wc's, faculty referral, student resposibility

[96BANDY@wmich.edu]

Hi Y'all
	I'm a grad assistant at the wc here at Western Michigan University
where I am pursuing an MFA in poetry or fiction (can't always decide). 
This is my first semester in a wc, I taught fresh comp last year, so I've been
lurking on you a while.
	I'm not responding to any particular person but I am interested in
addressing this whole thing about referring one's own and required visits and
such.  Our wc is not run by the English dept. but the English dept. is
obligated to supply one GA out of their TA budget each year.  I requested to
be that person this year because I thought I hated grading so much.  My idea
was to find a place where I could work my 20 hours, leave it at the office
and go home to write my own stuff.  The problem was, I was spending an average
of 45 minutes each grading 3-5 page papers.  The time factor isn't actually
the important issue here.  What I want to address is student responsibility. 
I was, as an instructor, assuming the responsibility to motivate my students
(which is good!) then extending that into a responsibility for their
progress, or the measure of their progress, namely their writing product, the
paper.  Those of you who teach or have taught probably recognize this pitfall
from your wet-behind-the-ears days.  
	I think we would all agree that good student writing will not happen
without self-commitment and a sense of responsibility.  This is why we train
tutors to ask open ended questions, encourage student clients to make their
own decisions, avoid being too directive.  Having jumped streams entirely, (I
do not teach now so am not student conferencing concurrently with my wc
tutoring) I recognize a distinct difference between teacher conferencing and
wc sessions.  Some of the hesitations expressed about shirking
responsibility to one's own students seem to indicate that not everybody
recognizes a difference here.  This troubles me, because I begin to wonder
how many other faculty in other departments don't recognize a difference. 
This could keep them from referring students to us or, possibly more
problemamatic is the possibility that they will have counterproductive
expectations concerning wc tutoring sessions.  The other concern I have is
from the student perspective.  If students think that coming to the wc is
like going to the teach it may raise a whole new set of social stigmas (or
further them) and prevent them from seeking us themselves.
	As part of my position I wear the hat of Director of Promotions.  I
visit approximately 80 intro level writing sections in English, engineering
and business.  In my in-class adverts I stress the idea tha writing is a sort
of conversation, a conversation that takes place on white paper in black ink,
that it is a problem for many people first encountering academic writing
because the blank paper or the blank computer screen doesn't offer body
languge or verbal feedback to indicate places where the conversation  should
be extended, offer more detail, or should go a different direction because
the audience is falling asleep.  I suggest to them that talking about ideas
during the writing process helps expand and clarify those ideas so that they
are easier to get down on paper, that the people we have hired are not
teachers but peers who use this technique in their own writing, know it
helps, and want to use it to help others.  (I present this in a fast paced,
audience interactive way in a style closely related to stand-up comedy.  The
response has been remarkable.  I have a script that I can forward to anyone
who is interested or I guess I could post it here.  Is that appropriate?)  I
make it clear that we don't proofread but that help is available on more
mechanical issues in the way of strategies the student can learn to employ on
their own.
	What I hope to do in these adverts is to counter common
misconceptions about wc's, that they are only for ESL and remedial students,
and to stress that the student always remains responsible.  I hope that these
ads enlighten faculty as well as students about the nature of our wc and what
we do.
	Am I being totally obvious at great length here?
	
	I guess I feel like faculty who require visits to wc's think we're 
more like teachers, and this is part of the problem.  English faculty who
think the same thing are going to feel like it should be their job.

James Bandy, GA
WMU Writing Center
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, MI 49008
616-387-4442