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Writing Tutor Handbook
Revised Winter 2006 ALWAYS REMEMBER OUR MOTTO: Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day. Teach him to fish, and he eats for the rest of his life.
TABLE OF CONTENTS GENERAL BUSINESS Listserv POLICIES AND PROCEDURES If You Cannot Make a Session WRITING TUTORS: BEGINNING OF TERM CHECKLIST Forms and Procedures AT A FIRST SESSION WITH A STUDENT Tutor Table Signs RESOURCES FOR TUTORS Writing Guides WRITING TUTOR BEST PRACTICES CHECKLIST ESL BEST PRACTICES CHECKLIST LEARNING RESOURCE CENTER/WRITING LAB STAFF
GENERAL BUSINESS LISTSERV Writing Tutors can communicate with one another through the listserv:
writingtutors@eou.edu WRITING TUTORIAL ATTENDANCE FORMS 30-Minute Session Tutoring Form: For regular tutoring, use the Writing Tutorial Attendance form (Yellow). Each time you meet with a student, you must record information neatly and accurately. This form asks for date, clearly printed first and last name, course, instructor, time in, and time out. It is essential that you complete this form legibly and thoroughly for two important reasons: First, this is your payroll form. You are paid according to the information on this form. Second, the information helps us keep accurate statistics important for our funding, and for knowing whom we are serving, and whom we still need to reach. Drop-In Tutoring Form: For Drop-In tutoring, use the Writing Tutor Drop-In Roster form (Orange). Place the form across from you at your table so that students can sign up first-come, first-served. Every fifteen minutes look up and ask if there is anyone else waiting for a tutor (some students might not know the procedure, or are too shy to approach). Invite them to sign up on the form. Adjust the time you spend with students to the number waiting. If the Loso Drop-In tutor gets busy, he/she should refer students to the Quinn Drop-In Schedule on the Board. There might be a tutor available at the same time in the Satellite. Blank forms are supplied in the left top box of the Writing Tutor
mailboxes. PAYROLL The "Writing Tutorial Attendance" Form also serves as your payroll form. To work as a writing tutor, you must complete payroll paperwork in the Human Resources office (Inlow Hall 212). The payroll period includes the 15th of the month through the 14th of the following month. Paychecks are available at the end of each month. We will begin processing payroll as early as the 13th of each month. Students cannot work on campus more than 20 hours per week. Be sure to update the Payroll office (Inlow Hall 203, 962-3286) if there are any changes in your contact information.
IF YOU CANNOT MAKE A SESSION While tutors do find student no-shows frustrating, it is critical that tutors are never no-shows. Tutors are professionals, and showing up is essential. However, tutors do sometimes become ill or have something very important come up. It is the tutor's job to find a replacement. If you know ahead of time that you cannot make a session, send a message through the listserv (writingtutors@eou.edu) asking for tutors to take your sessions. DO NOT EMAIL ME to find your replacement. It is your responsibility. Try to contact me only if no one can cover for you. If others cannot cover for you, try to contact the student by email or phone (you should have contact information on your Purple Rosters or can have someone check the Student Information Card). You can reschedule or at the very least, tell students about Drop-In times. In the email/voice mail message ask for a reply from the student to let you know the message has been received. If you must cancel at the last minute, or receive no confirmation
from the student that he/she has receive your message, contact
the Student Desk at 962-3834 to let them know you cannot make
it, asking them to put a post-it note with your message by the student's
name on the board. CHECKING THE BOARD DAILY It is important that tutors check the Schedule Board daily to see if students have signed up for sessions. You can drop by the Writing Lab to check the board, or call the Student Desk at 962- 3834 to have them check it for you. Some tutors who work late in the Lab check the evening before. Students are supposed to give tutors 24 hours notice. SETTING UP YOUR SESSION SCHEDULE At the beginning of each term, I will send out an email about when we will meet or have drop-in times in my office to begin the term. At this time you will update your Tutor Info Card and your Transcript, sign up for Drop-In, and add your name to the Tutor Specializations sheet. See attached "Writing Tutor Beginning of Term Checklist." Tutors should post their session times on the Schedule Board as soon as possible during the first week of each term. In the box, tape up your photo and your Tutor Card. Tutors decide how much or how little they can tutor each term. There is no minimum or maximum (except that no student can work more than 20 hours a week on campus). However, I ask that you don't burn yourself out by over-tutoring. Note: Fall is usually our busiest time, Spring our slowest, and Winter in between. STUDENT NO-SHOWS No-shows are part of tutoring. It is important that you do not take no-shows personally. There can be many reasons that have nothing to do with you which make students miss sessions. If a student with whom you have never worked does not show up to a first session, erase the student's name. If a student with whom you have worked does not show, you can decide to keep the name up and contact the student to remind him/her of the session. You can get the student's contact information from the Student Information Card. 15-Minute Rule BLUE SLIPS (Tutorial Report Forms) Blue Slips (Tutorial Report Forms) are available at the main desk and at the Student Desk (Computer Lab Assistant) Desk. Ask for a few at a time so you do not need to ask every time. We do not make these forms readily accessible to students because we have had some problems in the past with students who take them to complete and sign themselves. (See next pages for Blue Slip Policy and Editing Policy that are also posted in the Writing Lab for students to read.) Students who work with tutors in the Writing Lab can request a "Tutorial Report Form" or what we also call a "Blue Slip" which they can give to their professors to show that they have worked with a tutor. The Blue Slips are meant to be a way to communicate with a professor about what a student and a tutor were able to cover in one session, with the understanding that since sessions are just thirty minutes long, not all areas of a paper will be covered. Below are some guidelines to make the system run smoothly: 1) Students are in charge of asking tutors for blue slips. It is not the writing tutor's responsibility to offer them. 2) Students must ask for a slip at the end of each session. Tutors will not give out blue slips at the end of the term all at once if a student has forgotten to ask for them. 3) Tutors can complete only one form per half-hour session, and no more than two for an hour-long session. A student cannot work with a tutor longer than one hour per session. 4) If students bring several papers to a session, they will not receive a blue slip for each paper, but rather one per half-hour session. 5) Students can receive blue slips at Drop-In Hours if a tutor has time to meet with a student for at least 15 minutes. This will depend upon the number of students in line for tutoring at any one drop-in session. 6) A tutor can refuse to give a blue slip to a student who is clearly at the session just for the slip and does not actively participate in a session. EDITING POLICY Often students bring drafts to the Writing Lab with the expectation that writing tutors will provide an Editing Service. They believe that the tutors should find and fix all of the errors in students' drafts. It is important that students understand that the Writing Lab is not an Editing Service or a Fix-It Shop. Editors cost $50 to $150 dollars an hour. Tutors are students and peer tutors, not experts. Also, tutors are only a small part-usually one-half hour per week-of a student's writing process. Tutors are trained to first attend to the Global issues of focus, organization, and development. In a session a tutor might attend to one or two areas that can be reasonably addressed in a half-hour session. When tutors do focus on Local or Sentence-Level issues such as grammar, mechanics, and punctuation, they are trained to focus on error patterns and are not allowed to do sentence-by-sentence editing. It is against Writing Lab rules for a writing tutor to function as an editor. Professors expect that the work that students submit represents the students' work and abilities, not their tutors' work and abilities. If tutors should ever have a problem with students regarding this policy, refer them to the Writing Lab Director.
WRITING TUTORS: BEGINNING OF TERM CHECKLIST Week 1: Sign-up Week FORMS & PROCEDURES TRANSCRIPTS Be sure I have an updated transcript (so that when possible, I can make specific matches between students and tutors.) If you are new, you can print out an unofficial transcript off the web. Add in the professors' names. If you have already submitted a transcript, update it each term with the classes you completed last term and add what you are taking the current term. The transcripts are in the big black notebook on my desk. Again, be sure to add in the professors' names. TUTOR INFORMATION/PAYROLL CARD Update your information card in the index box that contains your contact information and hiring history (the card is either green or yellow). The box is on my desk. PHOTOS Get a new photo taken if necessary (if I am not here, ask whomever is sitting at the main desk) and then tape it up with your white info card. Blanks are available on the Schedule Board ledge. Get your schedule and photo up asap! PAYROLL If you are new, and do not as yet have forms filed in the Payroll office, go to Inlow to complete forms. If you are a continuing tutor, be sure your information in the Payroll office is up-to-date. TUTOR SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE SHEET Add your name to any category that applies to you on the Tutor Specialized Experience sheet. This sheet is on the Schedule Board. Just write in any additions. BEST PRACTICES CHECKLIST & HACKER Review the Best Practice Checklist on the OWL (see below) as a reminder of the fundamentals of effective tutoring. Bring your Hacker with you to sessions. If you forget your Hacker, there is a good copy available at the Computer Lab Assistant Student Desk for check out. WRITING GUIDES Review the Writing Guides (white notebooks) and other guides available to you and the students you are tutoring. These guides are available on the bookshelf. If you have a no-show, use that 15 minutes to look through the Guides to become familiar with the tools available to tutors and students.
AT A FIRST SESSION WITH A NEW STUDENT
Please place a Writing Tutor table sign in the middle of the table where you are working. There are signs for regular and for Drop-In Tutoring. STUDENT INFORMATION CARDS At your first session with a student, ask if the student has filled out a white Student Information Card (in index box on bookshelf). If not, have them fill one out, explaining that we need this in case we might need to contact them about a change in schedule, and for our statistics regarding who and how many are using the Writing Lab. Students need to complete only one card for the entire year. If a student has already completed a card, ask him/her to update the card with any new contact information. PURPLE TUTOR ROSTER Keep an updated roster of the students' contact information with you in case you need to communicate with a student (you can use the purple roster form if you like, or keep the information in your planner). At the first session, record the student's email and phone number. Keep this information with you. Also provide the student your contact information. GREEN HALF SHEETS At a first session, ask the student if he/she is familiar with how the Writing Tutor sessions work. On the bookshelf, you will find a green half sheet that briefly outlines how tutor sessions work, and which provides a place for the student to record your name and contact information. You can give one of these to a new student to take with him/her as a reminder of your session time and your contact information. If a student is new to the Lab, explain that if he/she wants to meet at the same time every week, he/she will keep his/her name on the Board. Explain that it is important that the student let you know if he/she cannot make a session. Explain the procedure as outlined on the green half sheet. Let the student know about Drop-In as well. It is helpful to have the student read the green sheet. This ensures that the student and the tutor have mutual expectations. COMPLETE FORMS Be sure to provide complete information (yellow for regular tutoring, orange for Drop-In) on the rosters (blank forms available above tutor mailboxes) and keep those rosters in the Lab. Students are responsible for asking for Blue Slips. However, WR 115 students may need some reminding that they need to always ask for a Blue Slip. GREETING STUDENTS If you are scheduled to meet with a student, watch for that student (don't bury yourself in a book). Some students are intimidated at first and might wander in and out before you see them. When you are in the Learning Resource Center/Writing Lab, whether you have a session scheduled or not, if you see any student wandering around looking lost, try to direct that student, either to a tutor or a staff member. In the Learning Resource Center/Writing Lab, we are all on the same team, trying to help each other make this a professional, welcoming, and helpful place. BEST PRACTICES At the beginning of each term, review the "Writing Tutor Best Practices Checklist" that you will find in the "Writing Tutor Corner" on the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at http://www3.eou.edu/writelab. This document is written in collaboration with writing tutors and we revise this checklist regularly as we learn and grow in our knowledge of effective practice. If you have any suggestions for changes or additions, please let the Writing Lab Director know. Here is a Best Practices Nutshell: · Establish Rapport ESL BEST PRACTICES If you are working with ESL students, you will also find on the OWL an "ESL Best Practices Checklist" written by writing tutors. Review this checklist as well, and feel free to make suggestions for improvement. SESSION LENGTH Sessions are regularly one-half hour long, and should not exceed one hour unless absolutely necessary. After one hour, both tutor and writer reach a saturation point. We don't want to send the message that we are trying to cover everything. We should find a focus for a session, and then send the writer off to work on a revision, encouraging him/her to return with a revised draft. CLOSING A SESSION The end of a session is very important. Summarize what you have worked on together, and then note the areas that you might attend to in future sessions if there is time. Check with the student if he/she wants to keep his/her name on the Board. Make sure that you have exchanged contact information.
WRITING GUIDES There are white Writing Guide Notebooks available on the bookshelf which provide a variety of handouts and tools that you and the students might find useful. Familiarize yourself with what is available in this notebook. A handout, mediated by a tutor, can be a very useful tool. ONLINE WRITING LAB (OWL) @ http://www3.eou.edu/writelab/ "Resources for Writers" on the OWL "Writing Tutor Corner" on the OWL COMPUTERS DISABILITY SERVICES Some students have documentation to allow them accommodations. Students can choose to tell tutors that they are working with Disability Services, but some students might not choose to do so. Never ask a student if he/she has a disability. If you have any questions about working with students with disabilities, contact Pat Arnson, Director of Disability Services, in the Learning Resource Center/Writing Lab, LH 234A. OTHER GUIDES On the Writing Lab bookshelf you will also find other guides that you mind find helpful: General Working It Out: Troubleshooting Guide for Writers Research Web Research: Selecting, Evaluating, Citing Business and Technical Writing The Business Writer's Handbook ESL A Writer's Workbook: An Interactive Writing Text for ESL Students Literature Writing About Literature Psychology Writing for Psychology Sociology The Sociology Student Writer's Manual
LEARNING RESOURCE CENTER/WRITING LAB STAFF
Susan Whitelock Writing Lab Director Pat Arnson Disability Services Coordinator Kathryn Short Administrative Program Assistant Mandi Mullins Office Specialist I Student Desk (Computer Lab Assistant) Phone: 962-3834
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