Blog #3 - My Writing Center Philosophy

Unfortunately, I missed class on Wednesday, September 17, so I wasn't able to be a part of the class discussion concerning this topic. However, if I were to draw on my past experiences attending tutoring sessions in the CAS and from the readings that we've been doing in class, my Writing Center Philosophy would be a combination of the Garret and Burkean Parlor Centers that were coined by Andrea Lunsford.

I believe that knowledge is both interior, like the Garret Center, and exterior, like the Storehouse Center. I believe that in order for knowledge to be interior or to be our own, we need to search externally by looking elsewhere and learning from other people. Tutors and teachers should help direct the students in order for them to find that knowledge and make it their own. Students, on the other hand, should not be sponges absorbing everything that the tutor is telling them. Instead, students should use this information or knowledge as a guide and change it up a bit to make it personal.

Everyone in the writing center should work together like the Burkean Parlor Center and strive to have a collaborative environment. The writing center should be a friendly place where students do not feel intimidated that their writing might not be good enough. Staff members should be welcoming and should not discriminate against anyone. This place should also have enough staff members available at all times so that if students want to walk in and ask for help, tutors and teachers will be there. Tutors should be knowledgeable in the content in which they will help the students with. If everyone in this writing center will work collaboratively, I believe that tutors should also know the content that the students need to research or are working with in order to provide better guidance and assistance to those that they are helping.