Anatomy of a 30 Minute WC Tutoring Session

5.8 Minutes:
Discuss assignment and stage in writing process
Student glosses paper in own words
Negotiate agenda for session
20 minutes:
Global: Revisit assignment prompt, brainstorm, outline/ reverse outline, thesis
Paragraph: Topic sentences, using evidence, analysis; transitions
Sentence: Patterns of grammatical error, citations, style
5 minutes:
Student provides summary of the session and lists next steps
Student identifies transferrable skill or takeaway
Student completes self-reflection about session

Whats Working
Instructor-Writing Center Interaction
1. Concise, generative, legible, non-cryptic endnote commentary
2. If you require or recommend that a student visits the writing center, tell them why
3. Consider a mechanism for communicating with writing center and tracking growth

Possibilities for (Peer) Review and Commenting

1. Only the writer writes on the paper
2. Global level: Writer glosses paper while reader reverse outlines
3. Sentence level: Writer reads aloud exactly as written. Then, reader reads aloud exactly as written.
4. Elicit student knowledge about areas of improvement (What do you want to know or be able to do?)
5. Never exclude the writer from the readers experience (As a reader)
6. Prioritize places where meaning is obscured (Scaffoldable, rule-based errors with large impact on
comprehension)
7. Recast student language to model grammar and clarity (What do you mean by X? Oh I see,
sometimes we say that like Y)

After Session
Before/ During Session