“Students notice whether consultants match intellectual challenge and excitement, revealing an understanding of intellectual engagement as a two-way street. Student-writers describe this engagement as centered not only in the writing, but also in the conversation and the individual writer and learner.”
Pamela Bromley, Eliana Schonberg and Kara Northway “Student Perceptions of Intellectual Engagement in the Writing Center”
Training Program Overview
The Knight Institute provides a 6-week Summer Training Program that aims to provide meaningful opportunities for new first-year writing seminar (FWS) graduate instructors to engage with FWS students and their writing; to reflect on the teaching of writing; and to use these experiences to develop FWS materials for future teaching in the Knight Institute and beyond.
The Training Program is a paid opportunity that takes place at the same time as WRIT 7100 during the 6-week summer session. For summer 2025, the program will run from June 23 through August 5. Potential applicants must be available on campus for in-person tutoring and participation during this period.
Participant Expectations
Knight Training participants will engage in the following types of activities totaling no more than 8 hours per week:
- Tutor writing (4 hours per week)
- Participate in weekly staff meetings with Director Kate Navickas & Knight Training Program Assistant Coordinator(s) (1.5 hours per week)
- Attend supported work sessions (1 hour per week)
Tutoring Work
Training Program participants will tutor in the Summer Writing Center. The Writing Center is typically open Sundays-Thursdays, 7-10pm and will most likely involve both in-person and synchronous virtual tutoring. Participants will tutor four hours per week, or 1-2 shifts (nights) a week. Each summer, the tutoring schedule is created using participants' scheduling preferences as much as possible. In-person tutoring usually happens in Klarman Hall and/or Rockefeller Hall.
Tutoring writing helps TAs develop the following experiences that are transferable to teaching FWSes:
- Conferencing with students
- Responding to student writing
- Working with multilingual writers
- Developing & enacting pedagogical values through tutoring practices
- Assessing and responding (using a variety of practices) to individual student learning and writing needs
Pedagogical Work
Each summer, the specific pedagogical work of the Knight Training Program shifts slightly. However, the purpose of this additional work is to share tutoring experiences and reflect on the ways that tutoring work might inform the teaching of first-year writing seminars. The pedagogical work of the Training Program is designed to complement and deepen the conversations happening in WRIT 7100.
Staff Meetings
Each week, Knight Training Program participants will meet for 1.5 hours with Director Kate Navickas and Training Program Assistant Coordinator(s) for staff meetings. The very first meeting of the summer will be 2 hours in order to also discuss logistics, the scheduling platform, and essential protocols in addition to tutoring pedagogy. While staff meeting content shifts each summer, we cover tutoring essentials like basic tutoring pedagogy, working with multilingual writers, and practices like focusing on higher order concerns when responding to writing. Additionally, to extend the work of WRIT 7100, the staff meetings may also include content relevant to teaching an FWS, like enacting an antiracist pedagogy, linguisitc justice in the teaching of writing, grading contracts, working with neurodiverse writers, and AI and writing, among other topics.
Additional Pedagogical Components
There will always be at least one additional pedagogical component of the Knight Summer Training Program. For example, in past summers, participants have engaged in a Canvas discussion board, attended FWS teaching workshops by Knight faculty, presented writing activities of their own, or participated in supported-work sessions that offer TAs an opportunity to work on FWS course materials across WRIT 7100 sections with guidance from Training Program Coordinators. These extra components are based on TA interest and relevant FWS contexts.
Logistics and Applying to the Training Program
Summer Support
The summer training program is a paid educational opportunity. Selected trainees will receive $7,148.00 for summer support. *If you are receiving summer support from any other source, your stipend will be decreased accordingly.*
Who Should Apply
We prioritize applications from TAs who will simultaneously be taking WRIT 7100 in the summer, and thus, teaching an FWS for the first time the next academic year. All participants must be available during the six-week summer session for in-person work in Ithaca.
How to Apply
Application must be obtained from and signed by your department's Director of Graduate Studies. Submit completed forms to Donna Newton (dlo1@cornell.edu).