Franklin & Marshall College

Throughout the grueling long weekend of tutor training, veteran Katie Delaney '12 and rookie Nate Gill '14 recorded their distinct experiences. Here they share their unique perspectives on the Writing Center's rigorous regimen, preparing the men and women who serve and protect F&M's community of composition.

Pre-Training: Thursday, August 25, 2011

Katie

I remember my first training experience with the Writing Center last summer, and all the excitement and nerves that came with being new to the staff and the practice of tutoring. I was pretty anxious about the prospect of working with a group of highly skilled and respected tutors, and I questioned my own ability to tutor others. Over the course of training, though, I was amazed by how quickly I felt at home and how comfortable I became thanks to the help and support of the WC staff. This group of fun, smart, caring, and dedicated people became another family and support group for me on campus, and I hope that I can be there for the new tutors just like last year's veterans were for me. Looking back, I realize how crucial those first few days of training were for establishing the 2010-2011 WC staff’s bond. With 11 new tutors this year, I am so excited for this family to grow and to form new friendships as the 2011-2012 staff forms its own unique dynamic.

Nate

Writing Center training starts tomorrow, and I’m nervous.  I don’t know what to expect from this new job.  I don’t know whether it will come easily to me or if it will be a challenge, forcing me to learn from my mistakes before I learn from my successes.  I don’t know whether it will be painfully stressful or if it will become almost relaxing.  I don’t know if I’m truly prepared or just over-prepared.  Yet for all this nervous uncertainty, I expect that all of these possibilities will come at least a little true.  The work will be at times challenging, at others easy.  I’ll certainly feel stress, but I might also come to see tutoring as a relaxing break from my academic studies.  As for being prepared, well, I’ll find that out in the next five days.

Day One: Friday, August 26, 2011

Katie

Day One of tutor training, done! It feels so good to be back on campus and in good old Diagnothian again. Today was all about getting to know each other and our Writing Center. I remember that last year this day was one of the most important parts of tutor training for me because it was when I started to learn about our mission of improving “the writer” rather than “the writing.” Even though students might come in trying to improve their grade on one single paper, we would be working to teach lessons and techniques that they could apply to any other piece of writing, at any stage in the writing process. Sometimes we would help students with an entire rough draft, but sometimes we would spend an entire session on an introductory paragraph, or a thesis statement, or even brainstorming the whole topic for their paper. As a new tutor who had never been to the writing center, this concept blew my mind--learning that what we would be doing as tutors would be so much more than editing gave me a new sense of purpose and pride in our role. After having lived that pride through a year of tutoring experience at the WC, I was able to participate in today’s discussion of our mission and goals for the future with a different perspective and appreciation for what we do.

Nate

The first day of training is over, and I feel much more at ease.  Perhaps the best part of the day was designing a workshop presentation.  When I was first applying to work at the Writing Center, the workshop program was the part of the job that gave me the most pause.  It worried me not, as you might think, because it involves public speaking, but rather because it involves PowerPoints.  It may seem shocking, but I have never made or given a PowerPoint presentation.  Being home-schooled all through high school, presentations were never a big part of my education, and those I did have in classes I took outside my home never required more than a few notecards. So, when it came time today to begin designing a workshop, I was both worried about my inexperience and excited to become more informed.  Thanks to the knowledge and understanding of Amy Blakemore, my partner in design, my ignorance was no issue, and the process was not only enlightening but also enjoyable.  I feel prepared to present the workshop to the rest of the staff tomorrow morning, and, perhaps more importantly, I feel far more prepared to begin working. 

Day Two: Saturday, August 27, 2011

Katie

Today we began giving our practice workshop presentations to each other. Amanda, Tolly, and I were the first group to go, and we talked about introductory paragraphs. During our presentation, we used Harry Potter references and a swimming metaphor to help make the explanation of these essential paragraphs fun and interesting. It was a little nerve-wracking at first (veterans get nervous too!), but after a few minutes I felt myself getting back into the rhythm of the workshop and enjoying myself. We also have a tradition of acting a little out of character to prepare each other for things that could go wrong in workshops, so the acting portion was fun too. Our pretend classroom, made up of our fellow tutors, gave us a pretty hard time! Although in real workshops we rarely see any of the heckling that we get during training, these curveball questions and over-the-top interruptions helped us to think on our feet and added to the whole camaraderie of training. This part of training is great for the WC and our workshop program as a whole, as we give feedback and push each other to improve.

Nate

Workshop presentations began today.  This morning we dealt with higher order concerns, that is, issues relating to the organization and the structure of papers. The presentation on body paragraphs was, at least for me, the highlight of the day.  First of all, the presenters opened with a food metaphor, specifically linking proper paragraph development to proper club sandwich construction.  I am a great proponent of food metaphors, especially those involving sandwiches, and the idea of assertive veggies, meaty support, saucy explanations, and transitional bread, with a toothpick thesis holding it all together, will definitely stick with me.  Amy and I led the final workshop, on conclusions, and I think it went well.  We opened with a clever discussion about movies to get people engaged.  If your favorite movie ended abruptly, confusingly, or didn’t really end at all, just stopped, would it be your favorite movie?  Would you like it at all?  The questions got everyone thinking about the importance of endings and got the workshop off to a good start.

Day Three: Sunday, August 28, 2011

Katie

Hurricane Irene did not stop WC training from forging ahead! With more workshop presentations and the traditional staff dinner from Isaac’s, today was an informative and enjoyable day. As I shared the beauty of the Mallard (best sandwich ever!), learned about guiding baby sea turtles to the ocean, and heard some ridiculous stories, I began to make connections with new tutors beyond our shared passion for writing. The WC staff’s awesome dynamic last year taught me that spending time getting to know each other is just as important as our formal training is to making the WC the best learning environment possible.

Nate

Workshop presentations continued today with sentence-level concerns.  First came commas, and I cannot imagine a more lively or enthusiastic discussion of proper punctuation.  For one thing, the presenters all did a fantastic job keeping everyone focused.  They were energetic, passionate, and clearly capable of thinking on their feet.  The content was also exemplary, especially the section on the confusion that comma placement, or lack thereof, can cause. That discussion’s brilliant example, “Let’s eat, Grandma!” vs. “Let’s eat Grandma!” perfectly illustrates the potential for comma-caused confusion, and it still makes me chuckle!

Day Four: Monday, August 29, 2011

Katie

In our second-to-last day of prep before class starts, we focused solely on one of the most intimidating and important parts of training-- the one-on-one mock tutorial session. Each tutor got assigned a character, an extreme personality, and we took turns tutoring each other while being videotaped. It was amazing to see how natural the new tutors were in their first sessions. Their knowledge, demeanor, and adaptability blew me away as they handled some very tricky situations calmly and with a sense of humor. These tutors’ understanding of how to guide without directing, no matter what our crazy characters threw at them, was very impressive. These mock tutorials helped me become aware of some ways to improve as a tutor and started to ease my “first day of tutoring” nerves, as I get ready to start my second year of tutoring. As a returning tutor, I think that I felt like I needed to have the right answer for every question, but as the new tutors reminded me, a little really does go a long way--letting tutees discover new things by themselves is much more helpful in the long run than providing a bunch of suggestions as soon as they encounter a problem. Although I’ve been through it before, I am still nervous about my first tutoring session of the year. This fall it’s a different type of pressure that I’m feeling: rather than asking myself, “Do I even know how to do this?” it’s “Do I even remember how to do this?” But, as last year’s question was answered with a strong “YES!” once I got over my fears and started to enjoy the process of helping others, I strongly believe that the same thing will happen this year. I know this year’s tutees will not be disappointed!

Nate

Today was all tutoring.  This morning we watched some old mock tutorial videos as demonstrations of techniques to aim for in working at the Writing Center, and we got a chance to try those techniques ourselves over lunch when we taped mock tutoring sessions with each other.  I enjoyed watching the old videos and learning from them, but I was still nervous before my own mock session.  Amanda and I took turns tutoring and playing our parts as students; her character had been required to come to the Center and wasn’t at all happy about it, and mine had failed to read the assignment before spending days writing and rewriting a paper that didn’t even address the prompt. After everyone recorded their sessions, we spent the rest of the day reviewing them together.  The characters and performances were hilarious, but amusement aside, I do feel like I learned a lot about how to work with difficult tutees. Although I’m still nervous, I’d say I’m as prepared as I can be to begin tutoring.

Day Five: Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Katie

Tutor training has officially come to an end. Just like the summer, it went by very quickly! All in all, tutor training a second time around was a great experience. I enjoyed participating as a veteran and having the ability to guide and provide insight to the new tutors with real-life tutoring experience of my own. I loved starting to get to know the new tutors, who played a huge role in making this year’s training so productive, lively, and rewarding--this year’s staff is phenomenal! Thanks to Dan, Justin, and Rachel for allowing this year's tutor training to run smoothly and for creating the best possible environment for us tutors to grow and learn together in. 2011-2012, let the games begin! 

Nate

Today was the last day of training, and it was a short one.  After covering the basics of the job, workshop presentations, and tutoring strategies over the last four days, all that was left was administrative details, and we were finished with those by 10:30 a.m.  Looking back at training, I feel prepared.  We’ve seen all the sides of the job, and we’ve talked about how to handle most of the details of Writing Center work.  I’m still about as nervous as I’ve ever been, but I know that what Judith Stapleton said today is right, that after the first tutoring session, it all gets easier.