Making sure each one of us is thoughtful, deliberate, and focused on our work—and fair and considerate to one another—allows the Writing Center to achieve our mission to help writers and support rigorous writing and writing instruction at DePaul.
📝 Things to Do Each Work Shift
- Upon arriving at work, say hello to the receptionist at the beginning of your work shift.
- Throughout your shift, maintain open communication with the receptionist about your appointments and receive any feedback they may provide you.
- Inform the receptionist if you need to step away from Slack so that you can easily be located.
- Check WCOnline for your scheduled appointments and other work assignments and check it for updates throughout each shift.
- Check Slack for work-related information throughout each shift.
- Take any scheduled breaks when it is scheduled and return promptly afterward (if you are scheduled for a 5+ hour shift, the Student Managers will schedule you for a 30-minute paid break).
- If a problem develops that you cannot resolve, or if you are not sure how to handle a sensitive situation, discuss it with the Student Managers, administrators, or a receptionist as soon as possible so that it may be documented and resolved in an effective, timely, and professional manner.
- Do not end your shift for the day until all of your obligations (appointment letters, assigned tasks, etc.) have been completed. If you have any questions about the work you need to complete, send a slack message to the receptionist before you end your shift for the day.
Be Focused On and Committed to Your Work with Writers
Give your full attention to every writer, in every appointment modality, and for every genre of writing. Show them respect by paying close attention to them and their writing for the duration of each appointment or, in face-to-face or online real-time appointments, until they indicate they are ready to be done. If you find you and the writer have covered all the agenda items you set in a given synchronous appointment and you still have time remaining in their appointment, ask them if they have any further questions or any other writing projects they would like to discuss.
Similarly, unless you’re scheduled for non-peer tutoring work during a shift—like, for example, facilitating a workshop or completing a deadline-sensitive and critical project—you should be ready to work with a writer at any point. If a writer cancels an appointment and you find yourself with unscheduled time—and when you begin a sidework project (see below)—you should be prepared to end the sidework and work with a writer. The receptionist may ask you to take a walk-in appointment even if it is not at a standard appointment start time.
Be Conscious of Your Conversations
Sometimes there are situations where you will be tempted to chat with your fellow Writing Center Tutors about an appointment that recently happened or an instructor that you just worked with. Be extremely cognizant of the environment you are in at that moment. Avoid public conversation about any student, writer, instructor, tutor, or other University employee where you can be overheard. Writers who hear peer writing tutors discussing other writers may worry that they are also being discussed after they leave the Writing Center. If you need to have a conversation to express some emotions, please be conscious of the space you are talking in within the office.
🤸 While at Work, Work
Working as a writing tutor is almost always your primary responsibility during a shift, but there will also be times when you will not have appointments with writers.
If you find yourself without an appointment with a writer
- Check your schedule to see if you’ve been assigned work by an administrator, coordinator, team leader, receptionist, or another Writing Center student leader
- If not, check the #sidework Slack channel or ask the receptionist to see if there is any sidework to be done. Otherwise, use your time to work on your Tutoring Reflections ePortfolio, quarterly SMART goal, write a blog post, read a style manual, look over a resource a colleague posted to the #resources Slack channel (or post a favorite writing resource there yourself), or find other things to do that help you improve as a peer writing tutor and make you better able to effectively do your work at the Writing Center.
Bottom line: try to do Writing Center-related work when the Writing Center is paying you to work.
💁 Office Etiquette
- Be sure to keep the Writing Center’s shared spaces clean and orderly. Clean up after yourself, push in your chairs, keep personal items in designated storage areas, and return Writing Center resources to where you found them. Sometimes you will have Sidework placeholders in your schedule to contribute to keeping our spaces clean.
- Ensure that conversations with your fellow Writing Center Tutors do not interfere—whether through volume or content—with other appointments or Writing Center work.
- Reserve personal calls for before or after your work shift. If you must conduct a personal phone call, do so between appointments. Step away from the tutoring area, inform a receptionist about your whereabouts, and keep the call as short as possible.
- Ask permission prior to using administrators' offices.
- Label food that you leave in the break room refrigerator with the date and your name. Remove food within 1 week of storing it.
- Reserve private Writing Center spaces such as break rooms and offices for Writing Center staff only. We love your friends, but they are not invited into staff-only spaces.
- Silence electronic devices while in the Writing Center.
- Return Writing Center computers to charging stations and plug them in when not in use.
New Writing Center staff members will be assigned a mentor—as part of the mentoring program—who will guide them through their first year at the Writing Center.
🏠 Working From Home
Student employees have the option of working remotely/working from home for around 20% percent of their overall hours (generally 1 shift/day per week). The shifts will be the same as in-office shifts, with the exception that you will not be available for face-to-face appointments.
In order to have any work-from-home/remote work shifts—and so that you can conduct your work effectively—you need to agree to the following requirements:
- You have successfully completed your first-quarter probationary period
- You have a computer that is available and fully functional (including a functioning webcam) for each shift
- You have a working and reliable wifi connection for the duration of each remote shift
- You have a reasonably private and quiet space from which to remotely conduct appointments
- You are willing to frequently communicate with the receptionist via Slack to check in to your shift, to confirm receipt of any appointment documents, and prior to signing off from Slack at the end of your shift
- You will forfeit the option to work shifts remotely if you do not adhere to these guidelines
🦹 Sidework
Assigned Sidework
Sidework will be assigned at the end of each day. If you are blocked off for sidework, check in with the receptionist for the checklist that must be completed. These duties include general upkeep around the office to ensure that we are working in the cleanest, safest, and most welcoming environment possible.