Last week I presented to a biology class about their final project. I provided a lovely handout (if I do say so myself) that outlined the different sections of their project and how to best create their content. But there was one glaring issue: a typo. Of course I found it in the midst of going through the handout with the class. First I silently chastised myself for not having one of my employees look at it before I handed it out. But then I turned it into a teachable moment about how everyone, even those with degrees in writing, needs another pair of eyes to look over what they write. It was easy to segue into talking about the Writing and Reading Center’s services on the tail of my little flub. After all, employees in the WRC are called Readers, because “Every writer needs a reader.” My mistake was an example of exactly what I was trying to show those students: the act of writing is ultimately a collaborative, recursive process.

This holds true for those of us instructing classes just as much as for those taking classes. And, perhaps, even more so. It is easy for us to get entrenched in our disciplines, surrounded by colleagues who use the same vocabulary and reading articles written by others in our fields. But many of our students are new to school or our particular areas and are just learning the jargon, disciplinary expectations, and standards. Our goal as instructors is to communicate clearly with our students, in order to help them learn all of these different aspects of our fields. One way to make sure this happens is to have someone else, especially someone unfamiliar with the class or discipline, read over the materials and report on how they interpreted it. Luckily, NMC has an entire center on campus that offers these services: the WRC.

As WRC Coordinator, I can provide many types of support to instructors. This could be around the materials you have for class or for your own writing, whether professional or part of continuing education. Having another pair of eyes to look at assignments and instructions, especially from someone outside of your discipline, can help ensure that your assignments are clearly written. I can also provide many resources around giving writing assignments, such as rubrics and samples, and talk with you about how to best introduce the writing assignment so that your students are successful. Even better, the Readers in the WRC are students themselves, who can talk to you about how your assignments are interpreted from that particular point of view. Don’t be like me by making a stupid mistake in front of your students. We are all in this together and the WRC’s resources are here for all.