If I had to summarize my tutor philosophy in one word, it would be “flexibility.” I believe we have had enough training to expect the unexpected and, even if we don’t have a plan for every imaginable situation, have the adaptability to think on our feet, change direction if we need to, and keep moving forward.
As tutors we will encounter many different projects and students with many different learning styles and goals. Given such brief blocks of time to have an affect on a student’s writing, it is a waste to tutor to a situation that is not there. The pre-textual phase of a tutoring session, the initial introduction and plan-setting, is vital for pointing a session in the right direction, but it is important to know that it may not give you the whole picture.
As a learner, I for instance, cannot always fully process and understand an idea just from hearing it. It helps for me to see what’s being said and to have a couple examples to draw from. But I may not think to mention that upon first meeting someone. Although conversation is a huge piece of tutoring, sometimes tutors will not get direct and obvious cues from conversation.
A tutor should always listen as much as they speak in order to promptly pick up on any failures to communicate and be prepared to ask more question to figure out what a more effective strategy for the situation is. I’m a big believer in Allison Hitt’s concept of the multi-modal toolkit, “multiple and flexible practices – that allow [tutors] to adapt to different communicative interactions” (Hitt, pp. 386 of Oxford Guide for Writing Tutors).
Some of the strategies described in the multi-modal toolkit include reading, drawing, talking, using movement, recording, and using technology. Tutors should not be limited to these strategies though. With practice, a tutor’s toolkit should grow, especially considering the rate that technology is developing and being integrated into academics. The toolkit is not meant to be a strict set of instructions, but a jumping off point for creating flexibility in the tutorial setting to be sure that every student’s needs can be met.
I am particularly interested in how Hitt's essay, "Access for All: The Role of Dis/Ability in Multiliteracy Centers" speaks to Jackie Grutsch McKinney's essay, "New Media Matters: Tutoring in the Late Age of Print." Multiliteracy and multimedia are two sides of the same coin; both describe a collection of modes for communicating ideas. Because everyone learns and communicates differently, it is very important to help writers to express themselves effectively in the mode in which they feel best suits them.
Early on in ENG395, we read about how identity connects to writing. It can be common for people to believe that writing conventionally is the only way to write correctly, but that is a privileged way of thinking. English is not everyone's first language, people have varying abilities, and not all people have the same educational opportunities, but everyone should receive the help they want to effectively express their ideas and themselves. Chapter 5 of The Oxford Guide for Writing Tutors reminds us of our first reading by Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs, where they "Define [identity] as comprising 'an individual's characteristics or personality; it consists of those factors that create a sense of 'who you are''" (OGFWT, pp. 109). This should certainly be allowed to come through in writing, whether it is "conventional" or not.
My interest in these ideas of flexibility and expression have inspired my research for the Northeast Writing Center Association (NEWCA) conference in March, 2019. I plan to assess new media as an additional tool for multimodal tutoring, particularly relating to the additional expressive modes it offers peer-tutors and students who may not relate to “traditional” academic writing. I will then shape those findings into strategies for tutoring with new media.
I believe the better equipped a tutor is to be flexible, the more they can offer to writers with varying assignments, abilities, educational backgrounds, and identities. It is important for a tutor to be able to help writers that differ from themselves in these areas, otherwise writing centers would only be of value to conventional, privileged, English writers, furthering a dichotomy between professional writers and anyone else. Being there for all types of writers can, instead, further a sense of value around writing and communicating in life beyond the English discipline, making people more interested in building their skill-set, and hopefully leading to entire communities of confident, effective writers.