Below you will find actual narratives from faculty members about their relationships with preceptors.

I use my preceptors in class to help with class discussion or small groups. I have them work with students who have writing problems in specially designated labs, and, they read papers and make comments on the papers before I get them. They also help students as needed, handle Burke [FYX students tutor at Burke Elementary School], and provide a liaison between the students and me.

My preceptor does pretty much the basics, I guess—reads the material, attends the classes, participates in discussion. She is exceptional, though, in the amount of written feedback she gives to students on their daily writing. I give Tracy the dailies to read and comment on before I read them. In general her comments are astute and well put.

Other than allowing them to lead discussion, having them give feedback on paper, and having them ferret out any possible problems with students, I can't think of anything clever offhand. I do usually try to choose a preceptor who is either a Christianity major or someone with interest in Christianity so that he or she can provide a buffer for me when we discuss the Bible—the preceptor usually leads discussion then and, if students are insulted at questioning the Bible, it doesn't affect my relationship to the students.

I have my preceptors take attendance, mark lateness, check in dailies (I grade them later) and mark who participates per class. They also help students with pre-writing and peer-edit their papers. My current preceptor is a great help in discussion; she challenges students' vapid comments, rewards good comments with "Yeah, I like that!" and bugs students who don't participate to do so (not in front of other students, though). Last year, one of my preceptors didn't say a WORD in class despite encouragement, so I do think that I'm lucky. Finally she models good student behavior: comes prepared, asks questions, upbraids students who don't do their work and come to her for support for their laziness, etc. etc.

I use preceptors to model good discussion skills for the FYS class. They have been very helpful in drawing out students who aren't as involved in the discussions. I also try to capitalize on any special talent/involvement they have (i.e. one preceptor was a major character in a Mercer Theatre production and he led the group in preparing to see the play and debriefing it, another preceptor was in the writing class taught by Gloria Naylor and she shared things from her class as we read Mama Day.) Primarily the preceptors serve as another mentor for the students. Many times they have been able to let me know information about the students and class I wouldn't have otherwise known. Preceptors offer assistance that some students feel more comfortable using.

Preceptors are the key to a good FYS class. They are eyes and ears, shoulders and legs, heart and lungs of a healthy section. I have always had two preceptors, and I have tried always to have one preceptor of each gender. When that didn't work out, I was careful to pick men. Representing male and female perspectives in the leadership of the class seems important to me. My preceptors each lead at least one class discussion, preferably two. I give them the option of leading all of the discussions on a particular text or spreading out their duties. On days when they do not lead discussion, I expect them to be active participants in the class. I tell them to make comments and ask questions that they believe will illuminate the matter at hand. They are to think about the class's needs and interests during discussion, and to participate with those concerns in mind. I require peer reviews of all essays in my FYS class. The first two or three essays must both be peer-reviewed and reviewed by a preceptor or me. There must be evidence of substantial revision after each review. Final drafts must be submitted with all earlier drafts and review materials attached. Preceptors arrange all the co-curricular events and special events of the term. They handle Wilderness Weekend, tutoring, car-pooling, who-brings-what to class dinners, films, etc.

I have had the great good fortune to have had four very strong writers as preceptors, and so they've acted as second editors for me, reading and offering feedback on essays for the class—a third peer editor if you will. I tell them not to worry about grammar, punctuation, etc. but to comment on content, thinking, organization. Their comments have always been on the money, and frequently, they push the students to go further in their analysis than I would have dared. The fact that each student receives feedback on every paper from three readers defuses the "I have to write like the teacher wants me to" misconception. As a result, the students begin to take responsibility for their thinking/writing in ways that isn't always possible in courses where there isn't extensive peer editing or a "writing group."

Preceptors perform two major roles for me. First, they act as ringers in the classroom discussions, and second, I tell my students that they shouldn't turn in a paper until they have had a preceptor look at it. I make sure to tell the preceptor to only indicate problems and not to fix the problems. I do this so that the students will learn something while fixing the problems. They are asked also to address two or three areas of concern, focusing on the big issues first. I talk to my preceptors often about the class and I let them make decisions about it. For example, I let them choose a reading or this year they have asked to lead a workshop on commas, semicolons, and colons.