The Writing Fellows ... A Forgotten Resource?

This post was written by undergraduate student Talissa Gonzalez for Professor Christine Wilson's ENG 335 assignment, Writing as Social Action. It is part of a “Student Speaks” series on the RCL blog. Pictures were added by the editor.

According to the student body, the Writing Fellows only exist for a couple weeks each semester – around midterms and finals. Other than that, the ASC (Academic Success Center) runs at its usual slow pace. It’s possible that many people don’t know we exist, and if they do, maybe they aren’t aware of all the services we provide. We are not spell-check, Grammarly, or citation machine. We are real human beings, sitting idly in the ASC until we are deemed useful. 

This is my second semester tutoring at Dominican, but I’ve been tutoring since high school and it’s not all that different. It's possible students want to avoid burdening someone else with their academic struggles, but the Fellows quite literally set time aside for students to do that. Although our skill and position allow for some authority over our tutee, our tutoring pedagogy invites us to approach our tutees as equals and to learn along with them. Fellows benefit from engaging with forms of writing that are foreign to them, just as students benefit from a listening ear and helpful hand. However, there’s been an apparent lack of such. 

Writing exists in nearly every major, regardless of the degree pursued. Yet the vast majority of our tutees are freshmen from CRWS courses. Why don’t we encounter Philosophy majors who need help brainstorming their approach to a certain phenomenon? Or Communication majors who need a test audience for a presentation? Additionally, why don’t we encounter upperclassmen such as seniors who are spiraling about what to include in their portfolio? A large part of this falls on our faculty’s hands. Most of our appointments are generated from courses that incentivize a visit with a Fellow, whether it’s required for a grade or offered for extra credit. We are grateful for the handful of professors we regularly get students from, but there are plenty of others who could encourage it as well. Professors are here to teach what they specialize in, but they are also here to teach students to utilize all the resources available to them on campus. 

Although it can be initially uncomfortable, I love to work with students who bring work that forces me to critically think alongside them. It does me no good to stay within my comfort zone in writing. Not that the appointments are primarily for my benefit, but having a greater diversity in our tutees by working with a larger portion of the student body would be beneficial for the newcomers as well as the tutors. Allowing the Fellows to engage with coursework unfamiliar to them puts them at a more equal pedestal with tutees and allows them to prepare for similar situations in future appointments. We will continue to remain stagnant in trajectory and narrow in audience if our faculty does not aid us in the mission for greater involvement. 

Beyond that, greater involvement isn’t exclusively beneficial to the students. While it may seem like I’m selfishly asking for more traffic in the ASC to feel like a better used resource, it’s more than that. Students we interact with are the same students submitting assignments, participating in class discussions, and most importantly (to some), rating instructor effectiveness – not just through the end-of-semester surveys, but by word of mouth. Professors, when students leave your class, can they honestly say that you did everything in your power to support them in their learning? Writing Fellows can obviously help them as a writer, but a bigger part of our job is empowering our peers with confidence and autonomy over their work. Within the 30 minutes I am given with a student, my main goal is not to inform and instruct, but to uplift. In addition to advocating for professors and their rubrics, I help students feel confident in their writing choices and rediscover the “umph” behind writing – a benefit beyond a good grade.  

The Writing Fellows have no way of hurting course curriculum but have many ways of helping if we are included. The authority dynamic doesn’t always make professors the easiest to approach with issues or concerns, so it’s important to establish another resource that can offer similar support. It’s imperative that faculty start incentivizing visits to the Writing Center by adding it into their syllabus, not only to make students aware of such resources, but to improve engagement with course material and better achieve course learning goals. Help us, by helping the students, help you.