Welcome to another week of Topics Tuesday!
These past few weeks have been crazy busy in the Coe Writing Center. Dr. Bob, our beloved director and facilitator of all-things-CWC, is retiring at the end of this year. That means we've been hosting new director candidates for teas, luncheons, and discussions on our very own second-hand furniture.
In visiting with candidates, I've received many questions about what our writing center values and represents. Finding the answer to this question is one reason Topics in Composition class exists. We can't be successful as consultants until we define what success means in our setting.
It's difficult for me to articulate exactly I think is successful within our writing center because it overlaps so many facets of my life. Here's an attempt:
Making better writers, not better papers.
Our writing center is firm in our stance that conferencing is not for the purpose of chugging out A's on papers. Aiming for A's would just be silly; we as student consultants have no idea how a professor might evaluate a paper. Instead, we focus on making students better writers through helping them think and converse about their writing. For example, if a student comes to me worried about the organization of her paper, I will usually start with some questions: "What do you think is the main idea of this paragraph?" or "Where do you think this idea fits best in your paper?" By conversing, they can discover their own answers for their own writing -- and next time that student has a problem with organization, she can ask herself those questions.
Creating staff and student body cohesion.
Working in the writing center is one of my favorite Coe College experiences because my closest relationships are here. The writing center staff has feels like a family. I now know that a lot goes on behind the scenes to give our staff relationships a chance to grow: planning staff retreats off-campus, planning how to get us all to conferences, planning entertaining staff meetings, etc. This staff cohesion contributes greatly to the success of our center. In addition, we find ways to bond with the greater student body. We host a Sunday evening meal for free every week, open to anyone. We also host Tuesdays Teas, where faculty and students can drink tea and chat, and Fun Fest Fridays, where students can watch movies and play games. Our writing center is an open space for students to grow not just as writers, but as people -- and really, those two improvements go together.
No job is more important than any other job.
At the beginning of every semester, each Centaur signs up for a committee and for an individual job in addition to conferencing. These committees and tasks are numerous and diverse: taking care of time sheets, coming up with CWC cartoons, roasting coffee, leading workshops, reading for our literary publication Colere, blogging (whoop!) and many more. It is vital that each Centaur takes responsibility for his/her job... and usually, we do exceptionally well at fulfilling our duties. I think our success comes from our appreciation of each role and what it brings. It's teamwork at its finest.
Of course, there are many other aspects of the writing center I value. The reasons are unlimited, kind of like our coffee. However, these reasons really stick out.
Here's to the coming year of a new head honcho and a deeper understanding of what makes our writing center tick.
-Angela
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