When asked to research and present on a facet of tutoring for my final project for WRD395: Writing Center Theory and Pedagogy, I originally decided to focus on APA citations. As someone who has spent much of their writing background working with MLA, I thought that this might be a nice way to become a bit more familiar with the style of the American Psychological Association.
Shortly after I made this decision, however, our class engaged in an activity surrounding identity in tutoring. As someone who has been involved with social justice spaces at DePaul, including the former Center for Identity, Inclusion, and Social Change and, more recently, the Office of Multicultural Student Success, I was excited to discuss identity in the context of tutoring. This activity, in which we found ourselves addressing the identities which we feel are often assumed or overlooked in tutoring, greatly impacted me and motivated me to rethink my final presentation topic. After some deliberation, I finally settled on identity consciousness.
Maintaining identity consciousness in tutoring requires a great deal of reflection on the part of the tutor. By thinking critically about the ways in which our identities situate us in social hierarchy, we are better able to create comfortable, respectful, and inclusive learning environments for our writers.
In navigating the internet and different sources on social justice in writing center contexts, I came to a few conclusions about how best to reflect on, but not overthink, our identities in relation to the students that we work with. I compiled my research into five distinct applications of identity consciousness. They are outlined below.
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Consider your own identities.
Consciously understanding our own positionality in the world can help us to better engage with other people. As tutors, which are inherently positions of authority, this practice is especially important. By understanding how we take up space in conversations, we are better able to create comfortable learning environments. Consider how your race, educational level, class, etc. inform what you bring to the appointment and how you engage with the writer.
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Acknowledge relational positionality.
Understanding our identities in relation to our writer’s identities (if visible or noted by the writer) can help us to be mindful of how and where we may experience the world differently than our writers do. Rather than ignoring their background, acknowledging these differences internally or in conversation can be important. This can manifest in a variety of ways. For example, frustrations can arise if a tutor with a privileged identity tries to dismiss or undermine the voice of a writer with a marginalized identity. An example of this could be a white tutor telling a writer of color that their paper on police brutality is “overreacting.” Considering how our identities inherently perpetuate social hierarchy in these ways is important to letting our writer’s have their voice.
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Avoid making assumptions.
Many people make assumptions about others based on their appearance, their way of speaking, and beyond. Explicit discussions of identity don’t always happen in our appointments. As a result, it is important to be mindful of what we infer about our writers. One way to avoid making assumptions within the UCWbL is by checking a writer’s pronouns and language proficiencies on WC Online prior to the appointment!
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Practice active listening.
Creating space for the writer to share their thoughts is necessary to achieving the UCWbL values of collaboration and respect. In doing so, it is important to listen actively rather than just “hear” what the writer has to say. This means trying hard to understand what it is that your writer is trying to convey to you. Maintaining eye contact, engaged body language, and following along in their writing are a few ways for us to practice active listening.
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Be deliberate with your language.
There are many ways in which language can be used oppressively. The way that we use it can result in the erasure, exoticization, minimizing, stereotyping, and challenging of identity-based lived experiences. By being mindful of why and how we use language, we have a better chance at avoiding these situations. A great resource for tutors to review on oppressive language is linked here.
I believe that identity consciousness is crucial to us as peer tutors, as well as human beings in general. Paying attention to how we take up space and how others take up space is important to being respectful, inclusive, and compassionate individuals. When it comes to the tutoring experience, which is already a vulnerable place for many writers, this consciousness can be especially important.
For more information regarding this topic, feel free to check out the presentation that I gave in my theory class.