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Laura Hunter

Do you ever wonder how tutors from UMPI’s writing center stack up nationally? The answer is, very well. A small contingent recently presented at the National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.

“I was so very pleased when our proposal for the NCPTW was accepted, because it gave our writing consultants the opportunity to present their work at a national academic conference,” Deborah Hodgkins, writing center director, said.

After a long, adventurous trip down to the conference, the next day we all put on our academic hats as the conference opened. Due to the sheer number of participants, there were approximately seven presentations each session. So we had to decide which presentations we would attend. These were difficult decisions to make. Since UMPI’s writing tutors have a habit of consulting each other about their writing, Lightbown and Hunter decided to attend, “When Tutors Tutor Each Other:  A Shifting Balance.”

“That was an interesting one,” Hunter said. “We began to see that when we tutor each other, we tend to fall back on a traditional, patriarchal approach to tutoring, but that we’re also very aware of our own authority over our paper.”

We also attended, “Collaborating Ourselves into Existence:  Notes from a New Writing Center Studio Staff”; “Speaking of Ebonics,”; “I Have Used All My English Words,”: Global English/Local Expectations,”; “Leadership in a Session’s Opening Moments.”

All of the panels were fun, invigorating and informative.

“This conference gave us an opportunity to learn from other tutors rather than strictly learning from the book,” Lightbown said.

“This was a fantastic opportunity,” Hunter said.  “To meet and be able to have discussions with other tutors from all over the country, to find that we all have the same concerns and issues and to reveal some different and unique ways on how we handle those issues was very helpful.”

The following day, it was our turn. We presented, “What Leaders Look Like:  Postcolonialism and the Role of the Writing Tutor.” Hunter presented on the feminist theory of tutoring, while Lightbown presented on the similarities between her role as a writing center tutor and social work major.

“Laura and Meg’s presentations were well received and stimulated a rich discussion following our session,” Hodgkins said.

Unfortunately, in order to make it home before midnight, we had to leave immediately after our presentation.  During the journey home, we had time to reflect upon our experiences.

“I really felt that presenting at a national conference was the culmination of my experiences as a writing tutor over the past four years at UMPI. I enjoyed being able to share not only my experience as a writing tutor, but to connect that with my experiences as a social work student,” Lightbown said.

“Being able to present at a national conference was great,” Hunter said.  “We may be small, but our tutors are of the same caliber as the tutors from bigger universities.  This was a fantastic opportunity. To be able to learn from other tutors and to be able to impart some of our wisdom to others was awesome.”

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