Post - WLN newsletter report - Sanjna
WLN article info: "Is Knowledge Repurposed from Tutoring to Teaching? A Qualitative Study of Transfer from the Writing Center" by Brent Weaver from Kansas State University, article issue September/October of 2018.
In this article, Brent Weaver studies how people who both tutor and teach feel about transferring knowledge from the writing center to the classroom. He bases his research on one simple question" Do teachers transfer knowledge from their work in writing centers to the teaching of writing in classrooms?
Weaver's methodology consisted of investigating if tutor-instructors self-reported this transference of knowledge. He designed a 10-question survey asking participants to state their tutoring and teaching backgrounds and training, describe their teaching philosophy and respond to transfer specific questions, like whether participants felt like their writing center pedagogy transfers to their teaching, and whether they consciously implement writing center methodology in their teaching. His sample size was 13 participants.
The results of his investigation were fairly predictable: 76.9% noted they used writing center methodology in their classroom. From this and other, complementary statistical evidence he gleaned from his survey, he hopes that directors can help their staff become more aware that transfer from the writing center to the classroom does occur, and aid them in (a) reflecting on skills gained as a tutor and (b) how they can apply these skills to new contexts, whether in the classroom or in other forms of employment.
I agree with Weaver's research on the transferability of skills from the Writing Center to the classroom. In my case, it has been a two way street. Many times in teaching one-on-one at the WC, I will pull up a slide I made for my Rhetoric class to show how, for example, to construct a paragraph with a topic sentence, etc. Or to go through what a topic sentence is. Conversely I have used some WC assignments like "Writing a letter to your parents asking for something" successfully in my classroom as an activity. I believe my work in the classroom complements my tutoring ability and vice versa.
In this article, Brent Weaver studies how people who both tutor and teach feel about transferring knowledge from the writing center to the classroom. He bases his research on one simple question" Do teachers transfer knowledge from their work in writing centers to the teaching of writing in classrooms?
Weaver's methodology consisted of investigating if tutor-instructors self-reported this transference of knowledge. He designed a 10-question survey asking participants to state their tutoring and teaching backgrounds and training, describe their teaching philosophy and respond to transfer specific questions, like whether participants felt like their writing center pedagogy transfers to their teaching, and whether they consciously implement writing center methodology in their teaching. His sample size was 13 participants.
The results of his investigation were fairly predictable: 76.9% noted they used writing center methodology in their classroom. From this and other, complementary statistical evidence he gleaned from his survey, he hopes that directors can help their staff become more aware that transfer from the writing center to the classroom does occur, and aid them in (a) reflecting on skills gained as a tutor and (b) how they can apply these skills to new contexts, whether in the classroom or in other forms of employment.
I agree with Weaver's research on the transferability of skills from the Writing Center to the classroom. In my case, it has been a two way street. Many times in teaching one-on-one at the WC, I will pull up a slide I made for my Rhetoric class to show how, for example, to construct a paragraph with a topic sentence, etc. Or to go through what a topic sentence is. Conversely I have used some WC assignments like "Writing a letter to your parents asking for something" successfully in my classroom as an activity. I believe my work in the classroom complements my tutoring ability and vice versa.
I've also found myself reaching back into my classroom slides, particularly for thesis construction and paragraph organization! Interesting synergy between WC and your classroom.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought of bringing the writing center skills to the classroom--that sounds like a good idea. I am toying with the idea of reintroducing free writes next semester and I think it would be helpful to have some good starting prompts to get everyone off on the right foot.
ReplyDeleteGreat choice of articles, Sanjna. I agree with all of you that it seems more natural to apply one's Rhetoric (and Gen Ed Lit) classroom teaching experiences to writing center tutoring (especially in terms of curricular content and skills instruction) and even more natural to apply one's previous undergrad writing center tutoring experience (usually with as-needed appointments) to UI enrollment tutoring.
ReplyDeleteBut a cool application of writing center pedagogy to classroom teaching is experimenting with tutoring/consulting techniques when you conference in your office with students instead of being teacherly and direct, realizing that you'll be the one grading the assignment you wrote up; you're also thinking of making that grading process painless for both you and the student.
Another cool transfer is thinking of/empathizing with what your WC students go through and how they struggle with their assignment descriptions when you're in the process of designing and writing up assignment prompts for your class. We need to remind ourselves what it's like for our writing center students to slog through and try to interpret a 4-page Rhetoric assignment.
"We need to remind ourselves what it's like for our writing center students to slog through and try to interpret a 4-page Rhetoric assignment." @Carol - absolutely. After seeing / reading some very hard to decipher, and overly wordy assignments, I fully sympathize with my students. Great point.
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