Week 1

 This first week of 303 has been a great one. The articles we read have already brought up issues and ideas that I hadn’t considered before. Honestly, that shouldn’t surprise me too much since I don’t have a lot of experience with or knowledge of writing centers. My experience is limited to bringing my own writing in several times and my knowledge consists of what I’ve picked up at meetings (class and otherwise) and what I’ve read and discussed for this class. Although not having everything figured out right away usually freaks me out, I’m doing all right because I have seen how my previous knowledge and experience can be applied to my work in the writing center. That’s not to say that I have everything figured out, but I am excited to bring what I have to this Burkean Parlor.

I first started to feel more at ease after reading North’s “Revisiting ‘The Idea of a Writing Center’.” His first article was, after all, a lot of pressure. I was a little intimidated by North’s ideal of each session being magically transformative, better-writer-producing wizardry. Similarly, the idea of writing centers being “centers of consciousness about writing” for entire universities is a lot to live up to. These are truly beautiful ideals, but they are ideals.

His second article was much more realistic and addressed some of these concerns. Although it would be great if all of North’s original assertions were true (i.e. motivated writers who are enthusiastic about improving their writing), it is much more practical to recognize that the everyday writing center world is not always ideal. There will be challenging students, professors, and situations. I’m glad to know that I will have a great team to help me respond to these challenges. Even with the limited contact and experience I have had, I can tell that this is a community that supports, helps, and collaborates well.

Lunsford explains that in order for an environment to be “truly collaborative” it must “demand collaboration,” which is something that I see in the writing center. No single consultant can keep track of everything that writers could possibly need; we have to depend on each other. There is no need to worry about who is in control because the responsibility is shared among everyone: staff, consultants, and writers. Keeping the writing center environment truly collaborative will take work and dedication on everyone’s part.

Although reading all of these theoretical articles has been helpful and interesting, I’m really looking forward to seeing how these things play out in practice. I am pretty anxious to get in the Writing Center and start observing and learning the system. There’s a lot to learn in the first week and I don’t have very much time. My shifts are Monday and Wednesday afternoons. Since the Center is closed on Monday, my only shift is for an hour and a half on Wednesday. This won’t be very much time to learn everything, so thankfully I’ll have a few more weeks to observe and learn before my consultations begin.