beginning the semester

At orientation, you'll find out with which professor and to what course you have been assigned to work this semester. Two (or more) Fellows will be assigned to courses with higher enrollments, so no Fellow will tutor more than 16 students per semester. If you are assigned to a course with multiple Fellows, you will divide the class as evenly as possible and each of you will work with the same group of students on each cycle of drafts.

working in teams

Most of you will be working with at least one partner and working effectively with your partner(s) will require special effort. First, you will have to decide who will take on which responsibilities; one of you might be in charge of contacting the professor and coordinating meeting times, while the other might be in charge of photocopying handouts for students or picking up evaluations at the end of the semester.

Make sure you share duties equally and talk frankly with each other about your strengths and weaknesses. For example, if you get nervous talking in front of people, you can ask your partner(s) to take the lead when you visit the class to introduce yourselves while you take one specific part of the introduction to do yourself. Push yourself to face new challenges, even if you find that your partner(s) feels more comfortable in certain roles than you do.

Make sure that all Fellows' voices are heard. Whether you are meeting with the professor or introducing yourselves to students, each Fellow should be asking questions, listening actively, and sharing ideas. Everyone has a different tutoring style, of course, so you and your partner do not have to interact with students in exactly the same way. The goal is to forge productive working relationships that take advantage of and develop each person's individual skills.

first meeting with the professor

After you find out which course you'll be working with, it is your responsibility to contact the professor in charge of the course to set up a meeting. Initiate contact and arrange to meet right after orientation! If you are working with another Fellow, you should collaborate and set up one meeting time. For more details on this meeting, see the section on meeting with the professor.

saying hello to the class

In the first or second week of class, before the first set of papers are due, you and your co-Fellow(s) should visit the class and introduce yourselves. This is a crucial moment -- many students will have never heard of the Writing Fellows Program, unless the professor has mentioned it already. It is therefore important that your introduction be informative, concise, and enthusiastic. To accomplish this, you must take time to plan what you are going to say, get to the classroom early so you have time to settle in before you talk, amd bring notes, so that you don't run the risk of forgetting what you meant to say or of running over the few minutes of class time you've been allotted.

The day you introduce yourself to the class, the professor should take a minute or two to remind students of who you are and provide some context for your visit. (The program administrators will tell professors about this directly, but they may need a reminder from you.) At your first meeting with the professor (see above), you might suggest that he or she remind students in advance that the program is mandatory and explain how he or she will handle late drafts and missed conferences.

What to say: We suggest that you talk briefly about the program's benefits, emphasize the importance of coming to conferences, and remind students that only the professor can give them extensions. You might tell them something about yourself and/or your goals as their Writing Fellow. As you think about what else you want to say, consider the subject matter of the course, the level at which it's taught, and what you can expect students to be interested in or to know. You'll want to tailor your introduction to the class; your approach to a senior-level sociology seminar ought to differ slightly from your approach to a freshman-level ILS course. Don't undercut your own authority: you have to walk that fine line (everyone does it a little differently) between "peer" and "tutor." Be sure to end your introduction with an invitation for students to ask questions.

If you're part of a team of Fellows, make sure to divide up the information so that one person doesn't do all the talking. Also, if you already know with which students each of you will be working, you might let the students know too, so they know who to look for when they come to their first conference.

How to say it: Give some thought to how you'll present yourself. Remember to project your voice, be enthusiastic, keep an eye on time, and so forth. Also think a little about how you might deal with the unpredictable. How, for instance, would you react on the spot if the professor forgot your name when introducing you of if there were loud construction noises from the room next door? (Although rare, both of these circumstances have come up in the past.)

What to hand out: We strongly suggest that you distribute information sheets about the Writing Fellows Program, personalized for the class. Use these sheets to guide your presentation (but whatever you do don't just read directly from them: that invariably makes for a pretty dull few minutes). You and your partner can make up your own sheet; it should probably contain the following: your full names, telephone numbers, and email addresses; a paper schedule for the semester and instructions for the paper exchange; things you want them to be sure to do when they hand in their drafts (like writing your name and their full name on drafts, typing drafts, double-spacing drafts, handing them in on time, etc.); details on where you are holding your conferences, how to get there, and how to recognize you. A long, detailed explanation may not be as effective as a concise introduction; use your judgment and concentrate on explaining the program clearly and directly. If you're working with a team, consult with the other Fellows to come up with an info sheet that you're all happy with. See a sample info sheet.

The bottom line: If you forget everything else on that first day, be sure (1) to smile, and (2) to tell the students that you are excited to be working with them this semester.

planning to attend a class session (optional)

We'll let a Fellow explain her reaction to attending a class: