Tutor Retreat Starts Year off Right

Tutors work together to draw their "ideal tutor."

During the first hectic but exciting week of school, the tutors of the Writing Center came together during a “retreat” after school to bond and to improve tutoring techniques.  The tutors watched informative videos, ate delicious snacks, chatted with one another, played fun bonding games, drew their idea of an “ideal tutor,” and worked together to edit sample papers.  Thanks to the hard work of the Writing Center directors Mr. Brandt, Mr. Righter, and Mrs. Marcantuono-Polstra, everyone had a great time!

At the beginning of the retreat, new tutors had the chance to talk with veteran tutors and ask them any questions they had about how things run.  Jessica Cascio said the retreat was “an effective yet fun experience, especially as a new tutor this year.  I really got a good feel for what the Writing Center is really about and the type of community we’re trying to be.”

Soon afterward, the tutors watched videos that showed the right and wrong ways to tutor a student.  Mira Rajani liked both the conversation between tutors and the videos: “I think the interviews gave new tutors a good preview as to what the process should be like, along with the videos – they also helped a lot with this!”

Tutors practice tutoring a paper together.

A common theme throughout the retreat was teamwork – tutors, both new and old, were grouped together during games, drawing activities, and mock tutorials.  “I thought that working in groups worked really well for the retreat,” said Caroline Brown.  Cascio agreed: “Something that worked well was that there were both old and new tutors here and we all did everything together as a group.”  Nathalie Adams thought that “it was a lot of fun playing games!  It was also very helpful to actually practice tutoring a paper as well.”  The teamwork skills that all tutors learned during the retreat will certainly add to the sense of community in the Writing Center!

Clearly the first Berkeley Writing Center retreat was a success!  Coming together as a group, we set the tone for a year filled with teamwork, a strong sense of community, and fun.  Rajani summed it up best: “It was super fun but we also learned a lot!”  The Writing Center tutors are ready to tutor papers and spread their love of writing around campus this year!