Prelude: The Chipmunk Connection - Moravian College

that, though, they are friendly, assertive,
and creative. Tutoring demands the
ability to work with writers of differing
abilities, assignments from every academic
department, and papers in varying
stages of development—often in back-toback-to-back
tutoring sessions over the
span of a few hours. Tutors are also relentless
supporters of the writing process,
and will help writers understand how
time spent brainstorming and prewriting
can greatly impact the effectiveness of a
paper. They often use creative revision
strategies to appeal to a writer’s interests
and learning style. It’s not unusual to
see tutoring sessions where papers are
colored with highlighters or crayons, or
literally cut apart and shuffled around.
Writing centers teach writers how to
be resourceful, interactive, and critical
thinkers. We tell writers that what they
do in the Writing Center can and should
be applied to any writing task, in class and at home.
A student in my Writing 100 class last semester showed the impact
the Writing Center can have, beyond the grade on a given paper.
This student had visited the Writing Center many times of her
own volition, and she was a good writer—not exceptional, though
certainly not weak. What made her stand out among the rest of the
class was her performance during our in-class peer workshop sessions.
Rather than offering bland advice about comma placement
and word choice, she dove into the content of her peers’ papers and
offered helpful and insightful feedback about content and organization.
She asked probing questions and was able to elicit thoughtful
responses; she and her peer workshop group consistently made
great strides from their drafts to their formal essay submissions.
As someone who tutored for many years before teaching composition,
I am especially aware of the potential synergy between the
writing classroom and the Writing Center. I encourage my students
to visit the Writing Center at various stages of the writing process,
and I try to give my composition students a crash course in writing
center pedagogy. This, I hope, lets students know why the act of giving
and receiving feedback is valuable, especially in a writing class
that emphasizes a process-based approach to writing. Though many
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students at first find it easy to fall back on the easier and safer tactic
of proofreading each others’ papers for punctuation and spelling,
it is clear that the students who do utilize the Writing Center find
themselves involved in a far more engaging learning experience. W
Meg Mikovits ’03 earned her M.A. in English from West Chester University in 2006. Next year, she will
serve as director of the Moravian Writing Center.
SUMMER 2010 MORAVIAN COLLEGE MAGAZINE 17