The Virtual Conference

Over the next series of slides, you will experience a sample Writing Center conference at Slippery Rock happens.  Of course, there is probably no such thing as a typical conference; every conference, writer and tutor is unique, bringing something new to the learning environment.  Yet, the process that is used to respond to writing is beneficial for all new tutors to learn.  

Also, seeing a conference on a computer screen only provides you with the basics; that's why it is highly encouraged that all new tutors sit in on actual conferences to get a first-hand view of how the process works.

This virtual conference, therefore, has been developed to give you a brief overview and to serve as a reference tool for tutors who have concerns later in the semester.  

Some things to remember when starting the session:

1. Most students are new and nervous  when they enter the Writing Center; make them feel relaxed.    

2. Show the student where he or she can sit for the session, making sure that the student is comfortable there.

3. Ask the student if he or she has a pen or pencil.  If not, please get him or her one to use during the session.

4.  Develop rapport with the student.  Paula Gillespie and Jon Olsen, in their guide to tutor training, use the LOOSER acronym to develop rapport.  This consists of

L:  Lean in towards to writer; approach the writer

O:  Offer hospitality (offer coffee, a handshake, to hang up coat)

O:  Open posture, legs not crossed, arms not crossed

S:  Smile, nod

E:  Eye contact

R:  Relax

Remember, most writers will model the tutor as the session goes along.  The more relaxed you are at the beginning, the more relaxed the student will be.

Beginning the Session

Tutor:  "I need you to fill out the top section of this form.  Also, if you have a copy of the assignment for this paper, I would like to see it before we start the session."

After a few moments:

Student:  "I've filled this out."

Tutor:  "Good. Now, I have looked over the assignment.  Give me an idea about what your paper is about, who your audience is and what stage of writing you are in."

After introducing yourself to the student, you should begin the session. To begin, do the following:

1. Give the student a Writing Center Conference Information Form.  Have the student fill out the top portion of the form.

2.  While the student fills out the form, read over the assignment sheet (if the student has brought a copy with him/her).  Write down any questions you have about the assignment and discuss these with the student before addressing the actual paper.

3.  Discuss the student's purpose and audience.  Not only will this help you better understand the student's paper, but it also will help identify whether or not the student understands the assignment.  

Reading the paper

Tutor:  "Ok, I have a good idea of what your paper's focus is.  Are there any particular problems you want to focus on."

Student addresses particular problems.

Tutor:  "Well, we will look at those problems.  I would like you to go ahead and read the paper out loud.  This will enable you to learn how to correct your papers at home and will also allow me to hear the paper as you intend it to be heard.  So, go ahead and read through the paper."

It is important to address the student writer's concerns early on in the session.  This will help the student relax, enable him or her to realize that he or she isan active participant in the session and allows you, as a tutor, to know what problems truly concern the student.

Secondly, having the student read the paper out loud will allow you to respond to the student's paper based upon your own personal response to the paper.  Some things to consider during this stage are:

1. Make sure you can still see the paper as the student is reading it.  This will help you keep track of where you are in the paper and shows where students are having problems with wording, sentence structure, etc.

2. How you want the student to read the paper is up to you.  Some tutors have the students read the paper through one time, then go back over revision.  Others go through the paper page by page, stopping after each page to address concerns.  The best bet is to discuss this with the student and find out what he or she is most comfortable with.

3. As the student reads through the paper, take notes on the back of the conference sheet.  These notes can be used during the revision period, allowing a quick reference as you discuss particular problems.  These notes will also probably correlate with the student's overall concerns:  "You were worried about the paper's organization.  I noted on my sheet that I could follow your purpose for the first four paragraphs, but I became confused whenever we got to the fifth one.  Maybe we should return to that section and rework it."

Responding to the Paper

After the student has finished reading the paper, the tutor can begin giving responses.  Of course, these responses will vary depending upon the problems encountered.  Most important is that tutors should address higher order concerns (Thesis, Voice, Development, Audience, Organization) before low order concerns (sentence structure, punctuation, usage spelling).  Fixing all the grammatical mistakes won't help a paper that is unorganized, lacks a true thesis or needs further development.  Thus, here are some common concerns.

Tutor:  "Ok, the paper sounds good.  I did see a problem with your thesis.  Can you tell me or point to a place in your paper that shows your overall argument?"

Tutor:  "Ok, I like a lot of this paper.  However, I doesn't seem to flow as well as it could.  Is there a place in the paper where you noticed that the arguments became confusing?"

Tutor:  "It sounds like you paper is stating this:______.  Is that correct or were you looking to say something else?"

Tutor:  "As you were reading this paper, I saw the following images in my mind: _______.  Are these the images you are attempting to create or were you searching for another result?"

Tutor:  "While this paper sounds good, I am a little confused about the argument you made on page __.  Why did you use it and what are you attempting to accomplish?"

You can also use a method called rephrasing, developed by Carl Rogers.  Take what the writer says and paraphrase it in your own words.  For instance, a writer may say "I'm really worried that I haven't followed the assignment."  The tutor responds "You sound very concerned about this."  Responses like this will help stimulate the writer into talking more about his particular concerns and questions.

As you can see, there are several different ways to approach the high order concern revision section of the paper.  How you approach this will depend upon your own personal experience, the current situation, the student's preferences and your own confidence.  Some basic things to remember are:

1.  The student should be the one making the corrections (the pen should never be in your hand).  If a student isn't marking the corrections on the paper, point to the places where you and the student agree a change is needed and persuade the student to mark the change on the page.

2.  Never directly point out the problem to the student; having you correct the paper is not accomplishing anything.  Thus, use questions that will stimulate the student towards finding the problems (  "Where is this at in the paper?"  "Why did you use this here?"  "How can this be further developed?")

3.  Ask the student if he or she is understanding the corrections.  If you are unsure of this, provide quick quizes for them.  (" I see here a problem that we addressed back on page __.  What problem do you think is occurring here?")

4. Most importantly, allow the student to become an active participant in the discussion.  Sometimes, the student may not agree with your opinion; so, discuss other ways to approach a problem.  While the student may eventually understand and accept your solution, the student may actually develop a better correction that what you originally thought!!  So, leave the door open to constant discussion and revision. 

5. And always remember:  While there may be smaller problems in the way, it is more important to search out the larger concerns.   If a tutor can accomplish this, both tutor and writer will reap the benefits of a better paper.

Lower concerns

After addressing the higher order concerns, the student may wish to correct some grammatical mistakes in the paper.  Once again, using questions to stimulate the student's own revision is important; you are not to proofread the paper for the student.  So some questions may be:

"Why did you use this verb tense here?"

"Which word are you attempting to use here?"

"This word means ______.  Is that what you are trying to say here?"

"This sentence seems to be quite long.  Is there a place in the sentence where we can break it into another sentence?"

Once again, how you approach lower concerns will fluctuate from session to session.  However, some basic things to remember are:

1.  Encourage students to make changes on the paper with their pen.

2. Allow students to work through the errors.  This may be time-consuming, but it will help students better understand the errors.

3.  No one expects you to know all the answers.  Thus, don't be afraid to consult another tutor, a style guide or the internet for any problems or concerns you are unsure of.

Ending the Session

Whoa!!  Before we can officially end this session and "race" off to the next one, we need to complete a few last minute details.  These include:

1. Ask the student if there are any other questions or if more explanation is needed.

2.  Spend time going over the different corrections and topics you discussed during this session.  "Ok, during this session we focused on X,Y and Z.  Is there anything that you didn't understand about these points?"

3. Make sure the student has correctly filled out the Conference Information Form, including his or her name, ID number, class name and number and professor's name.

4.  Encourage the student to return to the Writing Center for future help and thank him or her for the current visit.

5.  After the student has left, you may want to spend time privately going over what worked and didn't work for that session.  Log down these responses in a journal.

6.  Finally, you can enter the student's information into the Writing Center Database.  You will be given more instructions on how to enter this information during the latter stages of training.  

And that's it!!  Of course, I only mean this literally; every session remains with you, through the experience itself, things you learned, things that worked and failed and several other aspects.  Each session will help your adjustment more into your role as a tutor.  And each student will be remembered for the role you played in their academic career.