Looking back at my recent blogs, I'm beginning to sense a need to address the fears that tutors may have in going into a session, especially students who are new to tutoring. There are many factors to think about when one goes into a session: belief in oneself and the ability to project confidence but not appear authoratative, keep in mind everything learned in 383, and pray to God you won't screw up majorly, and there is without doubt a strong stereotype of writing tutorers as this know-all be-all -what- they- say- goes- on- paper- word- for- word-that -if- the- tutor- really- really- likes- your -paper- it- means -no -more- work- has- to- be- done- kind of person.
I went to the writing center last semester and the dude who read my paper told me there was pretty much nothing to be changed in my paper. I was estatic! This meant that I would be able to get a good night's sleep and the responsibilty of turning in a good paper was no longer mine ( it wasn't necessarily on the tutor either) ; my work was done. I think, many of us can agree that writing a paper can be an incredibly tedious and distasteful process for many students and as ideal it would be to be excited and geniously innovative. It seems most times its something that just gotta get done and when its done and turned in, there is a sense of relief. The praise I recieved on my suposedly perfect paper should not give me a sense of relief. If I'd thought about it more, I would've taken into account the tutor's laziness. He actually read the paper when I got there for the first time b/c he hadn't had time to look at it before.
It would be nice to have an understanding of the purpose of the writing center plus a desire in both the tutor and writer to accomplish something within the session. Even with those two points accomplished, a lot of the fears that tutors or students may have in attending a session may diminished.
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2 comments:
This seems a very rich area for you to explore. I wonder if Olivia might have some good ideas about search terms to get you started?
First of all, I came across this article which might be helpful (at least peripherally).
As for good search terms: I wonder if you might start broadly with your course texts and the library's books on writing centers and writing tutors and brainstorm ideas from there? The test searches that I tried - using terms like tutors, fear, anxiety, confidence, were not enormously successful. I wonder if broader search terms might be better? Perhaps ("peer teaching" or tutors) and "higher education." Keep me posted as you flesh out your research idea, and I'll be glad to supply some additional suggestions. :)
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