Student and Faculty Fellows Collaborate to Support Student Writers

Students in various disciplines are enhancing their writing skills in a new, semester-long pilot program in St. John’s University’s Institute for Writing Studies. Through the program, six faculty fellows are partnered with six undergraduate writing fellows to support students in one course taught by each of the professors. The faculty fellows and their undergraduate fellows are:
 

 “This pilot program is about building relationships with students: faculty with their undergraduate writing fellows, undergraduate fellows with other students, and faculty with their students,” says Anne Geller, Ph.D., Director of Writing across the Curriculum. “Equally important is the assistance that students are receiving—from faculty and from their peers—to help them improve their writing skills, a vital step in their pursuit of success.”

Recently, Dr. Geller and four of the undergraduate fellows (Tatiana, Mallory, Matthew and Hadia), presented their work in a round-table session at the annual meeting of the Northeast Writing Centers Association Conference.  The faculty fellows will present their research and experience at the International Writing Across the Curriculum conference in May.

The undergraduate fellows, all tutors in the Queens campus Writing Center, attend every meeting of their faculty partner’s class and provide 8-10 hours of tutoring a  week to students in that course. Mallory Tokunaga notes that the project has been “an excellent opportunity to act as a bridge between students and professors.”  

A peer-to-peer learning experience strengthens the bond between the writing students and the undergraduate fellows who help them. According to Rubayya Hoque, one student insisted she didn’t know if she had completed an assignment correctly, wasn’t good at philosophy and didn’t understand it. “As the writing fellow, I knew exactly what Dr. Yates required,” said Rubayya, “and I could explain it to her. She definitely left feeling more confident.”