The Writing Center strives to promote learning, professional development, and reflection as much for you—our staff—as for the writers we work with. The training that takes place during your first quarter of employment at the Writing Center—particularly in WRD 395 or WRD 582—serves as the foundation of our work at the Writing Center.
We also design ongoing professional development opportunities to promote collaboration and reflection, build and advance knowledge, increase awareness of and appreciation for diversity, and provide a space where we can motivate and support each other as peer writing tutors.
The primary goal of Professional Development (PD) is to help tutors become better tutors. Through PD, tutors engage in improving their work within a supportive and collaborative learning community. Each of our PD Programs as listed below reflect our learning outcomes, are grounded in theory, and are directly applicable to and actionable in our work in the Writing Center.
Programs
Between the Lines
Linguistic Justice + Diversity Training
The Mentoring Program
Tutor Talk
Quarterly Check-ins🧑🎓 Learning Outcomes
Through participation in Professional Development, peer writing tutors will
- reflect on their tutoring experiences
- add new strategies to their tutoring skills
- apply relevant research to their understanding of writing and their tutoring practices
- demonstrate an increased understanding of writers’ needs and perspectives about their work
- make decisions and solve problems that arise in tutoring sessions
🌀 PD Logistics & Scheduling
Professional development content is focused on specific writing, tutoring, or employment-related topics. These workshops or modules may be synchronous or asynchronous; some will involve large or small group interactive elements while others will offer individual reflection opportunities.
Tutors will have time blocked off during your work shift(s) to complete PD. The frequency of the sessions varies across programs, e.g. you participate in 1-3 Linguistic Justice + Diversity Trainings per year, in 2 Tutor Talk sessions per quarter, and in Quarterly Check-ins once each quarter. For mentees and mentors, you’ll participate in 3-5 Mentoring Check-ins per quarter. Every tutor will be blocked off for and is expected to read each issue of our newsletter Between the Lines, published weekly Weeks 2-9 of each quarter. You can also opt to participate in additional PD modules or other opportunities—announced to staff on Slack—as they are available.
🤟🏻 Who Facilitates?
Student Managers and Administrators are the primary facilitators of PD. Mentoring check-ins are facilitated by returning tutors selected to serve as mentors. Sometimes a PD workshop is led by representatives from other departments at DePaul or from other writing centers.
Facilitators have the opportunity to gain skills in planning and implementing effective professional development sessions or modules by
- applying relevant learning objectives to the planning and implementation of their PD session
- applying relevant research to the content of their PD sessions in ways that are understandable and accessible to participants
- including rapport, exigence, agenda, methods, and next steps in their PD session
- developing PD content and materials that have relevant information for all tutors, new and returning, or for the intended audience
- offering specific and actionable take-aways that tutors can implement in their work in the Writing Center