Most instructors, I think, have at least a vague notion of what the University Writing Center’s peer consultants do. I mean, they help students fix their mistakes, don’t they? While it is true that our consultants are good writers themselves and are perfectly capable of editing papers, what they do for students is much more complex. Their practices are guided by the theory that every session should focus on helping clients improve their own writing, because students learn more when they are actively involved in the process.

What that means, then, is that the student determines the scope of the session, within reason. UWC consultants can and do make suggestions about what they think the student needs to focus on, but the student ultimately sets the course. That being said, at times our consultants struggle to engage students in their own writing. Many students are all too willing to give up ownership of their work, passively waiting for the consultant to give their writing form and shape.

Perhaps students are so willing to relinquish control of their words because of the teaching methods they’ve encountered. Most of us can remember an experience, perhaps from childhood, of trying to do something by ourselves, only to have some adult, perhaps a teacher, coach, or parent, come along and redo it the way it “should” be done. Ross MacDonald, author of The Master Tutor, recounts just such an experience in spinning his first pot. As he spun the potter’s wheel, his teacher came up behind him, taking his hands in hers, molding the pot. He recalls that she congratulated him, saying “Look at your pot!” But it wasn’t his pot, not anymore. Likewise, some students, having learned to write at the hands of well-intentioned instructors who were overly zealous with the red pen, fall into a conditioned sense of passivity, feeling that their writing is not their writing, not really.

When students believe they own their writing, though, they are not only engaged, but deeply invested in their efforts. One of my colleagues began his community college career teaching composition at a federal prison. When he returned the first set of graded papers, one of the students came up to him and said, “Hey, man. You wrote on my paper.” My colleague responded that yes, indeed, he wrote comments to help him improve his writing. The inmate moved closer and repeated emphatically, “No, man. You don’t understand. You wrote on my paper.” Now that’s ownership.

So, what do our consultants do to help clients own their writing? First, consultants must be good listeners. They ask questions that help students articulate their ideas. As artist and art professor Josef Albers said, “Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers.” Consultants ask questions that help students set goals at the beginning of sessions and then review those goals at the end. They ask the student to tell them what the paper is about, and if the student is willing, the student reads the paper aloud while the consultant listens. The consultant offers suggestions that the client may or may not incorporate.

The consultants do not judge the quality of the student’s writing nor do they discuss grades. Of course, letting students direct the process means not every student will leave the UWC with an A paper, but I believe they’ll leave with a better sense of their own abilities and a respect for the value of revision.

Consulting, like all forms of teaching, is an art, not a science. Do consultants make mistakes? Of course. But they are also a reflective bunch, and they know that the best way to convince clients that they are writers is to treat them as such.

—Candace Schaefer
Associate Director
University Writing Center
cschaefer@tamu.edu