RE: disciplinary writing tutors

["SWYT, WENDY" <wswyt@hcc.ctc.edu>]

Thanks Becky for your elaboration about the differences between the writing
fellow and general writing tutor.  I found your tutor's reflections
extremely helpful.  Could you elaborate on the overlapping roles of the
people who direct the two different tutoring programs?  Because I will be
running both programs, I'm wondering what the drawbacks of this might be.

Wendy Swyt
Highline Community College.

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Rebecca Foster [SMTP:FosterB@longview.cc.mo.us]
> Sent:	Wednesday, October 20, 1999 1:06 PM
> To:	wcenter@ttacs6.ttu.edu
> Subject:	RE: disciplinary writing tutors
> 
> Since you brought up Longview's program, Pat, let me elaborate a little.
> As you know (though others less familiar with Longview wouldn't), I don't
> run the Writing Fellows program, which is separate from the Writing Center
> (which I pretend to run, though I think it actually runs me). However, one
> of my tutors has worked as a Writing Fellow as well as a Writing Center
> tutor--this doesn't happen often because both I and the colleague in
> charge of the WAC/WF program think it's generally best to avoid
> overlapping roles. Still, there have been exceptions, and this tutor is
> one of them.
> 
> I asked her how she differentiates the two roles. She listed several key
> distinctions. The Writing Fellow is closely linked to a particular
> instructor and class, and has an in-depth knowledge of the writing
> assignments that a center tutor isn't likely to have. The WF knows not
> only the requirements of the assignment, but should be thoroughly familiar
> with the approaches and preferences of the individual instructor. The
> writing center tutor is less concerned with what a particular teacher
> wants and more with what will communicate to a broader audience. 
> 
> Also, she said, she tends to be more directive as a WF than as a Center
> tutor (this from the tutor who makes an art form of the open-ended
> question in the writing center).
> 
> In a sense, the writing fellow (and by extension, the disciplinary tutor
> we were originally discussing) serves as an assistant to the instructor
> where the peer tutor in the writing center serves as a collaborator for
> the student.
> 
> Becky Foster
> Writing Center
> Longview Community College
> Lee's Summit, MO
> 
> >>> Pat McQueeney <pmcqueen@johnco.cc.ks.us> 10/15 11:50 AM >>>
> An example of a program consistent with what I mentioned in a previous
> posting can be found at this site:
> www.kcmetro.cc.mo.us/longview/wfellows.html 
> 
> -