Summary, Scope, and Responsibilities
Bobcat First (B1st) writing tutors work with first-generation students and are empathetic listeners, self-reflective learners, and adaptive communicators and collaborators drawn to helping others. Writing tutors support their first-generation peers and each other with any and all writing assignments at Bates College with curiosity, care, and respect for linguistic diversity. It’s important to know that anyone with the desire and willingness to work on their writing and teaching skills can be a writing tutor; the professional staff of Writing@Bates offers the training and support new tutors need to succeed and grow, while more experienced writing tutors offer peer mentoring and encouragement. We are particularly interested in hiring and supporting students from diverse backgrounds and linguistic traditions, or students who speak multiple languages and/or dialects of English. Please consider joining our team!
Writing@Bates professional staff and experienced writing tutors help all new writing tutors develop and hone the pedagogical tools, self-reflective capacity, and time management skills they need to effectively support the writing goals and voices of a diverse student body. All writing tutors should be prepared to engage in ongoing professional development and training at the beginning of and throughout the school year in which they learn to engage in and model effective writing practices so they can support students at any stage of the writing process. For example, writing tutors learn how to help students decode assignment instructions, brainstorm ideas, write or revise a draft, incorporate instructor feedback, incorporate citations and sources, and proofread or edit. Further, tutors learn how to engage in antiracist and anti-oppressive tutoring approaches, as well as how to support their peers’ neurodiversity, mental health, and varied language practices. These trainings help tutors build student writers’ confidence, draw out students’ unique voices, experiences, and ideas, and challenge oppressive language and linguistic hierarchy. In this way, writing tutors play an important role in providing more equitable footing for students in any course at Bates that uses writing as a tool for learning and as a means of access to knowledge and knowledge creation.
The Basics
Department:Office of Intercultural Education
Supervisor:
Ray Grant
Office Location:
96 Campus Avenue
Email:
rgrant@bates.edu
Hours:
Workers:
Qualifications, Requirements, and Responsibilities
Responsibilities
Bobcat First (B1st) Writing tutors are responsible for:
● attending 4 to 8 hours of pre-semester training at the start of each semester;
● working as a drop-in tutor in the Bobcat First / Office of Intercultural Education (OIE) for approximately 2 to 5 hours per week during our hours of operation and according to the tutor shift schedule;
● attending weekly 1-hour staff meeting and/or professional development workshops throughout the semester, and completing any required preparatory readings or activities;
● showing up for drop-in tutoring shifts a few minutes early, and checking the status of their tutoring appointments and shift or schedule changes or additions in WCOnline on a regular basis;
● completing Client Report Forms and any other written reflections or reports on tutoring sessions in a timely fashion;
● finding coverage for any shifts they (on occasion) are unable to work and need a sub for;
● communicating and responding through Slack and email in an effective and efficient manner to Writing@Bates professional staff and Student Managers, as well as to fellow tutors;
● listening to and integrating feedback from the professional staff and Student Managers, fellow tutors, and tutees/clients to improve tutoring, collaboration, and professional skills.
Requirements
Bobcat First (B1st) writing tutors must be rising sophomores, juniors, or seniors who are
● empathetic listeners interested in talking to other students about their ideas and writing;
● effective communicators willing to improve their writing and communication skills;
● curious about teaching and tutoring;
● interested in collaboration, self-reflection, and life-long learning;
● open to engaging with antiracist and linguistic justice-minded tutoring practices; and
● willing to take and integrate feedback from professors, supervisors, fellow tutors, and clients/tutees in order to grow and develop as writers, as tutors, as working professionals.
Before they begin work in the fall semester, writing tutors will have
● worked to improve their own writing process and writing skills;
● earned a final grade of B or higher in an FYS/W1 course;
● met with an ARC, WLC, or MSW tutor for at least one tutoring session (if you haven’t done this yet, please do so before you apply!); and
● completed (or be enrolled in the fall in) an upper-level writing-attentive course (i.e. a W2 or W3) and earned a final grade of B in that course. NOTE: The short term course EDU s19 Theory & Practice of Writing & Tutoring is a W2; you can also be enrolled in a W2 in the fall 2022 semester.
Reporting
Bobcat First Writing tutors must treat their tutees/clients with respect, anonymity, and care and participate as peer equals in the collaborative community of writing and language tutors who work in the Office of Intercultural Education (OIE). They must also be willing to enthusiastically and respectfully engage with the many other tutors and staff who work in the Academic Resource Commons (ARC) and Math-Stats Workshop (MSW), as well as the professional staff who lead ARC and MSW. Writing tutors are hired, trained, and supervised by the professional staff of Writing@Bates; Student Managers also provide leadership in the peer tutoring centers at Bates. Bobcat First tutors report to the Acting Director of Writing@Bates and the Writing and Language Center and the Assistant Dean of First Generation and Bobcat First Programs and are expected to communicate with them regularly and efficiently.
Working Conditions