From Struggle to Strategy: Tutoring Citation Tabitha Fisher & Monica Gingerich, Pennsylvania State University abstractThis training plan sets a foundation in preparing tutors to assist writers with citation concerns by encouraging open conversation about the difficulties of tutoring citation and generating strategies for moving forward. The opening activity encourages tutors to share their experiences and emotions related to tutoring citation, aiming to create an open and supportive training environment; facilitators are given multiple interactive options for approaching this task. A presentation portion explores the importance of citation pragmatically, rhetorically, and theoretically before exploring elements that make citation challenging, including the interpretive nature of documentation, information literacy, tech literacy, container collapse, and vague source type classification. Facilitators are then provided with activities to encourage tutors to generate strategies for tutoring through these various challenges, empowering them to move forward with more confidence in their tutoring sessions. The plan provides several options for activities for appropriate adaptation, presentation materials, and a handout regarding documentation.
In-person tutoring LESSON OVERVIEW This training was developed from direct feedback given by tutors identifying a lack of confidence in tutoring on citations. In this feedback, we saw an opportunity to advance our Writing Center and Library partnership through a training session that would generate strategies and increase tutor awareness of library support for their work. This lesson occurred as part of ongoing training for tutors in a staff meeting. Our tutors attend biweekly developmental staff meetings, each focusing on advancing tutor skillsets in various tutoring topics (emotional regulation, agenda setting, linguistic justice, etc.) Each semester, there is at least one collaborative staff meeting with the Libraries’ Peer Research Consultant program focusing on research writing skills. Our ongoing training takes place after a peer tutoring course wherein tutors complete an eight-week practicum. We have thus far facilitated this session once, where it was positively received. Tutors engaged in vibrant discussion, so much so that we were unable to complete our originally planned application of knowledge at the end of the session; we have tailored the lesson with this experience in mind. We found that, when permitted to be open about their difficulties with documentation, tutors were able to identify far more strategies than they had originally expected. We found that opening conversation up surrounding the challenges of citation and encouraging an open environment of exploration encouraged curiosity towards citation practice, making tutors more willing to engage in problem solving strategies. FORMAT TYPE In-person TIMING & OCCURRENCE Lesson Time: 30-60 minutes TUTOR AUDIENCE Novice tutors
AUTHOR INFORMATIONTabitha Fisher, Pennsylvania State University Tabitha Fisher is the Writing Center Coordinator and a part-time lecturer in English at the Pennsylvania State University, where she oversees the daily operations of The Writing Center @ Penn State Learning and the ongoing development of its staff. Her current interests include curriculum development for ongoing tutor education and best practices for ethical employment of undergraduate students. Monica Gingerich, Pennsylvania State University Monica Gingerich is the Coordinator for Student Experience and Engagement at Penn State University Libraries. Monica runs the daily operations at The Search Bar in Pattee Paterno Library and has a focus in student success, student well-being, leisure reading in an academic setting, and peer tutoring. |
