Blog # 4 Training is Everything...

When deciding if working in the writing center for me was an attainable goal, I looked at my goals on the main thing I wanted to achieve. First, I wanted to be a better writer. I was told, if you want to be a better writer, you have to write. You cannot just wish for it. Second, I wanted to help others who were in the writing blues shoes, to get out of it and love to write, like I do. Give me a topic; I will write because I love it. YET.... Training.. I asked about training and was told they'd give me a few week training. Luckily, I have heard that training is ongoing. Still in the dark about what training consisted of, I learned through this weeks reading what a peer tutoring training course would possibly look like. It would fall nothing short of writing itself. Then your peers would critique it. The more they have to say about it, the better it is, in my opinion. In Marcia Silver's article about how Brooklyn College tutoring training course is constructed, she stated that there were four steps in the critique stage done by the peers and overseen by the professor/instructor. They implemented what things they wanted you to focus on at each stage.

In Paula Beck's, "Peer Tutoring at a Community College" response to Nassau Community College's training course, I was once again inspired to continue my pursuit of happiness in applying for a position at the writing center, despite being a little deterred lately about doing so. I love how Nassau implemented grammar into their curriculum and not entirely shunning it out because of a "Stigma" avoidance of what the writing center is. I enjoyed how a student said she'd learned more about people in once semester at working at the writing center than she had in ANY of her psychology and sociology courses. Other than becoming a better writer and assisting others, having a broader interaction and knowledge of others is what I am looking forward too. They used similar tactics in training that Brooklyn College tutor training used as well as adding specific training, such as grammar, to better assist their enrolled students. I digress in some aspects of the article, though, "Tutees can hope to emulate the skills of their peers, while those of their professors sometimes seem hopelessly beyond them." I am a firm believer that the higher you aim, the more likely you are to meet your target. I also have experience working with professors as tutors in the writing center and have never felt inferior to them. I felt as if I was a sponge, and they were filling me with knowledge. I also felt like they were the sensa', or sefu and I was the student, disciple. My goal is to be as good as the master, not to be inferior. TO learn all that, he knows and to surpass him, hopefully, in due time.

When Starting to read the "Training Peers Tutors in the Art of Teaching" by Thom Hawkins, I was excited not to be apart of his program.  Then as I read through I felt we had the same philosophy, " tutors learn by doing", which coincided with what I have been taught that writers learn by writing; it is the only way to get better. Tutors doing just learn to write..."they will have learned so much about the importance.. placed on reliability, determination, perseverance, and individual commitment to helping others. They learn to..."identify the cause of their students' problems, and willing to use all available resources to find solutions. they learn that they need to adapt their teaching styles to the learning habits of their students as well as the content." 

Whether the students second language is English, a freshman in a two year college/four year college, or a junior having trouble articulating what exactly they need to do in a paper for class, students come to the writing center with a need for getting help. I understand some of the students are lazy and might be manipulative into convincing the tutor to write the paper for them. I believe the training sessions enlighten and teach the tutor to expect these things and show them the proper response for handling the situation. I believe the more adaptable one is, be it directive or nondirective approaches, if you are flexible and trained to help most, if not all, students that walk through the writing center doors,  and this in turn will assist in helping to make them better writers.