Re: Tutor internship

[colleen lynch <clynch@prism.santa-fe.cc.nm.us>]

    We are piloting a similar program.  We are working with students who have already finished 101/102.  They are observing tutoring sessions, talking with experienced tutors, meeting with their instructors and with me, reading The Harcourt Brace Guide to Peer Tutoring, and, finally, tutoring.  All of this to earn a one credit honors add-on! This is our first semester, so we have a small group, but they have great enthusiasm, sensitivity and skill, and I will be happy to hire them next semester if I can. I, too, think this is a much better than writing another paper; it seems to offer a new way for the students to interact with faculty and with writing.
    I am concerned that they might not be getting enough training and support, but once I establish a better training or mentoring program for all tutors, the Honors students should be able to participate. I don't have enough experience with this to offer you much sage advice, but maybe we should keep in touch.

Colleen Lynch
Tutor/Writing Center Coordinator, Santa Fe Community College, NM



Rebecca Foster wrote:

> One of my students has just started a project that's a new idea to me, and I'm wondering whether any of you have experience with something along the same lines, and can point me toward pitfalls to avoid and ways to make the project a success.
>
> We're at a community college, and our tutors are all peer tutors who have completed English 101 & 102 (the traditional "freshman comp" courses). In addition to my Writing Center duties, I'm teaching a section of 101, and one student is taking the course for honors credit. Our honors program requires student and instructor to define an honors project on a contract basis; in many courses, this ends up being an additional research paper or something of the sort. This student, knowing that I direct the WC, suggested that she could spend 18-20 hours this semester in the Center, as a kind of intern, observing and working with the tutors. We don't plan to let her tutor, of course--she's only halfway through her first writing course--but she'll otherwise be treated as though she were a tutor in training. I'm excited about the project--no one here has ever done anything like it. It seems to me that this will be more valuable to her, and she'll learn more (both about tutoring and writing) than
> she ever could by writing yet another paper. (Also, if she's as successful in the 101 course as I suspect she's going to be, and if she's equally successful in 102, then she'd be a good tutor candidate next fall. With the high turnover we necessarily have in a 2-year college, I'm always on the lookout for potential tutors!)
>
> So...is there a down side to this that I'm missing? Anybody got suggestions, warnings, similar experiences? Thanks!
>
> Becky Foster
> Longview Community College
> Lee's Summit, MO