The work on this page is shared with permission from the student authors. These texts exemplify some of the work submitted by students enrolled in my “Seminar for Tutors” course and the important connections students made between the course and their jobs as writing center consultants. The students whose work is highlighted here work or have worked at UMB’s Writing Center as consultants.
Excerpt from M.V. Carlson’s Tutoring Philosophy Statement
The following statement is organized into key words and phrases that I believe are the hallmarks of my own philosophy as a writing consultant and my approach to tutoring in the University of Massachusetts Boston Writing Center. As you read, you will notice that these concepts frequently intersect one another. This is important to philosophy, but makes organization difficult, hence the subtitles for your benefit. Although this is an accurate depiction of my tutoring philosophy right now, it is fluid and ever changing with the wealth of knowledge and experience I continue to obtain.
Service:
Service is essential to the life I lead. My occupations are intentionally/unintentionally my most prominent identities because they reflect my value of service. The Marine Corps just celebrated its 247th birthday and organized wildland firefighters have protected our wilderness and communities since the early 1900s. I am proud of the opportunities I have been blessed with to make a difference. Working in the Writing Center is yet another amazing opportunity to serve, joining the history of those who have been tutoring writing in a centralized place since the 1970s (Fitzgerald & Ianetta, 22).
Through this service, I aim to be a resource to whoever needs my help because that is where I find the most fulfillment in my life. What we do in the Writing Center might not mean a lot to some. That being said, for others, we might be the only people that help them on any given day, or give them a spark to keep going. That’s what I live for. I live for these small but large moments of peak human interaction. If you’ve heard of the idea of putting forth the ultimate example of humanity for extraterrestrials, it would be moments like that. I know that moments worthy of this have happened, are happening, and will continue to happen in the Writing Center. It is my goal to facilitate those moments as best I can with the resources, knowledge, and energy I have.
Education and Training:
Essential to my prior experience with service, is fostering knowledge for the future of whoever it is aimed towards. Education and Training are but one method of working towards this. My intention is to approach Writing Center work in the same way. I approach consultations as an opportunity to address whatever the writer needs. I boldly and controversially say that I don’t really care if some people see us as a fix it shop or not (Cirillo-McCarthy et al.). I’m not here to do someone’s work for them, but I think what matters is “[whatever] a writer needs, then that’s what we’re here to do.” (Carlson). Rephrased: I’m here to do whatever the writer needs. That being said, I aim to develop their writing beyond what they “need” because some writers may not know what they need.
All writers are at different places with their writing abilities. This is true of multilingual, working class, disabled, and POC writers, who are amongst the most marginalized, especially in education (UMB Writing Center, Mission & Vision). Therefore, I want to address their concerns and issues they may be unaware of through no fault of their own. Through this, collaboration, scaffolding, and other methods, I seek to inform them—empower them, so they can write for themselves in ways they could not before our session(s) (Mackiewicz & Thompson).
Anonymous Tutoring Philosophy Statement
Honors College Intermediate Seminar: Learning Biology through Reading Fiction and Non-Fiction. Circa the final spring of University of Massachusetts Boston’s pandemic riddled virtual hiatus.
I was assigned a blank slate: an argumentative paper on anything related to biology. I filled in the blankness with beautiful…truly my best work…on international regulation of genomic medicine and data, hoping to clarify what language – binding or otherwise – existed. What I found was gray area: indecisiveness not only in defining relevant concepts (e.g. what genomic data is and isn’t), but also in deciding how to supervise the seemingly unchecked practice and unprecedented sharing of genetic information. The stance? The argument? No matter the intention, the consequences for (this genomic) gray area, terrifyingly, can be fatal, BUT it IS human.
Allow me to describe a bit of the (fatal) science – a field of indisputable impact on my writing – relevant to this and this paper. In 2018, Dr. He Jiankui utilized CRISPR/Cas9 technology to edit the genome of IVF embryos, targeting the CCR5 gene that, amongst other functions, is transcribed and translated into a protein “doorway” that permits HIV entry into cells, the virus that progresses into AIDS (Marchione, 2018). The goal, HIV prevention, unfortunately, also became the setback: the CCR5 gene also is responsible for protection from other viruses, and because HIV is now highly treatable and preventable without genetic manipulation, medical risks beyond HIV are of heightened concern for the newly born twins (Marchione, 2018). So, why write? Because clear policy on genomic medicine would uphold unquestionable ethics…that, at least right in this moment, while we still don’t understand the repercussions, we wouldn’t be editing the genome of a developing human embryo. So, why write? Because this is my voice. This is my future.
I got a C.
It does not take multiple C’s, although this particular professor seemed more than willing to assign this grade to many-a-paper, to damage the confidence of a writer. So, dear reader, dear Professor-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named: here is another argument. A stance, one might say. Writing – writing beautiful…truly my best work – IS for everyone.
Experiencing writing from fifteen different writers across the first half of the fall semester, seven of which are “repeat writers,” I know this – that beautiful…truly my best work writing IS for everyone – to be true. Consulting, or similar tutoring, on writing for writers is a practice of encouragement, of empathy, and of finding joy. Of the fifteen writers that I have met with, all of them cite a concern for grades, frustration and/or sadness in the writing process and (grade) outcomes respectively. And yet, each and every piece of writing crafted has a universal, and often forgotten superpower, in common: voice. Voice is perhaps, in my scientific opinion, the easiest starting point for encouragement. “Centripetal Theories” and “Centrifugal Theories” from Fitzgerald and Ianetta’s Tutoring Writing: What, Why, Where, and When celebrates the shared experiences of writers and the actors that act upon them, like the development of voice and the writing processes writers are in with various professors “right now” (2016). Still, they (and I) cherish the diverse identities (and thinking) of writers (Ianetta & Fitzgerald, 2016)! From my first consulting visit, an oblinging friend (rescuing me from a week of no-show’s) with the most flamboyant literal and figurative voice, drafting their first (of a planned trilogy) sci-fi-fantasy novel, to my most recent with a graduate writer studying public health administration and brilliantly weaving humanizing examples into defining work on policy criteria…there has never been a moment I have spent second-guessing their superpower. Instead, I welcome, I wave, I tell, I type, I smile, I squeal, I laugh, I listen, I hum, I am humbled, all to cheer on what, despite just how much some may be willing to try, can never be taken from them.
When we exercise empathy, the writer is reminded that their writing IS worthy of care. Care from a consultant, care from the professor, care from present others, and most crucially – care from the writer themselves (Kranek & Carvajal, 2021). Empathy promotes, or rather, smoothes the difficult operations of the writing process: addressing global issues with the writers’ definition of grammar and local (conceptual, etc.) hurdles in generating clarity while uplifting voice, to name a few.
The IS in “writing IS” must be capitalized, simply because of the following:
In 2021, Dr./Professor-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named utilized dichotomous thinking to grade a paper, targeting gray area that, amongst other likert-scale faults, was transcribed and translated as a students’ misunderstanding of how to craft an argument. The goal, to force a binary in science (in life) that simply does not exist, unfortunately, also became the setback: the gray area, and its faults, IS human. To live and appreciate this gray area, and constantly redefine for clarity, thereby presently engage therein, is not another virus in need of treatment. So why consult writers? Because “interaction helps writers gain confidence in themselves as writers” (Harris, 1995). And writing – writing beautiful…truly my best work – IS for everyone. So why consult writers? Because their voice is a priority. Their voice is their future.
And I found joy.