Category: Tutorial Talk and Methods

A college writing center featuring 4 round tables, at which pairs of students are working and talking together.

Talking about the Deeply Personal in the Writing Center

Peer Tutoring, Student Voices, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers

A conversation with Grace Apostol, Miranda Parrish, and Rachel Rodriguez, Washington College—How do writing tutors navigate difficult conversations in the course of their work with peers, moments where student writers share vulnerabilities or tutors feel the heavy weight of imposter syndrome? Washington College writing center director Rachel Rodriguez facilitates a conversation with two undergraduate writing tutors, Grace Apostol and Miranda Parrish, about how they grapple with these scenarios and translate their training into the reality of their praxis. […]

October 3, 2023
photo of a laptop browser page open to TikTok’s homepage with a tab titled “TikTik-Make Your Day” (Credit: Unsplash)

#essayhack: What TikTok can Teach Writing Centers about Student Perceptions of College Writing

Technology, Tutorial Talk and Methods

By Holly Berkowitz, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga–There is a widespread perception that TikTok, the popular video-sharing social media platform, is primarily a tool of distraction where one mindlessly scrolls through bite-sized bits of content. However, due to the viewer’s ability to engage with short-form video content, it is undeniable that TikTok is also a platform from which users gain information; whether this means following a viral dance tutorial or learning how to fold a fitted sheet, TikTok houses millions of videos that serve as instructional tutorials that provides tips or how-tos for its over one billion active users. […]

September 26, 2023
Laptop on desk showing Open AI website and text “Introducing ChatGPT”

AI in the Writing Center: Small Steps and Scenarios

AI Writing, Peer Tutoring, Tutor Publications, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Writing Center pedagogy, Writing Centers

By Thomas Deans, Noah Praver, and Alexander Solod, University of Connecticut—Even those far from college writing programs are talking more about writing these days, and we all know why: AI. Some disciplinary associations, including CCCC, MLA, and AWAC, have formed task forces on AI, posted working papers, or issued position statements (nothing yet from IWCA). Some writing centers have started creating materials to guide tutors. And all of us will be mulling over how to handle […]

August 1, 2023
A pile of English grammar books, including The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language by Huddleston & Pullum; Hurford’s The Origins of Grammar; The Grammar Book by Larsen-Freeman & Celce-Mucia; Syntactic Theory by Sag, Wasow, & Bender; Grammar for English Language Teachers (2nd edition) by Parrott; The English Interrogative Pronouns by Karlberg; Practical English Usage (4th edition) y Swan; The English Verb by Lewis; Aspects of a Theory of Syntax by Chomsky; Fowler’s Modern English Usage (2nd edition); and Modern English Syntax by Onions.

A Lesson from Passive Voice

Graduate Students, Multilingual Writers, Peer Tutoring, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Writing Center Tutors

By Diego Alegría—How can we teach writing beyond questions around grammar, but through its very own instruments and problems? This question has guided the way I approach my writing center sessions. Here, I hope to trace a tentative answer by describing and analyzing a mentorship session that focused on the use of passive voice. In this session […]

July 18, 2023
a vertical oil painted rainbow spectrum with red on the left and purple on the right.

The Queer Tutor: Affirmation of Identity Through Writing Center Work

Diversity and Inclusion, Graduate Students, Peer Tutoring, Queer Theory, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Writing Center pedagogy, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers

By Molly Ryan, Virginia Tech—I remember my first day of writing center tutoring distinctly: I can see the desk I selected, third from the front by one of the large windows on the outer wall of the second floor of Newman library at Virginia Tech. I remember the brightly colored Crayola markers laid out for tutors, selecting the black marker to write my name on my identifying tag, and then […]

May 2, 2023
Group of young adults with laptops sit together and laugh

The Place of Laughter in Writing Center Spaces

Graduate Students, Peer Tutoring, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Writing Center Tutors

By Arawomo Oluwayinka—I vividly remember working with two of my students, and the laughter we shared has always made these sessions memorable. In the first session, the student was struggling with incorporating comments from her advisor. In the other, the student was tired of the course content and the TA was not helping matters. Both students were working on serious writing projects and had serious writing concerns. However, we were able to navigate through it with our shared laughter […]

April 18, 2023
Colorful globe sitting on a desk

Empathetic Listening and Collaborative Learning: My Experience as an International Writing Center Tutor

Collaborative Learning, Diversity and Inclusion, Graduate Students, Multilingual Writers, Peer Tutoring, Social Justice, Tutor Publications, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers

By Kuhelika Ghosh—When I work with international undergraduate students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Writing Center, I often find myself taking a moment or two to acknowledge the specific challenges that the student shares with me. During some of these conversations, I end up briefly sharing my own experiences during my undergraduate degree when I struggled with writing within certain academic genres as a new international student. I still remember the first time I […]

March 21, 2023
First-Generation Students sitting in their organizational home looking attentively towards an invited speaker, Emilio Manuel University of Utah Student Union.

Nomadic Pedagogy and the Writing Center

Covid, Higher Education, Technology, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Writing Center pedagogy, Writing Centers

By Mario Ramirez-Arrazola, University of Oklahoma—In writing center work, It is hard to refrain from thinking about the writing center as the client’s endpoint, and yet it is important to recognize the varied movements and progressions that bring writers to us. Before entering the space of the writing center, they have had to travel through a journey of self-contained experiences, which affected them in either grand or negligible ways. When they walk out, perhaps never to be seen again, their stories don’t stop there. […]

October 25, 2022
A mechanic grinding down a metal beam with sparks flying.

Show Your Work(flow)

Peer Tutoring, Technology, Tutor Training, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Uncategorized, Writing Center pedagogy, Writing Center Staff, Writing Center Theory, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers

By Joseph Franklin, New York City College of Technology—I am writing this at a bamboo table and simple folding chair combo. I am using Microsoft Word on a Mac laptop mounted on a Roost laptop stand and using a Logitech ERGO K860 keyboard that supports my wrists. I am playing instrumental music by Grandbrothers through Sennheiser PXC 550 noise canceling headphones and I have notifications turned off on all devices. These tools (and others) have been curated […]

October 4, 2022
A clearing to an empty lake with mountains in the distance

Introverted Engagement: Exploring the Experiences of Shy Writing Center Tutors

Higher Education, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Writing Center pedagogy

By Shannon Mooney—Many years ago, while I was working as an undergraduate tutor, students from a local high school visited our writing center as they worked towards implementing a center at their school. During a group lunch, one of the high schoolers posed a question to our writing center’s tutors and staff: How do tutors who are shy or introverted manage their anxiety or nervousness when interacting with so many different people in writing center spaces? As a shy tutor, I should have attempted to answer the question; instead, […]

August 9, 2022