NCTCD 2015
On Friday, October 2, WFU hosted the 2015 North Carolina Tutor Collaboration Day. Sixty-four writing center tutors, directors, and staff made the drive to Winston-Salem from 15 colleges to share their experiences. The day’s theme was “sharing what we do and doing what we share,” and participants were given many opportunities to share their challenges and successes as a way to strengthen the work we all do in our Writing Centers every day.
According to Rachel Robinson, the NC Representative for the Southeastern Writing Center Association, “State-wide tutor collaboration days are so important because they encourage tutors to meet, collaborate, and share their successes and struggles with the work they do, and they help the tutors realize they aren’t in the field alone.”
One highlight of the day was a presentation by Dr. Kate Brooks from the Office of Personal and Career Development on how writing center tutors can market their tutoring experiences and transferable skills after graduation. “[Dr. Brooks] told us that by emphasizing skills other than writing, such as patience, cooperation, and preparation for any situation that may arise in a session, we could communicate to potential employers that our work in the Writing Center thoroughly prepared us for a wide range of activities,” said one of our Writing Center tutors, Amanda. “This was great to hear because it provided me with a method to spin my story and engage interviewers in a way that would break with expectations and set me apart.”
Ryan Shirey, Director of the WFU Writing Center, called the event “a wonderful time and a great way for writing tutors from all over the state to connect with each other and affirm their important work with student writers.” The WFU Writing Center is looking forward to many future collaborations with our North Carolina colleagues!
