expectations

Now that you have accepted a position as a Writing Fellow, we expect you to make a serious commitment to the success of the program. Your responsibilities include meeting with professors, attending class to collect papers, reading and commenting on drafts, scheduling and conducting one-on-one conferences with students, and attending all required staff and ongoing education meetings.

Professional behavior is a necessity. We expect you to be prompt and courteous to both professors and peers; we also expect you to treat student writing with respect and confidentiality. Because this is still a new program, you may be the first Writing Fellow that some students and faculty encounter at UW-Madison. This means that your performance will set the standard for future classes of Fellows. It also means that you will have the added responsibility of defining and explaining your role to the student writers with whom you work--and often to professors as well.

We don't expect you to have all the answers, of course. Instead, we expect you to be willing to ask questions and to consult with us when you aren't sure about how to proceed. We also expect you to use each other as resources. One of the most exciting aspects of the Writing Fellows program is its potential for creating a community of talented undergraduates from a variety of academic fields. Take advantage of the wealth of experiences that the other Fellows can share with you.

A final note: You are responsible for doing your best to help every student you work with, but you are not responsible for assuring every student's success. Writing is a difficult, complex skill, and as long as we continue to write, we will have more to learn about writing. As a Fellow, you are not in the business of offering miracle cures to student writers, whether they are struggling to meet the basic requirements of an assignment or striving to earn that elusive A+. Instead, you can provide support to your peers, encourage them to challenge themselves as writers, and make a limited number of suggestions about how to improve a draft.