Elephants as a writing center metaphor

As I have mentioned before, I admire elephants more than probably any other animal simply because of their instinctive tendency to care for each member within their herd. As soon as a baby elephant is born, its mother chooses several allomothers (the equivalent of babysitters) to help her care for the new calf. The mother and allomothers work together to ensure the safety, health, and care for the new little one, guiding and teaching it until it is able to stand on its own and take care of itself.

This idea of raising the calf within a strong, inter-connected community works well with the ideas behind the writing center. As tutors, we are here to help new students adapt to the world of writing. Each tutor is like an allomother, who is responsible for a tutee's development during a session. By discussing tutees' writing and working with their specific needs, we, as tutors, have the ability to help them stand on their own in academic writing contexts. Just like elephant mothers and allomothers, we will not give up on the tutee until he or she can make it on there own.

But that is not to say that once the tutee has developed the proper writing skills that we will just stop helping them. Even after the elephant calf can stand on its own, it remains in the herd, which provides support, protection, and companionship for each member. Similarly, we will welcome tutees back to the writing center even if they are excellent writers because we can provide assistance, support, and reassurance that is often neglected in academic writing classes.