Changing Attitudes: Writing Center Workshops in the Classroom
Date
2012
Authors
Ryan, Holly
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Description
In a recent WPA-L discussion thread initiated by a
“newbie writing center director,” Christopher Ervin
offers the following suggestion: “I guess my best
advice, if you want to grow your writing center, is to
develop relationships with various potential
stakeholders across campus. Doing so would help you
do a lot that you might find more difficult if you don't
branch out.” Ervin’s advice is practical and valuable
for a writing center director, but it is also a daunting
task for new faculty members. Trying to understand
the historical, political, social, and economic
landscapes of a new university is difficult enough, but
add to that the administrative work and relationshipbuilding
necessary to effectively run or develop a
writing center, and new directors can feel like they
have an insurmountable challenge ahead of them.
However, with a combination of inquiry-driven
conversations and effective demonstrations of writing
center practices, a writing center director can forge
relationships with faculty across campus that lead to
productive and engaged conversations about writing.
In doing so, writing center directors are positioned to
move their centers beyond the image of the “fix-it”
shop and into a cultivator of intellectual engagement
on campus. Using my interactions with a business
faculty member, I hope to offer other writing center
administrators and practitioners a trajectory to follow
as they begin to create their own networks on campus.