Tales From the Writing Center
A Short Collection of Short Narratives
Preface Writing centers are unique academic spaces. It is an environment that strives towards being the epitome of collaboration, and, often, it succeeds in ways that constantly surprise both the writing center’s consultants and those seeking help. Even with my limited experience, I have come to realize the immensely symbiotic relationships developed within the close encounters happening daily in writing centers. Mainly, writing centers ask everyone involved to take into account what they know and don’t know every single day as a means of understanding the progressing complexity of writing in new ways. Writing centers can handle anything, from a single paragraph to a full-length novel, and that flexibility is one of a writing center’s best assets. Consultants are never daunted by what is asked of them, and they always thrive on the feedback of successful enterprises. The feedback from those who come to writing centers is what drives writing centers. Without this fuel, writing centers wouldn’t be the agents of collaboration they strive to be. In the end, though, writing centers are about helping those who walk through its doors in search of help. Consequently, writing centers have the ability to develop for those seeking help new ways in which they can learn to help themselves. Patrons of writing centers will get feedback. They will be offered advice, questions, encouragements, and praise, and rarely will they be offered edicts. Ideally, the patrons will not feel like their work has been corrected by more knowledgeable superiors. Rather, they will feel like a discovery has taken place, a discovery leading to a better way of explaining visions, ideas, dreams, expectations, and lives.
1 Having worked for several writing centers as a student and as a teacher, one of my favorite accounts comes from being a volunteer at Ball State during the 2008-2009 academic year. I had a weekly appointment with a creative writer who wanted feedback on his novel and each week we went over a chapter, revised, went back over older chapters, and discussed storylines – sometimes the entire hour would just be spent discussing writing. There were times when I would make suggestions about certain books or other writers he should look at in an effort to envision different styles and perspectives on how to tell a story. These discussions inspired me to continue writing both creatively and academically. The great part of this collaboration was that the more we worked together on the novel, the more I felt as though I were a part of the story he was telling. Even fellow tutors who were not occupied with other clients at the time, listened and commented on the writings we discussed – it was as if the novel was growing right before our eyes over the course of the year. The writing center is a place to get feedback on your writing and your ideas – be they academic or creative. The interaction between tutor and client is reciprocal – as many times as a client has said “thank you” to me after a session, I say “thank you” right back to them, because regardless of the subject, we have both learned something new. -Casey McArdle
2 I remember Corey well. As I was reading a book, I noticed him casually stride through the door of the writing center at Indiana State University without a care in the world. Corey was a young African American fresh on the college scene. The stiff bill of his new, red Yankees cap was pulled slightly to one side, which exposed the large sunglasses he was wearing as he entered the windowless writing center. Unaware appointments were available, Corey asked for some immediate help with his first assignment in his first-semester writing class. Although we were not that busy, the other consultants deferred to me since they could see he needed help even getting the first words on the page. As we sat down, he seemed calm and collected; then, I asked him where his problems began. His anguish became apparent. He simply stated that he couldn’t write like a college student. He felt that whatever he might write was probably not what the teacher wanted, like he was unable to write like everyone else. I said I doubted that, and we began to look over the requirements of the assignment, two descriptive paragraphs over something and someone he knew well. He readily acknowledged he didn’t believe anything that was personal to him was worth writing about. I helped him begin running through the list of people he knew, one of the easiest placed to start. We talked about using family members, but decided that might be too difficult because of how close he was to them. We started to branch out to include people others would find interesting or amusing. Since he was right out of high school, his last history teacher stuck in his mind. According to Corey, he was quite the odd character. He started to list some of the weird things this teacher said and did. Corey soon found himself laughing over the strange man’s James Brown suits, which probably actually dated to the
‘70s, gold chains, sardine-scented musk, and wet fish handshake. It was hilarious. The paragraph soon started to take shape, and we breezed through that part of the assignment. At the end of our session, Corey smiled as he confidently headed off to finish the other half of the assignment. I have told this story other TAs at ISU and family members. Corey is a prime example of how a different cultural background helps construct a defeatist view. Many times students just need to know that what they think is not only interesting, but certainly valid in the college classroom. -Justin Bauserman
3 Student responses to feedback are pretty varied. I pay a good bit of attention to how they respond to feedback given by professors so that I can avoid some mistakes in my own commenting. Most often there is a sense of confusion when looking at instructor feedback/ evaluation. They either don't understand what the professor is asking of them or think the professor did not understand what is was that the student was doing. This sort of response makes sense and leads me to discuss what it is they wanted to accomplish, what they thought went well, what they thought went less well, etc. As I try to help them make sense of the paper and the comments, there is often a sense of relief, either in understanding what the professor was after or in having their opinions about their work heard. This is the best kind of work to do because it seems as though the student feels better about the work in progress and has new directions to work in. Other times, when I am one of the first to give feedback on a project, it can be less predictable. Some students simply don't want to hear what I have to say. One student flatly refused to talk about issues of content that I raised. Other times they look to me to completely make any changes for them. These kinds of students have a hard time when I ask questions to get them thinking about my feedback. They look for what I secretly want them to change, to "make it right." Student responses to feedback are generally not predictable. Each responds out of their own experiences and what they want to achieve in a tutoring session. I would offer this kind of narrative to a colleague, especially some one who wanted to know more about the work done in a writing center. -Emily Standridge