Nine months ago I became voluntarily involved in the planning and implementation of the “first-ever” writing center for a small junior college in my community. Our college is unique in that it serves a special needs population primarily made up of ESL, developmental studies students, and non-high-school graduates. The lab was put together literally without a budget, and all coaches paid at minimum wage. Needless to say, only the very committed remained more than a month or two, leaving us with only two writing coaches, both of whom hold graduate degrees in English, as well as secondary degrees in library science, law, and journalism. The problem is that because of the writing lab’s overwhelming popularity, the need for coaching time has become so great that the two remaining writing coaches work literally non-stop, without breaks or lunch, twenty to thirty hours a week (including on their own time at home) in an effort to see that the writing lab succeeds. As writing coaches, they also are expected to plan and deliver workshops and writing seminars, as well as visit classrooms on campus; this, too, on their own time and without compensation. It doesn’t take a time-management expert to realize the virtual impossibility of the situation. The writing coaches are spread very thin and are fast becoming burned out.
Today, the director of the Learning Resources department announced that in order to serve more students, our two writing coaches must reduce the maximum time spent with students from an hour to a half hour. In addition, writing coaches must work with two or three students at a time rather than one-on-one. This in addition to paperwork, creating handouts, communicating with staff and faculty (done on their own time.) The new mandate means switching to an assembly line method of coaching students, but still allows no time for breaks for rest or food. I believe this is not only asking the impossible of coaches who have worked without complaint for nine months to build the writing lab, and have gone above and beyond for each and every student at the college, but is a destructive move for the lab in general. The explanation for the new mandate is that before any new tutors can be hired (at minimum wage, mind you), the writing lab must show data which proves that large numbers of students are being served. I am expecting that by Monday both of our well-qualified, experienced, and dedicated writing coaches will be turning in their resignations for the obvious reason that they do not have the physical or mental capacity to take on more responsibility. It is clearly obvious that they are already working themselves to exhaustion.
It is very difficult to let go of something you have put your heart and soul into for nearly a year. For that reason, I am asking for any advice, insight or criticism you, as experts, may offer.
Thank you in advance,
A. Kaiser
Without knowing the entire context of how you currently operate, it seems like a good time to implement some defensive policies to protect the coaches, and get data.
Normally, I advocate for as much student access as possible, which usually means very few barriers to service. However, student access shouldn’t come at the expense of the staff.
Have you considered being a strictly appointment based service? It would give you control over how many appointments are available each week, and allow you to set breaks, or administration time (making handouts, etc.) for the staff. You could set appointments at what are currently your busiest times, but build in breaks for your coaches. For example, have appointment available from 12-2 and then 3-5. Coaches could break/eat/work on handouts between 2-3.
You can collect all kinds of data from your appointment logs and session cards to help prove this is a busy service. Also, when no-appointments are available because this is a popular service, you can direct students up the chain of command with their complaints.
At SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, we are experiencing extreme growing pains. We’ve gone from serving 20 students per year in the WRC, to up to 600 student visits. The Center has been cobbled together with no budget, course credit for tutors, 10 hours of paid tutoring, and two graduate students. Last year, we created a student registration form and a data collection instrument for each visit. I have a one course release section and teach three sections of composition per semester. I am building a case to administration based on the data collection, that we create more paid tutor positions and that I get more release time to operate this needed service, especially on a science oriented campus. Let me know if you’d like me to share the data collection instruments.
Dawnelle Jager
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Thanks to both of you (Brandy and Meister1) for your comments. I am afraid I am near the end of my tether with this project, and if it were not for an the absolutely amazing students I work with, and the pure joy I get from helping them to become better writers, I would have thrown in the towel by now.
Our writing lab was also “cobbled” together, with absolutely no resources. We were given access to an empty office, two tables, four chairs, and three textbooks. Everything else I, or the writing coach who started with me (and has since left) bought ourselves or brought from home, including office supplies. Because my school is a junior college, there are no grad students to call on. Most of the students are low income, and a good number of those are in developmental courses. Because, I am a volunteer, I have little access to the “decision-makers” and, as far as a budget, If there is one, I have no knowledge of what it might be. I only know I have been told there is no money to buy comp textbooks for the lab, much less hire additional writing coaches. Our two tutors, both of whom have secondary degrees in English, as well as years of experience, work for minimum wage. Currently, we tutor 20 hours a week, and do all paper work, including creating handouts, on our own time.
As far as being appointment-based, we experimented early on with a combination of walk-ins and appointments, which worked well until this semester when students, after hearing about the writing lab, began to pour in. We switched to appointments taking precedence over walk-ins, but our appointment schedule filled completely by the second week of the semester. A typical work day is walking in the door to find at least two students waiting for you, so before you can hang up your coat, or check messages you are off and running, with students back to back for seven hours straight with no time for breaks or lunch. And that does not include the multiple interruptions from students who want to know how to make an appointment because they have been told they cannot be seen thst day. It is very difficult to turn a student away after they have been assured by announcements online, as well, as posters created this semester (without our knowledge) that the Writing Lab is there to help them with “all writing assignments” either as walk-ins or by appointment.
The reason I asked for advice originally was that the decision was made, again without consulting our three-man staff, that our hour long sessions were to be immediately limited to thirty minutes, again with no time built in for breaks. Having worked with students now for ten months, I do not see how it is possible to double what is already a very stressful student load. There are, of course, lower order concerns that can be addressed in half an hour, but in order to work with students who have higher order issues, there has to be some flexibility, at the very least. Not to mention that a large percentage of our students are we work with are ESL or NNS, and there is the process of translation that must be considered in order to effectively meet the needs of these international students.
My complaints about the new work schedule have fallen on deaf ears. I am told that we have to have the data before “middle-man,” who I actually see as part of the problem, can go to the president with any request. That translates to more names on the computer logs. But anyone go online anc see that tutors are booked solid, then look at the number of students we actually do see on any given day, and know that, as tutors, we are working many, many unpaid hours. And honestly, the huge problem is thst we are all both physically and mentally exhausted.
I’m afraid that the situation has gotten worse for us this week as one of our original tutors has turned in her resignation citing sn impossible eork schedule as the reason. The fact is we do the work because we love seeing the dramatic improvement in the students from one semester to the next—certainly not for the minimum wage paycheck. It it pretty amazing to have an ESL student who was failing English comp nine months ago walk into the writing lab and announce that they have just received the only A-plus their instructor has ever given on an essay. You can’t put a price tag on the pride and self-confidence written on that student’s face.
One more thing. I noticed that the problems we are having seem to coincide with a meeting we had two weeks ago with the director of Project SOAR, a federally-funded program that operates on campus. My understanding is that SOAR does work similar to ours, but it is only available to 200 students and they must meet special criteria in order to be accepted. The director made the statement during the meeting that there was some concern from his staff that our writing center was competing with them. I know nothing about these government programs, but I don’t see how we could possibly be seen as competing when SOAR has a full staff to service 200 students, which leaves us with two writing coaches to assist 7,000 students. So I am baffled.
Since I began as a volunteer, I am unfamiliar with the political intrigue that I have heard is a part of academia. I only know that what we do “works,” and, as a result, I am totally invested in the success of all writing centers, regardless of what happens in my own situation. I am more convinced than ever that writing labs are essential to increasing the retention rate in high school, junior college, and college. Thanks, again.
Please forgive all the error. Unacceptable for a writing coach.
errorS…I think it may be time to retire.
And we have been collecting data since day one through mandatory student sign-ins on the main computer in the Learning Resource Center, our own writing lab sign-in sheets, and individual records for each student that we (try) to file alphabetically at the end of each day. However, I would love to see your data collection instruments. I believe that the data we have collected is either not being looked at at all, or not being looked at in light of the fact that we have had, at the most, three tutors during any given semester.