To Better Talk the Talk and Walk the Walk: The Evolution of a Peer Consultant Training Program

Deeds Boardroom

Just as there are no cookie-cutter approaches to tutoring sessions, there are no cookie-cutter solutions to the challenges of recruiting, hiring, and training peer consultants. When and how do we introduce our peer consultants to talking the talk of writing center pedagogy, and how do we prepare them to walk the walk in their sessions, implementing best practices and empowering student writers? Just as each tutoring session involves accounting for the unique dynamic among writer, tutor, assignment, and the context of the students’ institution of higher learning, each writing center’s peer consultant training program negotiates the realities of its college or university’s culture around tutoring, student employment policies, budget, and student and staff schedules, among other factors. Accordingly, writing centers may elect to train their consultants through once-a-semester orientation days, workshops, weekly or monthly staff meetings, credit-bearing training courses, and other methods. This presentation explores the evolution of training for peer writing consultants at Marietta College, specifically involving how to effectively deliver College Reading and Learning Association training content while also promoting long-term professional development and community among peer consultants. In reflecting upon this evolution, grounded in an examination of the history, current circumstances, and future goals of the Writing Center at Marietta College and a study of best practices in training programs at other institutions of higher learning, this presentation aims to spur conversations about how each of our writing center training programs can better serve our peer consultants and the student writers who will collaborate with them.