Summary of Allison's Thoughts

• Allison has been at the writing center for one and a half years.

• "I had a very different conception of, like what this job was; I thought it would be like correcting people writing... "

• "I really try to like- I don't look at the grammar, or like the actual surface level. I try to get deeper. Like, 'Oh, this is a very interesting idea! Where did you come up with this? How does the slow hunch kind of happen?" I asked Allison to define the "slow hunch." She responded, "It's like, you have an idea, like half an idea, and then you slowly start developing and developing it until its a fully formed idea"

• Allison likes working with multilingual and exchange students (one of the most prominent demographics of WCC and the writing center)

• I ask Allison what she often uses the writing center training. "So much," she answers. Reflecting on when she started at the writing center, she remembers going up to students and being super shy, saying, "Hey, what are you working on?" "But now I do that all the time," shares Allison.

  • Allison adds that when you say, "Can we help you?" as a writing center tutor, "It has a negative connotation of like, oh, you need my help, whereas, 'What are you working on?', it's more like open. They can talk about what they're struggling with maybe like what their strengths are"

  • the importance of asking, "Why did you choose this topic?" to show that you are genuinely interested in what the student has to say, and to ignite the flame of passion for writing, communicating, and sharing thoughts in a safe space. 

• "Every day we have conversations about code-meshing in the writing center between coworkers. It's very informed by the training".

• "Correcting someone's grammar is racist because there are so many Englishes. Just because one person writes a certain way, it doesn't mean it is wrong".