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1. Introduction: Cognitive Dissonance
- Utah State University Press
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1 i n t r o d u C t i o n Cognitive dissonance Are we afraid that no one will do it if we talk about the real deal? —Beth Boquet (2002), Noise from the Writing Center A typical day for a writing center director might include any of the following: • Writing job ads, posting job ads, answering questions about job ads, asking for references for applicants, interviewing applicants, hiring applicants • Preparing for staff meetings, discussing tutoring needs with staff, finding guest speakers • Training tutors, observing tutors, giving tutors suggestions for improving practices, locating readings for tutors, distributing copies to tutors, listening to tutors’ self-assessment and their suggestions for improving the writing center • Answering questions about commas or APA or kairos while walking past a tutoring session, answering questions about commas or APA or kairos while getting mail in faculty mailroom or at retirement dinners or on airplanes • Writing or proofing copy for writing center advertisements, giving an interview to the school paper on the usefulness of a writing center • Writing conference proposals or presentations, drafting articles, tracking down out-of-print books from interlibrary loan • Coaching tutors or graduate students in writing proposals, articles, theses , dissertations, or job letters • Meeting with student groups and faculty who want to know how the writing center can help them, meeting with student groups and faculty who want to know all the “secrets” to being good writers in an hour or less • Writing memos articulating needs for more space, better equipment, more tutoring bodies; writing reports on utilization of space, equipment , and tutoring bodies • Scheduling tutors, rescheduling tutors, taking calls from sick and delayed tutors, finding replacements, telling students their tutor is late or their tutor is not coming • Tutoring student writers from all levels on all sorts of projects, consciously hoping to model “good tutoring practices” to others in the room 2 PErIP HErAl VISIonS for WrITIng CEnTErS • Answering emails and phone calls from disappointed students who want more appointments, answering emails and phone calls from faculty members who want miracles • Meetings: all kinds • Delegating: as much as possible • Reading latest (or thereabout) issues of the Writing Center Journal, the Writing Lab Newsletter, Praxis, Writing Program Administrator, College Composition and Communication, College English, and other related publications • Maintaining careful records; maintaining the writing center website, blog, Twitter, and Facebook • Ordering supplies, books, equipment, furniture, pens, bookmarks • Meeting with students or faculty who are researching student writers in the writing center, discussing ethical research practices, methodologies, and historical approaches to writing center research • Troubleshooting computer problems, software programs, network problems • Responding to posts from other writing center professionals on WCENTER • Running for a regional writing center association board, voting in board elections, hosting regional or national writing center conferences, packing up for travel to a city-wide, mini-regional, regional, national, or international meeting with other writing center professionals • Cleaning tables, chairs, keyboards; tidying up resources and desk drawers • Meeting with university assessment and accreditation committees to negotiate assessment plans • Talking with tutors and students about their weekends, classes, money and relationship problems, and favorite YouTube videos • Worrying about what is not getting done, what is not getting done well, or what the university’s financial crisis might mean for the students, tutors, and you Since many writing center directors are also faculty, days may also be full of teaching tasks: reading, lesson planning, syllabus writing, conferences, going to class, grading, responding to emails, as well as faculty meetings and committee work. For some faculty writing center directors, doing research is essential for keeping a job and being promoted , so days are also full of drafting proposals, communicating with co-authors, writing, researching, and revising. Since it is not uncommon for a writing center director to maintain a research agenda in a different subfield (say, Early Modern English or Basic Writing), some must keep current in two areas of study: writing center studies and their research area. [44.223.31.148] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 10:35 GMT) Introduction 3 Writing center tutors have equally complex lives. As tutors, they have many of the responsibilities that directors do, in addition to other tasks. They must get to work, clock in, answer phone calls and emails, work with students in tutoring sessions, work with students who walk in with any number of questions, work with faculty with any number of questions, complete records or paperwork, troubleshoot computer and software problems, prepare for and attend staff meetings, work on writing center...