| [00:00:00.00] | My name is Ali Salerno, |
| [00:00:03.94] | and I am a graduate of the MFA program |
| [00:00:08.37] | in fiction from Ohio State University, |
| [00:00:10.35] | and a former tutor in the Center for the Study & Teaching of Writing at Ohio State. |
| [00:00:15.39] | [ INT: Um, do you have have any stories or anecdotes |
| [00:00:19.54] | [ about how your writing tutor experience |
| [00:00:23.35] | [ has shaped your views of literacy? ] |
| [00:00:26.13] | Um, what comes to mind, uh, most readily |
| [00:00:30.80] | is the experience of working with students |
| [00:00:34.30] | in the writing center feels very collaborative |
| [00:00:37.79] | in a way that working as a teacher doesn't often feel. |
| [00:00:42.73] | Um, I'm a lecturer, um, in first-year writing |
| [00:00:47.03] | at Ohio State right now, |
| [00:00:48.39] | and working in the writing center with students |
| [00:00:53.38] | of a lot of very different populations can give you a good perspective |
| [00:00:58.18] | of the types of issues that different students are dealing with |
| [00:01:01.04] | and gives you a wide range of, um, problems that some of these students have. |
| [00:01:06.47] | But it feels a lot more collaborative, |
| [00:01:08.87] | the working one on one, that one-on-one process. |
| [00:01:11.53] | Um, I can think of particular students, uh, usually international students, |
| [00:01:16.92] | who, there was a lot more hands-on, um, |
| [00:01:21.83] | interaction with them, if-- |
| [00:01:24.34] | I had one student brought her computer in, |
| [00:01:26.22] | and it was hard for me to refrain from doing a little bit of typing |
| [00:01:31.69] | uh, when I was explaining concepts to her. |
| [00:01:35.05] | And so this idea that a lot of students |
| [00:01:37.93] | who either need help in a targeted way |
| [00:01:41.88] | or have a more general issue with college writing, |
| [00:01:45.83] | that sometimes it can feel like a collaborative process |
| [00:01:49.44] | that you're helping them along on that journey, |
| [00:01:51.31] | but that also they are kind of relying on you |
| [00:01:54.83] | to provide some of those links that they might be missing. |
| [00:01:58.12] | So in terms of a general idea of literacy, |
| [00:02:01.03] | I think a lot students just arrive at college, no matter what their background, |
| [00:02:05.08] | with a lack of understanding about what it means |
| [00:02:08.96] | to have, um, experience in college-level writing. |
| [00:02:13.92] | So there's this literacy of higher education, I guess is maybe what I would call it, |
| [00:02:18.86] | where students are not used to writing |
| [00:02:22.59] | in as detailed or in-depth way, |
| [00:02:25.38] | and they're not used to privileging critical thinking |
| [00:02:29.84] | over, um, immediate opinion, |
| [00:02:33.30] | and there's exceptions to this, |
| [00:02:34.86] | and I also don't mean to portray this as a wholly negative thing, |
| [00:02:38.07] | it's just not something that a lot of students have looked closely at |
| [00:02:40.92] | before they've, um, arrived at college, |
| [00:02:42.83] | and so you couple that with the added difficulty |
| [00:02:45.51] | for students who are dealing with multiple literacies |
| [00:02:48.66] | because they are international students, |
| [00:02:51.57] | and sometimes the urge for me that I've noticed is that I, |
| [00:02:55.83] | like I said, I'm a little more hands-on when I help them. |
| [00:02:58.01] | So that's something that's been interesting for me to realize |
| [00:03:03.30] | because it makes me reevaluate my own thinking process when I'm writing |
| [00:03:07.30] | because it's usually just me and one person sitting there |
| [00:03:11.26] | working at the computer or working by hand. |
| [00:03:12.97] | But, um ... |
| [00:03:14.71] | when you're helping someone who has a little bit harder time |
| [00:03:17.84] | making those linguistic connections, |
| [00:03:19.06] | you're--I often feel as if I'm kind of that buffer |
| [00:03:23.73] | between this student's ability to master college literacy |
| [00:03:28.01] | and the literacies that they're used to juggling. |
| [00:03:31.51] | And I don't--and that's not an exaggerated, like it's not like, |
| [00:03:34.71] | "I stand between them and understanding," |
| [00:03:37.16] | but a more just that I'm there to help them, |
| [00:03:39.28] | to help guide them through to that college literacy, |
| [00:03:42.20] | and where they might be starting at a little bit of a disadvantage |
| [00:03:44.32] | than students who come in who aren't juggling a number of literacies, |
| [00:03:48.29] | um, either through actual languages, |
| [00:03:53.80] | like literacy within--cultural literacy among multiple cultures, |
| [00:03:57.85] | and just the ability to ... |
| [00:04:00.62] | uh, navigate college on their own in a new place. |
| [00:04:04.25] | So I've noticed that that is something that stands out |
| [00:04:07.95] | as far as thinking about literacy |
| [00:04:10.54] | in a writing center in higher education. |
| [00:04:14.04] | [ INT: How has that shaped your own writing or your teaching? |
| [00:04:18.47] | [ ... Or has it? ] |
| [00:04:21.00] | Um, I think, in a way it's shaped my teaching |
| [00:04:25.29] | in terms of making me more aware that ... |
| [00:04:29.12] | when I'm at the head of a classroom, I have to sort of provoke my students |
| [00:04:34.02] | to believe in their own ability to work hard on something and make progress, |
| [00:04:38.88] | that my instinct to collaborate with them is strong, |
| [00:04:44.14] | where I think they need to begin to be able to stand on their own two feet. |
| [00:04:48.28] | So that has affected me in terms of bringing awareness |
| [00:04:51.80] | to when I need to back off and let them just explore ideas |
| [00:04:55.86] | and when they might need a little bit more of an intervention |
| [00:04:59.13] | in the way that writing center tutors intervene. |
| [00:05:01.42] | Um ... |
| [00:05:03.10] | and by intervention I don't mean taking over, |
| [00:05:05.97] | I simply mean where you look a lot more closely one on one in office hours, |
| [00:05:10.26] | and that kind of thing. |
| [00:05:11.60] | And it's always good for students to come to office hours, |
| [00:05:14.43] | but essentially in class I have to project an understanding |
| [00:05:19.18] | that these students have the ability, they just need to make the effort, |
| [00:05:22.53] | and if they are struggling, they can come in, and I can help them. |
| [00:05:25.88] | So a lot of times I bring that perspective from being a tutor that I, |
| [00:05:29.57] | I sort of have an understanding |
| [00:05:31.55] | that not everything is as easy as it seems, |
| [00:05:33.18] | but that they have to show determination and motivation |
| [00:05:39.00] | to actually, you know, overcome the challenges that they face |
| [00:05:43.31] | in mediating, uh, the, you know, |
| [00:05:47.06] | college-level writing and literacy in that sense, |
| [00:05:50.69] | the literacy of higher education, I guess. |
| [00:05:52.71] | Um ... so that affects me in that way |
| [00:05:55.86] | is that I have an awareness of what kinds of issues you run into |
| [00:05:59.50] | when you work primarily one-on-one with students |
| [00:06:01.67] | versus when you're at the head of a classroom |
| [00:06:03.26] | with multiple, you know, 24 students, |
| [00:06:05.62] | and they're being, you know, mediating ... |
| [00:06:08.35] | um, that ... |
| [00:06:11.75] | push that you get from students to do a lot of collaboration with them |
| [00:06:16.34] | when really they need to be doing a lot this stuff on their own. |
| [00:06:18.47] | But then also an awareness that one on one, |
| [00:06:22.06] | a lot of students do need extra help. |
| [00:06:24.29] | |
| [00:06:25.81] |