Welcome new PeerCenterists

We've had a slew of new bloggers join PeerCentered over the past week. Welcome! Please introduce yourself in the comments on this post.

New Semester, New Ideas

Today is my second day of classes, and our WC doesn't officially open until Monday, Sept 1. This year we didn't have too much turnover, and we have a very strong group of tutors, so we've been talking about doing some new programs this fall. I wanted to briefly outline two of them and hopefully get some feedback from all of you.

Program One: Creative Writing Workshops. We've been holding weekly creative writing sessions for two semesters now. A number of our tutors (myself included) have a focus on creative writing. While we are technically always open for poetry and fiction, we rarely if ever saw creative writing in the WC. So we began holding specific weekly sessions, advertised just for creative writers. We've had mild success before. By far, our most popular thing was having the poetry faculty come in and give special workshops during National Poetry Month (each prof. held a workshop for a different kind of poem). I'm wondering, how do your WCs typically handle creative writers? Any special outreach or programs? What's been effective, and what's not?

Program Two: Continued Tutor Training - Since a number of our tutors have worked for 2, 3,or 4 years, we have been talking about having an informal tutor training this fall. When we begin working in the WC, we take a semester-long course in WC theory and practice, so we all know the fundamentals. And the tutors we have are great; no one doubts their skill at what we do. But we have been talking about informally reading current theory, trying to see what we can do to help improve the work we already do. Hopefully not too heavy a load (we're already full-time students!), but something extra to keep us intellectually and academically engaged. Have any of you had continued training? If so, what was it like (ie, how often did you meet, what level of work/reading)? Also, if you were designing such a program, what would you just have to include?

Thanks in advance!

Consultant Mentoring

Augh! What is this black magic that made the summer go by in such a fleeting moment? As I settle in to thinking about The Return of the School Year, I think about our newbie consultants, who will be taking to The Center for the first time this fall. Here at BSU's Writing Center, we are looking for rich ways to develop connections between veteran consultants and new consultants. We're thinking about observation & disc Have you have good experiences of mentoring or being mentored in any ways in your work? I would love to hear about them!