Department of English

Services Available: for Writing Assistants

GPA Policies

Because we advertise our tutors as representing our best majors, we need you to maintain a 3.5 GPA in your English classes and 3.0 cumulative for the most recent semester to maintain your position with us. At the beginning of each semester, you need to give the director a copy of your most recent unofficial transcript. If your GPA has fallen below the minimum standards, your weekly working hours will be limited during the semester (to give you more study time). If you’re not able to raise your GPA after one semester on probation, you will be released from your Writing Center job.

Grammar Standards

To ensure that the Writing Center retains its reputation as a place staffed by highly skilled writers, you will be asked to take a usage test during your first training workshop. The director will use the results of the test to help you identify your strengths and weaknesses as a grammarian and, for tutors who make a score of lower than 90 percent, to chart a course of study in preparation for a follow-up exam to be administered three weeks before the end of the semester. That preparation will include preparing a mini-workshop for composition students or for tutors on one of the grammatical issues that plagues you. If you don’t make a score of at least 90 percent on the second exam, you will lose your place on the schedule for the next semester.  Note: you won’t be eligible for certification, until you achieve a score of at least 90 on the exam. To be eligible for the second level of certification, you’ll need to pass a more advanced grammar test with a score of at least 90 percent.

Records

• Be careful to keep accurate records of your tutoring sessions by both documenting them in the logbook and turning in a white consultation form for each one. A “session” is defined as a half hour consultation. If your session extends into a second half hour, write your clients name on a second white consultation form, staple it to the first, and fill in the time record.
• Ask for an evaluation from each client.

Shifts

• Be on time for your shifts. Wear your name tag. If you are sitting at a computer, display one of the “writing assistant” signs.
• Never miss a tutoring session unless you let both the director and the tutor(s) with whom you usually work know in advance about your impending absence.  If you do have to miss a shift, find another tutor who would be willing to cover for you.
• Even if you contact your shift partners and the director, if you miss more than three shifts during a semester without finding someone to cover for you, the director may limit you to “third tutor” spots on the schedule.
• Stay in the Writing Center or the adjacent tutoring area during your shift.
• Of course, bathroom breaks are okay, but do not run errands or go for lunch during your shift unless you are working more than three hours at a stretch. In such a case, schedule a regular break with the director.
• When a receptionist is not on duty, one tutor MUST be at the receptionist desk at all times, and this duty should be rotated.
• Never discuss who is going to work with a client in that client’s hearing. If your shift partner took the last tutorial, the assumption is that you’ll take the next one. The reception is the last person in the rotation, and he/she stays at the front desk and continues to check people in.

Behavior

• Be concerned and friendly as you work with other tutors and clients.
• Turn off the ringer of your cell phone while tutoring; don’t check messages unless you need to keep in touch with your children or to deal with an emergency situation.
• Do NOT download or play games from the internet while working in the Writing Center. Doing so will mean an end to your employment in the Center.
• Avoid the temptation to conduct loud and/or extended personal conversations or to concentrate on your own work rather than the Writing Center’s. Generally speaking, you should not work on your own studies and papers in the Writing Center.  Be proactive in identifying work that needs to be done. If you have nothing to do, ask the director first and then Joi for some work to do. You may pursue your certification work on Writing Center time if nothing else needs attention.

Tardies

While the Writing Center recognizes that as students, you often have a busy schedule, we expect you to be as close to on time as possible.  Showing up at five minutes or more past the hour more than three times will result in a consultation with the director.  On that note, please be aware that although you will be paid hourly, you are allowed to leave up to ten minutes early should you have a class you need to be at by the top of the hour.

No-Shows With Contact

Like most people, your life is probably unpredictable at times!  If you can’t make it into the Center for one or more of your shifts, consult the contact sheet immediately.  Try first to have another consultant cover your shift.  If you are unable to do that, call the director (865-8245)  to let her know of your absence. Also call the Writing Center, so that the consultant on shift at your time can indicate your impending absence on the white board.  If you miss more than three shifts during a semester without arranging for another tutor to take your place, the director may limit you to “third tutor” status on the schedule.

No-Shows With No Contact

This situation can prove to be the most frustrating, not only for director and the other tutors, but also for the students who come into the Writing Center.  For this reason, the Writing Center has no choice but to allow each tutor one no-show with no contact; after another one, you will be dismissed as an employee.  While this may seem strict, keep in mind the reason the Writing Center (and your job) exist: to serve the students.  When you are not in the Center to meet clients, confusion results.  The director hopes this policy never needs to be enforced, but it will be if necessary.

| Writing Center | English |