From the perspective of literacy management, this is maybe the most exciting conference. Students are being asked to reflect on their own experience of becoming a writing tutor and working in a learning environment as tutors. I am hoping this will bring together insights on the special potential of peer learning for the development of individual literacy management and for the shaping of an institution-wide culture of literacy.

Here comes the original call for proposals:

Call for Proposals

National Conference on Peer Tutors in Writing
Chicago, IL – November 2-4, 2012

Submission Deadline: April 1, 2012
Conference Website for Submissions

Theme: Understanding Tutor Identity
In their award-winning article, “What They Take with Them: Findings from the Peer Writing Tutor Alumni Research Project,” Brad Hughes, Paula Gillespie, and Harvey Kail describe tutoring as a “developmental experience” (2010). We invite tutors to consider their own developmental experiences and share how their insights inform their work as tutors and leaders.
Guiding questions for presenters might include:
• How has your role as a tutor shaped your identity?
• What achievements have caused you to reflect on and grow as a tutor?
• How do your relationships with writers and fellow tutors manifest themselves in your notion of self?
• How does tutoring influence your identity as a student, writer, or professor?
• Has tutoring led you to understand your future professional goals differently?
We can all acknowledge that there are difficult moments, too. These experiences invite us to ask:
• How has your work with individual writers complicated, challenged, deepened, or otherwise shaped your understanding of what it means to be a tutor?
• How has the hierarchy of your respective institution shaped the development of your identity as a tutor?
• What role does conflict play in the formation of your identity as a tutor?
Our experiences can also shape the organizations where we work. These experiences ask of us:
• Does your understanding of your role as a tutor challenge the structure of your center?
• What is the impact you make on your center’s mission and work?
• How does your relationship with technology in your work as a tutor inform your understanding of your role?
We ask you to consider your own identity as a tutor and to share with us how understanding identity plays a part in your growth as a tutor and your role as a leader. Possible formats for proposals include, but are not limited to, whole session panel presentations, individual presentations, roundtable discussions, workshops, and poster presentations. Alternative formats will be considered. Submit proposals at the NCPTW Chicago 2012 website.
If you have any questions, please email us at ncptw.chicago2012@gmail.com

—
Andrew Jeter
Literacy Center Coordinator, Niles West HS
Chair, NCPTW Chicago 2012
President, COWLLC
Secondary School Rep, IWCA
847-626-2615