and a project like the portfolios (and many others--we wouldn't want to stop there) would help others see that we are not the periphery but the hub of writing on campus. Or at least that is what we would like to be.

Owens' article again addresses this very topic, and says that "The perennial struggle that Writing Center staff face...is how we might better convey the pedagogical role of the Writing Center to students, faulty, and adminisitrators" (155). His idea of a "cultural center" is less appealing to me as I think it takes too much emphasis off of writing, but the idea that we need to be less service-oriented is an excellent way to approach the struggle he discusses.

I was not too keep either on the idea of the WC being committed to "civic engagement" as Wilkey and Dreese imagined. While I think there is some merit to the idea, again, it can make the WC lose it focus on writing. Too, the idea that a tutor and student--the collaborators--would be equally invested in the writing they were working on because it had purpose beyond both of them is just too idealistic to be practical. We all know that the majority of writing that goes on in the academy is for the teacher, is meant to be a performance, and is not an end but a means. I just don't see the faculty all suddenly finding ways to make writing assignments authentic. It's been a struggle for the course of composition's history, and I don't see this being the resolution.

If we take some of the lists from Jennifer Beech's article and make an ideal for our particular circumstance, I can imagine this wonderful place where people come to hang out and work on writing, sometimes for help, sometimes as collaborators, sometimes as part of a writing group, where documents and texts from every discipline and every genre were available for people to look up and work together on, where all students and faculty know and trust is THE place to go to work on yourself as a writer. There would be editing workshops so that this concern would be covered, and technology workshops as well. Here are my favorites from Beech:
"Alternative to misguided classroom practices" (201)
"Voluntary refuge from classroom evaluation" (201)
"Engaged in intellectual labor" (201)
Students as "Writers/authors/producers of meaningful texts" (202)
Directors as "Secured or Tenure-track specialists in the field" (203)
Directors as "Peer/professor/professional worthy of respect/Campus leader (203)
I think Beech dropped the ball, though, by not creating a list of how tutors could be re-visioned, so to this I would add:
Tutors not as editors but as collaborators, mentors, and fellow writers
Tutors not as writing experts but as trained readers, listeners, and guides

Putting these three topics together--WAC/WID, WCs as more than a service, and the roles of WC administrators--I can envision the WC administrator who one day is seen as a colleague for the important role they serve on campus, as an academic, a researcher, a teacher, an as a service to the college. Much as librarians often fight for this recognition--and have at least achieved it in part--WC administrators I believe have hope that their role in the academy will continue to push at its boundaries and WCs all over will come to be seen as so much more than a place to get your comma splices fixed. And it is going to involve WCAs being more and doing more than tutoring in their writing centers. It is going to involve writing in all fields. It is going to involve research projects and publications and conferences and doing the work of the field. But if, in the long run, our students and faculty can see WCs as the one place where writing and writers are made, it would be all worth it.

Leading a Session (Words of Affirmation)

On Wednesday I worked with a young lady whom had a 12:00 appointment however her consultant was no where to be found, I offered to assist her. I sometimes feel like customer service should be something expressed in writing center management-this is off topic but at times when observing the front desk-many students who come into the writing center seem puzzled by who they need to greet to make it aware that they have an appointment, sometimes the front desk is congested with consultants, other times it’s as if the consultant at the front desk is in another world. I have seen too many times students standing at the front desk waiting to be serviced for long periods of time-wondering around trying to make eye contact with someone, anyone who recognizes their puzzlement. I though the online scheduling would be great in that it would provide us as a WC more chances to appear to be welcoming to students whom come in????

So in this case, which has happened more then once the student was waiting for help while the front desk person’s eyes were looking down at a written document and I noticed she was getting irritated (given her body language) so I walked up to her and offered to work with her. I want to know what we can do as consultants to make those who enter our center feel welcome. I think that we should talk about how we perform and greet when working at the front desk? Where do we stand in service to our clients? Perhaps even a student survey to examine how students feel we are doing in this area.

This client was working on multiple written pieces: a short response paper for an investment class, a personal statement for med school and an application for funding so that she could take the MCAT. At best I would argue that the client took the lead when negotiating how much time we would spend on each of them. We working through her response paper first as “It was due at 5pm today”, and because I had spend 1.5 years working at a insurance company processing and studying investments and financial portfolios I knew I was able to help her-she begin the session as if I she assumed I knew nothing about what she was writing or the terms being used in her response to choices a investment product and advise why you choice it? , but I assured her that I had indeed worked at an insurance company and knew what she meant by “risk taking”, “caps” and different investment terminology. We basically worked on sentence level errors and word choice. I did indeed “give away” terms I though would help her see a new way of seeing and saying throughout her paper, her response when I would say, hey what about using “this” to say “that” would be a simple silence, then she would re-read the sentence inserting mine and then her own new word. After finishing she asked: Does this sound like a good paper? Is this paper ok? From my understanding I said, so it seems you have answered all the questions your instructor has asked (woooohhh-way to get outta that questions) It was as If I was positioned to examine the paper's worth, a very uncomfortable position-but why?

When we got to the application for financial assistance to take the MCAT she got very sad and had a defeatist mentality, she would ask me, if you saw this paper would you give me the money? Or this just sounds so stupid to me? Before we could even get to the paper I felt like she needed words of encouragement? So I gave it to her, I became her writer cheerleader!
I told her about the ways in which attitude shapes our writing ‘if you think it’s crap before you even get started-then that doesn’t help the revision process’ I when on the tell her she needed to develop confidence in herself and her writing and that it took time and practice. “Well that’s why I’m here” was her rebuttal (We both laughed) Our session reminded me of Corcoran's article where she talks about the WC being a site of "remediation, a space in which students were to make up fo rthe short-comings of their earlier literacy education" (29). But roles to be as consultants take when opted to save students from their previous literacies? I believe that the client can to realize that her literacy short-coming was in fact the purpose of her visit to the WC.

After ending the session I told her I would be at the WC until 3pm working on a project for ESL convos and that if she needed any additional help that I wasn’t booked-and wanted to help her, she came back at 2:33pm walked up to me and politely asked if I had time to go over revisions with her, I didn’t mind-near the end of the session she asked me the same questions that she asked me prior in which I felt were calls of recognition and affirmation…I'm not sure this helped-and don't know why I said it but I told her about the notion of knowing one's own writing identity-in this case knowing where you are and were you want to go or become as a writer helps build confidence in that you know what you have already-so it's not a matter of Is this paper worthless? It's a matter of why do you think this paper is worthless?
Why do you need so much affirmation when it comes to this particular writing assignment? How can I help you build affirmation?