Annual Hume Tutoring Symposium

Come join us for the First Annual Hume Tutor Symposium!

Writing Lives, Writing Futures speaks to the ways that writing constructs identities (both the author’s and those addressed) and how writing tutoring co-constructs futures through collaborative, dialogic engagement across cultures, languages, and ideologies. There’s also a double meaning, a double play on words in that “writing lives” can refer to the place that writing has in our everyday experiences as well as to the continued relevance–the aliveness–of writing in the academy and beyond.

Register for the tutoring symposium here!

Symposium Itinerary 

9 a.m. Continental Breakfast

9:30 a.m. Opening Plenary

10 a.m. Concurrent Sessions 

From AI to Z: Effective and Ethical Approaches in Generative Writing Assistance

Rethinking Boundaries in Tutoring: Community and Dialogic Reflection as a Restorative Writing Practice

11 a.m. Concurrent Sessions 

Expecting the Unexpected: Approaching Triggers in Tutoring

Multilingualism and the Myth of Standard English in Tutoring

Noon Lunch Plenary

Session Descriptions

From AI to Z: Effective and Ethical Approaches in Generative Writing Assistance

Facilitators: Isabel Salovaara (G), Khushmita Dhabhai (UG), and Diya Sabharwal (UG) 

Abstract: In this hands-on session, we're not just talking about the AI wave and college writing support — we're riding it!. Tutors will explore ethical and effective use of tools like ChatGPT, including the complexities behind AI training models and notions of 'ownership' in this new AI era. We’ll get our hands dirty with prompt generation and other strategies for meaningful AI engagement in tutoring. If you're excited to shape how we integrate AI into our tutoring toolkit, this is a conversation you won't want to miss. Let’s navigate this exciting new frontier together!

Rethinking Boundaries in Tutoring: Community and Dialogic Reflection as a Restorative Writing Practice

Facilitators: Sam Ogunsanya ('23), Carlene Sanchez (UG), and Merissa Rieken (G)

Abstract: Like the writers they support, writing tutors often find themselves at the intersection of multiple identities, including positionalities like gender, race, sex, and class. Managing the complex positions that tutors and writers occupy within and outside the writing context requires a strong understanding of healthy boundary setting. A restorative writing practice, one rooted in community and dialogic self-reflection, has the ability to combat burn-out and increase tutor/tutee quality of life. In this session we will use dialogic reflection to develop tutoring practices that center boundaries, construct healthy tutoring routines, and discover new ways of approaching tutor/tutee wellness.

Expecting the Unexpected: Approaching Triggers in Tutoring

Facilitators: Jayne Abraham (UG), and Adin Walker (G)

Abstract: Understanding the immense vulnerability shaping a collaborative, dialogic tutorial, this session centers unexpected emotions – “triggers” – that may arise for tutees and tutors. Such triggers have the capacity to rupture a tutorial and negatively impact the tutee and tutor. In this session, we will approach the layered, complex terrain of “triggers in tutoring” to identify them when they occur, discuss specific strategies for working through them in the moment, and propose institutional practices for supporting tutors.

Multilingualism and the Myth of Standard English in Tutoring

Facilitators: Ellie Alexander (UG), Briana Garcia (UG), and Phoebus Cotsapas (G)

Abstract: In this session, we will use our experiences as tutors as a lens through which to understand how multilingualism functions within tutoring and at universities more broadly. We will question what linguistic resistance means in an academic context and discuss the relationship between multilingualism, power structures and race/ethnicity, exploring the ways in which we all relate to multilingualism in the inclination towards modifying our "writing voices" to fit academic standards across institutions. Ultimately, the session will offer participants the opportunity to reflect on their tutoring practice, highlighting strategies that value multilingualism and linguistic justice without exoticizing student backgrounds and voices.