Blog #6 - Writing Center Philosophy (revised)

As I look over my Writing Center Philosophy from my previous blog, I stand by my beliefs in that the ideal writing center should be a combination of the Garret and Burkean Parlor centers. Below are my reasons why I think it should be this way (which I pretty much just copied from my previous blog).

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.

As I look over my philosophy, I know that this is a bit idealistic and maybe not so realistic. During our discussions in class, we learned that most students do not have the time nor the patience to spend a great amount of time working on their papers. Most of them go to the writing center because it is required by the professor or they just want a quick fix so that they'll get a better grade on the paper. According to North's "The Idea of a Writing Center", he believes that the writing center should be a place where writers who are passionate about their writing go for help; in other words, people that should go to the writing center are those that are genuinely interested in talking about their writing. It would be great if everyone that goes to the writing center is passionate about their writing, but most students are not. That is why I believe tutors should not only know the content that they are helping their students with, but should be knowledgeable in the strategies needed to motivate students to write and become better writers. Tutors should find ways to engage the student in their own writing so that they can fulfill North's idea of an ideal writing center where people talk about their writing. When people talk and share ideas, collaboration takes place which is what I envision as the perfect writing center.