WLN Post Week 11 Sallie
42:7-8
Article: "Tutor's Column: 'Paradoxical Authority: Preparing Tutors for Classroom Based Tutoring'" by Rachel Stroup
In her article, Stroup discusses the challenges of tutoring outside of the Writing Center, where individual attention and time are available and prioritized. She focuses her attention on who she calls "classroom tutors," which from my understanding are synonymous with TAs as we understand them at UIOWA. She identifies factors at play in the classroom that make writing writing instruction particularly difficult: "the number of students who require assistance, the teacher's instruction, and the integration of tutor as part of the curricular structure." While we do not have "classroom tutors" in our Rhetoric or GenEdLit courses, we are often put in a position of playing both the role of tutor and instructor at once, making these concerns about tutoring versus instructing overwhelmingly pertinent in our own classrooms. For the purposes of this discussion, I will be collapsing "classroom tutors" and TAs into one entity.
Part of what I enjoy about working in the writing center is the time and attention that its structure allows. It is the kind of attention I wish I could give to each individual students in my courses, but often feels out of reach. In this way, working in the Writing Center feels like a chance to vindicate the failings of traditional classroom structures in which many students arrive with different levels of preparedness, different concerns, and far too many different pieces of work to be considered individually within the course timeframe. I often suggest students go to the writing center when their needs exceed the scope of our time, but this can feel like a bit of an incomplete solution considering that 1) most students will not take the time to actually make the appointment and go 2) appointments are often difficult to come by and fill up quick. Something I have felt to be helpful is enforcing mandatory one-on-one meetings with students before major assignments so they can have the kind of individual attention available in the writing center without needing to take the initiative to sign up. However, this is often taxing on me as an instructor and often the needs of the student exceed even the time allotted outside of class.
I am wondering if there are ways we can be "bringing the writing center into the classroom" that are doable considering the existing constraints of classroom-learning and that would alleviate some of the pressure on both TAs and the high demand of the Writing Center.
Article: "Tutor's Column: 'Paradoxical Authority: Preparing Tutors for Classroom Based Tutoring'" by Rachel Stroup
In her article, Stroup discusses the challenges of tutoring outside of the Writing Center, where individual attention and time are available and prioritized. She focuses her attention on who she calls "classroom tutors," which from my understanding are synonymous with TAs as we understand them at UIOWA. She identifies factors at play in the classroom that make writing writing instruction particularly difficult: "the number of students who require assistance, the teacher's instruction, and the integration of tutor as part of the curricular structure." While we do not have "classroom tutors" in our Rhetoric or GenEdLit courses, we are often put in a position of playing both the role of tutor and instructor at once, making these concerns about tutoring versus instructing overwhelmingly pertinent in our own classrooms. For the purposes of this discussion, I will be collapsing "classroom tutors" and TAs into one entity.
Part of what I enjoy about working in the writing center is the time and attention that its structure allows. It is the kind of attention I wish I could give to each individual students in my courses, but often feels out of reach. In this way, working in the Writing Center feels like a chance to vindicate the failings of traditional classroom structures in which many students arrive with different levels of preparedness, different concerns, and far too many different pieces of work to be considered individually within the course timeframe. I often suggest students go to the writing center when their needs exceed the scope of our time, but this can feel like a bit of an incomplete solution considering that 1) most students will not take the time to actually make the appointment and go 2) appointments are often difficult to come by and fill up quick. Something I have felt to be helpful is enforcing mandatory one-on-one meetings with students before major assignments so they can have the kind of individual attention available in the writing center without needing to take the initiative to sign up. However, this is often taxing on me as an instructor and often the needs of the student exceed even the time allotted outside of class.
I am wondering if there are ways we can be "bringing the writing center into the classroom" that are doable considering the existing constraints of classroom-learning and that would alleviate some of the pressure on both TAs and the high demand of the Writing Center.
I agree, Sallie, it has been interesting to work with students one-on-one in the WC and compare that with how we interact with many students at once in our classrooms. I think it is admirable of you to enforce mandatory one-on-one meetings with each of your students, though I can see how this would be draining. I wonder if a small solution could be identifying which of your students feel they need more help with writing skills and which would like to improve on speech presentations. This could potentially split your class in half and allow you more time with the students who you are working with for that major assignment... ?
ReplyDeleteHi Sallie,
ReplyDeleteRegarding to your question about whether or not we can bring the writing center into the classroom, I think it depends on the course itself. What I found helpful for the class I teach is having one class session where students do a writing workshop. They basically bring in a draft of a writing assignment and work in pairs. They will do a peer review activity and use the whole 50 minutes to read and give feedback to their peers. I have found this to be very helpful.