Blog Assignment 3

The writing center I’d champion would be aimed at embracing diversity and non-traditional yet effective strategies oriented toward making the student a better writer and independent thinker. The center’s physical appearance would embody this embrace of diversity and “out of the box” thinking. Much in the same way that therapy operates, the client/student is the boss and the therapist/tutor’s job is to guide that person to his or her personal definition of success. This center is named a Multidimensional Writing Laboratory (MWL).
The lab should have its own separate building on campus. The building needs an open feeling with many windows. Some walls should be colored. Lots of open spaces where people can feel free to walk and ponder are essential. There should be some mentally stimulating abstract art that is open to innumerable amounts of interpretations. Couches that are comfortable need to be placed around the room. In this lab there should be many computers with internet access. There should also be a few televisions (only used in cases where the student and tutor feel it is necessary). There should also be a room with its only purpose being for open discussion and debate that will help the student generate ideas.
In this model students learn though multiple dimensions. The writing lab should provide many resources. Scholarly journals, dictionaries, encyclopedias, thesauruses, big city newspapers, small town papers and an online research database are good starts. Political resources or ones that operate within a theoretical framework should be contrasting which allows the student to develop her own point of view and at the same time she is made aware of resources which she may not have known existed.
Also students learn through interaction with the tutor and other writing lab staff through a give and take relationship and in an environment that allows the student to generate her own ideas without reserve and free of judgment. The staff should feel free to voice their opinions if asked, even if topics include those deemed taboo for the workplace, like politics. The student thinks and writes and the tutor should intervene only when necessary. This way the student develops a work that is truly her own.
The tutor’s job is to be an active participant in purposeful discussions that allow students to generate ideas. The tutor is also to be a facilitator; letting the student work independently, probing and asking questions when directed by the writer through verbal or nonverbal cues (defeated gesturing). Everything the tutor does is in support of the writer to draft a work that she is proud of.
The tutor should be trained to in the proper usage of grammar. Tutors should also be trained in the art of tutoring and in accordance with the philosophy of the MWL. Tutors’ training should also involve techniques on remaining culturally sensitive and being objective and nonjudgmental.
With all this freedom from convention there is a potential for chaos. It is important that the role of director be given to someone who is able to maintain control but not impinge upon freedom and creativity. For this reason this writing center will have two directors. The two directors should have differing backgrounds; racial, gender, academic discipline, etc. They should oversee the direction of the entire lab. The directors should make sure that one point of view isn’t being championed by the lab thus eliminating biases. The directors need to make sure that tutors aren’t doing the students’ work and that students aren’t taking advantage of all of the freedoms.