ESL and Ethics

Alright, I know that this is my first real posting this whole semester, but its taking me awhile to get reflexive about tutoring again, as I haven't tutored since I was an MA TA...and that seems like years ago. What I have been reflexive about, though, is how much I love being able to really work with students' writing personally again. These past few years I have been only teaching, and as much as I cajol students to come and see me in office hours, etc., most of my work on student writing is from the distance of reader and author- and as much as can be said in marginalia and end notes, nothing is as nice as really sitting down with someone.

What I wanted to comment on today is an experience that I had this past week- a student with really, really bad mechanics- I mean, unreadably wicked bad, came in to work on a two page paper. She had failed the first draft and was in the writing center to get help. Now, even though I actually spent an hour and a half with her, there was absolutely no way I could even begin to address her difficulties with standard English grammar, spelling, syntax, etc. I quickly realized that she spoke much more fluently than she wrote, so I basically had her dictate to me what she meant at every sentence while we sat at the collaboration station, and I typed as she wrote. The final, much-discussed results weren't perfect (or maybe even passable, it was a 200 level class), but it was about 50 times better than her first draft. Here's my question- was it still her writing? She definitely couldn't have done it on her own, and I did suggest and supply a fair amount of vocabulary words and offer ways to re-word things that weren't standard. I know that the problem is fixing problems for people doesn't help them not make the same mistakes the next time, but in a case such as this, I almost felt like just modelling alternative wordings was as effective as anything else would have been. I did try to have her practice ways of writing her own spoken words, but she is just so far from being able to produce her own academic prose...I have been mulling over it ever since, and would love to hear what you all think. How do you handle difficult ESL cases? I wonder if there is any way to get quick training or info about what to do? Does anyone know more than me about this?

APA 6th Ed "Video Tutorials"

Had to look up how to cite a conference paper today (for my own purposes) and found that the APA 6th ed., doesn't state how. A google search yielded this useful site where there are flash video tutorials on how to perform various APA citations. Really rad.

http://www.nova.edu/library/dils/lessons/apa/#videos

Quintilian on Remediation: Kairotic Memoria

While organizing (a type of cleaning up) files this evening--I find that anytime I clean, tidy, etc., I am constantly distracted by the need to "look into" that which I'm cleaning--I came across a brief paper I had written a couple of years ago. It had a really, really interesting quote on Remediation from Chapter I, Book II of Quintilian's Institutes of Oratory about remediation:

It has been a prevalent custom (which daily gains ground more and more) for pupils to be sent to teachers of eloquence, to the Latin
teachers always, and to the Greeks sometimes, at a more advanced age than reason requires. Of this practice there are two causes: that the
rhetoricians, especially our own, have relinquished a part of their duties, and the grammarians have appropriated what does not belong to
them (qtd. in Bizzell and Herzberg, The Rhetorical Tradition ed., 1., 297).

Are we "teachers of eloquence" even if we aren't teachers? What does the "at a more advanced age than reason requires" seem to say about the students that must be sent for extra help? Have the real teachers, in Quintilian's framing, "rhetoricians," outsourced the teaching of "grammar"? I've read this several times since I wrote that paper, but memory has failed me. Sometimes revisiting memoria--through documents--is such a beneficially kairotic experience.

Shift Switching?

Hey,
There is a Thesis/Dissertation Formatting Workshop hosted by the Graduate School on Tuesday, November 10th. The problem is that the workshop starts at 2:30pm and my shift starts at 3pm. So I was wondering if anyone would be willing and able to switch shifts with me on that day (I need to RSVP ASAP to the event!). My whole shift is 3-4:30pm and I would be able to cover any other time that day, Monday afternoon, or Thursday anytime.
Thanks!

You Don’t See Us Messing with Your Equations

I think that many of us have probably had the experience before of tutoring a student who has been sent to the writing center to be fixed. You know the scenario: a paper covered in red pen and little guidance to what the student had done wrong aside from the instructions to “go thee to the writing center.” This particular paper even had our phone number on it.

As a tutor this sort of thing always makes my skin crawl, because it cements the idea that the writing center is a place of remediation; that we fix papers; that we are the place where bad writers should go to see the error(s) of their ways. As an instructor, I am bothered by the lack of culpability involved. How is it someone else’s job to tell a student what they did wrong on your assignment? We’re not -mind readers -- well, I can’t vouch for the rest of the staff, but I’m not. I guess it comes down to the fact that writing is perhaps one of the few college-level skills that virtually every discipline must muck around with.

What do I mean by this? Whereas as a writing/literature/women’s studies instructor you wouldn’t see me messing around with mathematical equations (let’s face it- stereotypes exist for a reason), writing is really unavoidable in most college classes. Maybe some professors do not feel that they have the background to teach students how to write a college-level paper, or do not think it is their job, so they send these students to us. However, rather than getting enraged and copping an attitude in front of a student who assuredly already feels pretty bad about himself in relation to this paper, I tried to consider it a teachable moment. Optimistically looking at the situation, I told myself that although I might not like the circumstances that sent the student to us/me, he might not have come otherwise.

So what was so glaringly abhorrent about this student’s paper? Nothing really. Like many inexperienced writers he had trouble presenting a clear thesis statement, and also like may freshman writers, that thesis statement was buried in his conclusion. Could this student’s instructor have easily pointed this out to him? Probably, but maybe I should give him/her the benefit of the doubt, because although you will never see me messing around with proofs or differential equations, most professors must muck around with writing, and although we might not like the message it sends when they tell their students to come to us to be fixed, at least they’re then coming to us. Maybe we can then turn a negative into a positive and shift focus from the paper to the writer.

What I Have Learned

This entry may not come as a surprise, however, I learn so much by tutoring; I learn just by reading the content of many of the student's papers. This past week I have had extremely interesting topics that taught me a great deal. I have had papers on O'bama's Nobel Peace Prize, Vegetarianism, Global Warming, The Fall of the House of Usher and Doctor's Moral Code of Ethics. All of these topics dealt with things I knew little about and all held my interest. I am a vegetarian, yet i know little about the gory details of animal cruelty. I bonded with my tutee, who is a vegetarian, and helped him add details to his already extremely strong argument. I love that learning is happening from both ends because that is what we are here for after all.

Writing Down the Bones

Writing Down the Bones, Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg. I really think everyone should read at least a chapter in the small, compact book full of inspiration and great perspective of writing. Someone I work with gave me this book to read during my free time because I told him I was a writing major. This book is absolutely incredible! Each chapter can be read on its own or collectively. The author gives advice and reasoning for writing as a means of "becoming intimate" with ourselves. She has incredible insight and her theories are relatable on multiple levels. This is because she looks at writing from the perspective of doing something you love. Whether it be cooking, running, animals even business management; her advice can reach and grab you. She talks about poetry, creative and free writing and gives advice such as: "keep your hand moving, don't cross out, don't worry about spelling punctuation or grammar, lose control, don't think don't get logical and go for the jugular." What she says really makes sense and gives you a whole other outlook on the craft/art of writing. I know I use writing as a way to express whatever I am feeling at the time. Our love for writing (which we all share)is not only a talent we've pursued but also an outlet we all have in common. This book really gives you a whole other perspective on what we love and how we can further encourage our own writing skills. I really think a lot of you guys would truly enjoy this book and I highly suggest you read it! If anyone does, let me know what they think!

Hard Copy, Please?

Out of all the good I have experienced from tutoring at the Writing Center, it’s safe to say that I have my first complaint. It comes in the form of a technological bundle of joy that I like to call the Laptop. While I understand that some classes are strictly Sakai, I unfortunately, am not an online database you may submit your essay to— that conveniently spits back almost-instant feedback for you to quickly revise, edit, and submit.

Nothing is more awkward than I, digging into my backpack to get out my handy dandy notepad and my blue www.uri.edu promotional pen, than a student plugging in their laptop to the nearest outlet, and sliding their Mac book Pro in front of me.

Not that I don’t already spend enough time typing papers on a brightly lit computer for hours on end as a double major, now I might as well become a regular at CVS as my reading glasses prescription get stronger and stronger.

Point being, I read/revise/type enough papers on my own laptop and when it comes to reading other students work, I would so much rather have it in print. It allows for both the tutor and tutee to work together and interact, with both the paper and the art of writing itself.

Both should be equipped with ready pens or pencils in hand and collaborate together to break down the structure, sentences, or whatever it may be. The way I look at it is writing is just like math. Math teachers generally request that students prove they know how to do a problem by showing their work. The same goes for the work that is produced in the writing center. If the writer can't show (and understand) the work and the steps it took to get there, they probably aren't learning much.

I'd say it might be a good idea to request (or require) a hard copy for all tutoring sessions. Now I know others have been put into the same situation, how do you feel when a tutor comes in with their laptop? Angie

Facilitative vs. Directive

When I first started tutoring, I realized how directive I can be. I noticed that if I know a topic, like analysis vs. summary, I become the teacher rather than a peer helping another. Once I made this realization I really had to take a step back and figure out how I could change this innate feeling to teach rather than help. I thought back to WRT 353 days when we would discuss in class some practices of the facilitative. I think being directive is a very blunt, cut the bull, kind of tactic to connect with your tutee. Sometimes it needs to be necessary, but I don't think it should always be your first approach.

I've really made an effort to ask more questions and try to indirectly guide the tutee to the problem and have them recognize it for themselves, rather than just telling them. I can see how much it helps the tutee too. Not only does it give them a little boost in their confidence, but it now gives them first hand experience in realizing how/why something could be changed for the better. I think this recognition is incredibly important in the learning process.

Local Gallery

As many of you know, yesterday, October 20th was the National Day on Writing. On October 8th the U.S. Senate passed a resolution declaring the day a national holiday. The aim of yesterday's celebration was for writers of any genre and caliber to pause and take a moment to share their writing. In order to facilitate this, NCTE established the National Gallery of Writing: A free, public (and snazzy) web space for any and all writers to publish their work for any and all to see. The writings showcased in the gallery cover the proverbial gambit of genre: Poetry, fiction, non-fiction, recipes, diary entries, dirty laundry lists, how-to instruction Manuel's, song lyrics, character development plans, word vomit, to-do lists, film reviews, critical essays, rants and beyond. Browsing the gallery is definitely worth one's time.
Patrons of the gallery may utilize the search engine to locate texts by geographic location, key words, age or media type. Numerous galleries have been opened in Rhode Island, including one from URI: WRT 490 at URI, wherein a few of our own tutors' work is featured.

I think it is worth mentioning this "local gallery" idea at the next meeting. Anyone can open a local gallery, and perhaps this could be a nice place for us tutors to represent what we write - and also take up this opportunity to become familiar with one another's writing interests. Jeremiah and Cathryn would make lovely curators...!

"The Same ol' Tutor"

Today i tutored a girl for the seventh time this year, which I see as a blessing and a curse. She told me that she enjoyed my tutoring style and purposely came to the Writing Center on days that I am here. Obviously i was flattered and happy that I have helped her with her writing. However, I was tempted to suggest that she make an appointment with someone else in the writing center. I feel that, while it is important that she enjoys the writing center and keeps coming back, it could only benefit her to get varying perspectives on her writing. I am considering telling her this the next time I tutor her. Perhaps, explaining that she is more than welcome to continue making appointments with me, but that more "eyes" on her work could only benefit her writing. What does everyone think?

Gifts, Aid, Assistance, Assemblage, Democracy: (Re)Thinking What We Do?

I found today's conversation about the blog very productive. Mihaela's comments on the Sartrean gift really cemented a connection that I thought was useful for me and might be useful to you all as well.

Currently I'm enrolled in a class here called the Politics of Development. Specifically, the class surrounds--political-- issues, yet, because writing seems to be an especially liminal tool (?), a great deal of what I read about these topics (for me) screams writing and rhetoric. Anyways, the point I wish to make is that a number of the readings have come to demonstrate the darker side DA (development assistance) which can include giving money (corruption), medicine (eugenical campaigns that de facto benefit one class, race, or segment of a country receiving aid), arms (inscrutable uses of power), and food (unfair choices as to who goes hungry and who eats--very similar to the problems with medicine). But most commonly DA surrounds technical advice, which seems to be similar to what it is that we do in the WC. If anyone is curious Oxfam provides a good introduction to foreign assistance.

So--what I want to do is reflectively engage our verbiage of (giving, aiding, helping) as Mihaela asks. What is it that we do? It is necessary that we even have an accurate verb? I, personally, am less sure that we do need a verb; what I do suspect, however, is that we do need an ontology for being within the WC in our positions as citizens. This is less, then, a doing and more of a how it is done. What that entails, though, is less concrete, more abstract--it becomes dynamic, contingent, and circumstantial. I lose the ability to really explain how or what I think about how we best can work with and for ourselves/others (sometimes different missions and responsibilities) when a tutee/visitor/citizen enters the space.

Thinking of how we think of those who we do come into contact with, though, in this space is as I mentioned at good starting point in creating less vertically oriented spaces.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87913776@N00/ / CC BY 2.0

Spoken Word @Brown

*SISTER SPIT PERFORMANCE on OCT. 23rd. *
Free and open to the public!

Brown University
64 College St.
List Auditorium, Room 120
9:00 PM - 1:00 AM
Performance followed by a meet-and-greet, merch sale, and informal dance
party

Sister Spit, founded in San Francisco by Michelle Tea and Sini Anderson,
first launched in 1997 as a means to tour queer, feminist, outsider, and
otherwise marginalized poetry, spoken word, literature, and performance.


October 2009 features Sister Spit: Next Generation starring Michelle Tea and
a great new line-up of 6 other writers/artists/performers including
nationally-acclaimed writer Beth Lisick, spoken word champion Kirya Traber,
photographer/curator Sara Seinberg, novelist Rhiannon Argo, transgender
performance artist Ben McCoy, and former L Word staff writer and graphic
novelist Ariel Schrag.


*I've gone to a few events like this up at Brown since I've been in RI and all of them have been incredible.

Beginner Mind

I have been thinking a lot this past week about what we read in The Everyday Writing Center and discussed at the last meeting about the "beginner mind," and how this concept applies to tutoring. I think that many people, myself included, are afraid of the beginner mind. We want to have an expert mind, or at least to appear to be experts. Being an expert means being comfortable with what we are doing, not uncertain, able to navigate through tasks easily. Being a beginner means facing uncertainty everywhere and getting things wrong sometimes. But being a beginner is the only way to ever become an expert.

I think this concept relates to some of the other blog posts this week in which tutors have mentioned that students are sometimes afraid of coming into the Writing Center, especially Kate's post about the tutees bringing boyfriends and friends to sessions for security. It comes from fear of the beginner mind, fear of being unsure and not yet confident in one's abilities. Some students who come into the Writing Center definitely feel this, especially when working on assignments for beginning writing courses.

In some of the sessions I've had, the tutees seemed reluctant to talk. When I would offer a suggestion and ask them what they thought about it, hoping that they would say something in response so that we could begin a conversation about the writing, sometimes they would just nod and say, "Okay," like they wanted to take what I had said as an instruction for revising their paper, which wasn't what I meant at all. Then I would have to try another approach at getting them to talk about their writing. I think this is because, as beginners, what we want is definite instructions on how to move forward - anything else seems foggy and complicated.

Another thing that keeps coming up is when I ask a tutee if he or she has any questions, and many of them simply say no. I understand this very well. I remember, when I was younger, in high school or just beginning college, I would always say no when a teacher asked if I had any questions. I thought that asking a question would mean that I hadn't understood the material, which would make it look like I hadn't been paying attention, and I didn't want anyone to think that. This is another fear related to the beginner mind.

The question is, how can we make students who come into the Writing Center feel like being a beginner is not a bad thing, but a great thing because it means that they are free to learn anything?

Trading Spaces

Yesterday I observed at the Rhode Island College Writing Center for several hours. One of the biggest differences that I noticed between our centers is the use of space, and especially the layout of the rooms.

For us, two small rooms that are within the AEC don't give us much leeway to add furniture or partition areas for certain activities besides what the computers demand. In RIC, though, they use filing cabinets and desks to section off areas of the room (albeit they have a MUCH bigger room and a separate one as a lounge).

For people who haven't been there, here is my HORRIBLE rendition of their WC (please forgive me my bad paint skills):
The sections are labeled, but it's pretty hard to see. Basically, they have one big room that they've split into two so that tutors' space is separate from clerical, computers, etc. There is also a second room behind the snack bar that has a futon and a bunch of chairs that the tutors can use in their free time.

What I'd like to point out here is that although RIC has more space and more stuff in that space, we have basically the same elements that they do. Our amount of traffic seems to be lighter, at least compared to when I was there, so it works for us. Making appointments is done in pencil there, there's a printed journal instead of a blog, you can purchase snacks to pay for their conferences--things like that are different. But both WCs (ours and theirs) are committed to the students. I know that lately we've been disagreeing about how clinical the center should be (to couch or not to couch), but when it comes down to it, I think we should worry most about being productive and thoughtful tutors. Let's make the most of the space we have.

And again...I apologize for the drawing!

writing center makeover..who's in?

Ok, I know that there are some people who think that the center should be clinical and lab-like but hear me out. When you study, where do you go? When you have trouble with your homework, what part of your house do you go to? Isn't relaxation and comfort important? For me, I know that I need to be comfortable within my surroundings in order to get anything done.

When students come to the Center, I think they should feel welcomed, not only by our greeting, but also by the room. I think of Starbucks when I think of what the center should/could be similar to. I'm not saying we should dim the lights and put on soothing music, but I think a warmer atmosphere will be more welcoming to our peers.

So, who's up for making some changes? I think the Center should decorate for seasons (not excessive but funn!) and I also think that our door needs to say Writing Center on it and that it should have like poster paper on it to draw some stuff. Our blog picture with all the words meshed together is pretty cool and if we could put that on our door, in bigger letters, that would be awesome. By doing that, our room will be known as "The Writing Center" and not a place where the baseball players hangout. I'm not saying to go overboard but this could be a collaborative activity and a chance for us to get to know each other some more. Face it, we all have some free time when in the center...why not do something with the time?

No one has to agree with me, but I am just putting it out there--thoughts?

Remember this--the tutees are our peers. Why should we be in a real "classroom setting" with our peers.

A Good Session!

A lot of people, including me, have been writing about problems they encounter while tutoring. I decided to use one of my posts to write about a session that made me feel good today! A girl made an appointment with me about a paper she wrote for ENG 110. Her paper was less than a page and a half, but it was supposed to be two to three pages. Looking at the paper, I expected her to be totally distraught. On the top of the paper was a big, fat F (I hate when teachers do that-- is it really necessary??). Instead of breaking down, the girl was being very open and receptive. She explained that she didn't have much English preparation in high school--that she only wrote 3 or 4 papers all throughout high school. She needed help organizing her thoughts into a cohesive paper. I explained how she could make her thesis more analytical (using literary devices) and how she could focus her discussion on just one passage in the novel rather than the entire novel. I loved the session because she seemed to understand what I was saying and was willing to put the work into fixing the paper. I wanted to go through the book with her to help her find a passage but she didn't bring the book with her. I invited her back in case she had any other questions. I think I also enjoyed the session as compared to all the WRT students that come in (especially with all the WRT 104 analysis papers last week, I feel like I didn't get through to a lot of students). It can be very frustrating for me to explain WRT concepts as opposed to literary concepts, I think because English classes are my favorite! When I'm interested in a subject, it is so much easier for me to help students.

Maybe not "help"

So, I keep encountering tutees who quickly tell me about their paper and then push it across the table to me with "basically, I'm here to get this reviewed for grammar...sentence structure...clarity," and I balk. For a moment I try to gauge the student herself/himself, selecting a way to address an expectation that will not be fulfilled in the way in which the student seems to envision it. I have tried different approaches, but I cannot seem to escape that pang of disappointment, the "I thought this would be easy" sentiment that appears to flutter through them as I try to reason out what I suspect looks like a refusal to provide the help for which they are asking. Meanwhile I keep thinking about our Wednesday conversations early on regarding the image of the Writing Center and the concept of what we do, and particularly about the need to bridge this gap that seems to exist between the ideas of what we do. I wonder if it is not created by the word "help" to some extent. I must aside here: I come to Writing Center conversations now, as in I have little to no prior engagement with them, and I often wonder how far behind intellectual progress already made in these preexisting conversations my thoughts are. In other words, somone probably already has theorized what I am wondering about, namely disposing with the word "help" in association with what we do at the Writing Center. It is a pernicious word as far as I'm concerned, because it comes with a particularly treacherous system of connotations. Maybe instead of we "help," we can "equip," we can "rig," we can "create," "assemble," or some other active verb that escapes me right now, indicating a non-linear movement from tutor to tutee? Does this make sense?

Praise for y'all

Received the following message yesterday evening--Kathryn said I could share it with you--

"Hi Jeremiah,

I have just come back from a slew of AEC presentations to URI 101 peer mentors. I wanted to let you know that one of the most common pieces of feedback I heard was how their URI 101 students (or they themselves) found The Writing Center and the writing tutors so helpful. One mentor also said she got an A on the paper that she brought in.

Just wanted to pass along some positive feedback. Have a great night!

Kathryn"

How's that feel? It should feel pretty good.

Keep up the good work!

Dates in the Writing Center? Third-Wheel Wednesday

I had a strange, Third-Wheel-Wednesday in the Writing Center yesterday. That's right: Third-wheel.

I rowed-out to meet my fourth appointment of the day and my tutee was sitting on the couch in Reception with her boyfriend. Rather, she was less on the couch and more in her boyfriend's lap -- but I digress. I greeted her, introduced myself and welcomed her back to the Center. After a quick kiss, my tutee said "I'll be back in one minute" and walked down the hall.
Unfortunately, this turned out to be one of those sessions where the student just needs a Required Visit Pass. The writer had no questions, no direction for the session and calmly informed me "I have nothing to work in. Its fine. Can I get a pass saying I was here?" Clearly, she wanted to get back to her man (she kept looking at the clock and out the door during our sessions, too). After noting she had no claim (in her arguable claim text), we negotiated the aspects of her paper to include in a thesis, and she went back to her date.

A few hours later, I rowed-out for another tutee -- and this time her boyfriend came in to the session with her! The session was productive and successful... but we were watched the whole time by boyfriend #2. I wasn't particularly bothered by our voyeur, but couldn't help but think how strange it was to bring a date to a Writing Center session. Talk about really being a third-wheel.

Has anyone else experienced something similar to this? These were firsts for me. Either I am unhip and unaware that the new dating trend is Writing Center-dinner-movies, or the planets aligned yesterday afternoon, resulting in a (hopefully, infrequent) Third-Wheel Wednesday.

Tutoring as Colloborative

I keep thinking about the writing center as a "community of practice." I've had a few sessions where I've needed help or perspective from other tutors. A lot of times, having another tutor there enhances the session and gives the tutee advice that I wouldn't be able to give. For example, one student came in for help writing a rejection letter for a business writing. I was at the computer with him, trying to brainstorm ideas out loud. Amanda was at the other computer and I asked her if she had any suggestions--other than what I gave--to improve his letter. Having another tutor there also emphasizes the fact that tutors are not experts--sometimes we even need help, too.

That being said--I think there are other times when it's inappropriate to be collaborative--or for other tutors to interrupt sessions. For example, only the tutee working with a student can know the dynamic that is set from the very start of the session--and each of us as tutors sets a different tone/dynamic. We were talking in the meeting today (and the chapter mentioned) how we are all constantly learning and growing through new experiences as tutors. That learning is interrupted if another tutor interjects a session in progess. I think this happens sometimes, especially since the writing center is so small and everyone can listen to sessions. I just wanted to write about the times when it is appropriate/inapproriate to be collaborative as tutors. If another tutor asks for advice, it's definitely appropriate.

Signs--and Comfort

As a modest recommendation, we might take down this sign. And, we're all about writing right? "The No Cell Phones!" message, in my estimation, seems a bit heavy-handed. Just so that I'm being up front, I would like to note that the sign is likely slated to come down based on a converation that some members of our community had today. But, I'd like to think more about what this sign means nevertheless. First of all, I can see the utility of the sign: using cellphones in the WC can be distracting, rude, and, well, there are many more not so nice descriptors we could add to the list. So, perhaps, revising the sign to say (something) differently might be more appropriate.

What could the sign say? It's likely that that is better a group discussion. However, I think it should take into account the multitude of positive uses that cellphones can have within the WC. For example, as technological tools--(gonna do a lazy em dash insertion here) such as taking the photo of the picture with my camera phone, so that I may send it to my email, then download it to my computer, and last post it up here as a weblog pic that enables a critique of the space--cellphones tools afford us to do a number of darn-right good writing-practices within a number of space(s).

For example: (please do excuse the colon; and the semi colon, too; but, I gots some addiction issues with mechanical devices) I regularly use a cellphone as clock (because I don't wear a watch) so that I know a session's duration; as a calculator so that I can do mathy type things; as a recording device for verbal reminders to myself that are too long to text (which is also a sort of extended memory device); and, I use it as a research tool. Additionally, I regularly text google for definitions of words (create new text message, enter in google as the number/letter keys correspond, type the letter d and then the word you want to know the defintion to). I write down call numbers in the library so that I don't have to waste paper/and/or worry about if I have paper and a pen(cil).

More specifically in relation to the contexts of the WC, when Kate made this awesome dry-erase board investigation on logical forms, I took the liberty of photographing it so that I could think about it later. (The difficult with dry erase boards is that the content on them changes so quickly, and is then fleetingly lost.) Were visitors to the WC to follow the sign explicitly they would resultantly have lost the ability to engage this this type of memory-enhancing, note taking, writing practice (photographing cool stuff that we make that often goes bye-bye way too soon).

So, in close, I would like to return, briefly, to the comment I made about having the sign say "something" differently. In Multiliteracies for a Digital Age Stuart Selber (building upon the work of Bryan Pfaffenberger) talks about ways that power can fluctuate within technologies to regularize (and even exclude) users and uses of a technology. The WC taken as a technology here (can be critiqued by the heuristic Selber offers) makes me worry about the ways that the WC could be interpreted as a less amiable learning space--we all know it's awesome and fun and rad--but signs like this function to privilege an "ideal" user/use within a space. Specifically, this sign works as a "power move" of "technological regularization" called "delegation" (103). As Pfaffenberger explains, delegation is "a technical feature of an artifact [that] is deliberately designed to make up for presumed moral deficiencies in its users and is actively projected into the social contexts of use" (Selber 103).

How could we work to make it an every more rad place?

Tutoring Subjects

Normally students come into the Writing Center to talk about their writing...usually essays or research or brainstorming. So far this semester,I've only worked with people that have questions about writing that they've already done. Today was kind of weird, though, since both of my sessions wanted help with more grammatical or citation-al aspects.

The student at the first session brought in two punctuation worksheets and just wanted me to go over them with him and help him figure out where to put commas, semicolons, dashes, etc. We went overtime because he wouldn't let me close the session, even though my next tutee was waiting at another table.

The second session's student was here for help with MLA citation because she was afraid of plagiarizing. I showed her the Longman Handbook and answered questions, but when I suggested that we try to fix a couple of the citations in her essay, she said no.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that it seems like when students come in who don't want to focus on their writing, they really don't want to get their essays out. It was pretty frustrating to me to see the student's work in her folder but not be able to dig it out and get some work done on that. What if she forgets what I've said by the time she gets home--without any examples written down, how will she know what we'd talked about? And I understand that helping the first student with his punctuation is important, but since it wasn't in the context of an essay, I felt like he could have done the same work in a differing tutoring environment. I know we can't draw the line on students if they want to come here for help, but I just wish that sometimes it felt more relevant.

Sorry about the rant...

Problamatic Encounters

I have had many great tutoring sessions so far this semester. Many of them have been extremely rewarding and we accomplish a great deal. However, i have had encounter two major problems.

Problem 1: Ignorant of the Basics

I had one student that walked in appearing lost, nervous and confused. I immediately felt bad for him. He told me that he had to write a paper analyzing The Fall of the House of Usher. He asked me what i thought he should write for his thesis. He told me what he thought the theme for the paper should be and asked if i thought he was correct. However, I have never read that story and could not tell them if he was on the right track. It was hard for me because he had absolutely nothing for me to work with. Yet, i did not want to turn him away because he was so confused. He did not understand what a thesis was or the difference between summary and analysis. Instead of helping him with his actual paper, I explained to him what the difference between a summary and analysis was and how to construct a thesis. I genuinely think i helped him. He wanted me to google the plot of the story for him and go from there. However, i think teaching him the basics will help him in the long run and he seemed to be happy with the session as well.


Problem 2: Content

Last week I had a student who was a nursing major. She asked me for help on the content of the paper and said she was confident on her grammar and sentence structure. I had literally no idea about her topic (medical assisted suicide). Instead of telling her what information was wrong or right I had her read her paper out loud. We talked about what aspects of the paper were redundant and unnecessary. We talked about we're she may need to have sources to back up her stance. I surprised myself in this session because my immediate thought was that i could not do anything to help this student. Yet, i was able to help her in multiple ways just my reading it with her.


Honestly, i was going to complain about these two situations when i began to write this blog. However, as i was remembering the actual sessions i realize that they we're rewarding and we actually did get something accomplished (even if it wasn't exactly what the student was asking for).


MORAL: Tutoring sessions can take you somewhere you never thought you would go and that can be a beautiful thing.

Self-Sponsored or Creative?

I have to say -- I left our last staff meeting feeling a bit uneasy about the creative writing discussion. This uneasiness, I think, stems from a desire to keep the writing center away from drama. In fact, I do not fault the creative writing faculty if they do not want others infringing on their territory. (And perhaps it is fair to say, as well, that this is speculation at this point.)

I tend to agree with Stephen's point: if we want to know how to better serve creative writers who've chosen to come to the center, maybe we would do well to ask a member of the creative writing faculty to attend one of our meetings or to offer us advice in some other way.

If we want to welcome more creative writers in, then it seems likely that Laurie's idea is quite strong: we could host an hour long "creative writing space" once a week or so.

If the Writing & Rhetoric Department housed the creative writers, then it would probably be a fairly benign exercise to have such a "creative writing hour." However, since English owns creative writing courses, and since there has been (I'm told) tension between these two programs, maybe we would be better off staying away from the phrase "creative writing" altogether.

As some of you adeptly pointed out during our brief discussion, we are to be able to take on any writer at any stage working on any project. We have no particular responsibility to welcome more creative writers than we do to welcome any other subgroup of writers.

However, it is possible that we're using the idea of "creative writing" to fill in for what we really want and what is simply much more difficult to articulate (and this is my extrapolation from our conversing and our blogging) -- more writing-in-general; more varied writing; more varied writers; a less clinical setting; more sessions with things other than academic paper assignments at their center; more space for ourselves to write. If this is the case, I believe there may be other ways -- ways with little potential to spark drama -- for us to get to these related (and arguably better) goals.

If we want to hold an hour for writers producing texts for non-academic reasons, we could call this hour "self-sponsored writing hour in the writing center." During such an hour, students could either bring with them or produce there and then writing they are doing for reasons other than school and other than grades. Tutors could participate in such an hour as well. And while some of this writing may fall in to traditional creative writing genres, some will not.

I've also been thinking about the need to make our space look different from the rest of the AEC. It occured to me last week when two of the computers were taken up by baseball players browsing through their facebook accounts that there is a problem with the fact that the Writing Center does not really appear to be anything other than extra rooms in the AEC. I know we are housed there and that we rely on them, but I think it would be interesting to revamp or space to symbolically reassert our separateness.

These are rough ideas, and I welcome feedback.

Bags of Poems and Telephone Poles

In light of all our creative writing talk during today's meeting...

Have any of you found a little bag full of poems on any telephone poles in Narragansett? If so, you've unknowingly taken part in the Origami Poems Project. This project centers around a unique way of spreading the poetic word(s), so to speak. A number of poets are involved and these strange but surprisingly lovely gems can be found at a number of various locations in 'Gansett - all of which are posted on the website. How interesting!

Event: Read/Write Series

Read/Write Presents: Mary Cappello

When: Wednesday, October 14th 2009 from 4PM-6PM

Where: Hoffman Lounge, Swan Hall, Kingston Campus

URI English professor Mary Cappello will be presenting, discussing and reading from her newly released Called Back, a memoir crafted through the lens of a personal fight with cancer that intensely considers what "breast cancer awareness" truly cultivates awareness of and contemplates the seemingly simplistic phrase "Tell me what you're feeling." Called Back is Mary Cappello's third book; she is also the author of Night Bloom and Awkward: A Detour. A copy of this event's flyer can be found here.

Variance--The Work We Performe

As I have been following the blog, tutoring, and watching others tutor, I have come to notice that the work we engage in a writing center is quite variant. I think Kate's post from this week really encapsulates this phenomena. For this post I'd like to touch on a couple of the sessions I've worked on:

• My First Session: A student arrives who wishes to feedback on creative writing project;
• My Second Session: A student arrives who wants to conduct research for a paper. The student has no experience using with Google, Helin, EbScho, or search engines.
  
• My Third Session: A student arrives who wants assistance with 1) APA References page, 2) In-text citations, 3) Abstracts, 4) Headings.

During S1, I repeatedly tried to focus the student on the text. What did he wish to accomplish? What did he want me to read in particular? Was there a part of the story or an idea that he wanted me to engage. Having some experience with creative writing myself, I know that these texts can be very tied to one's sense of self--we invest ourselves in these pieces of writing. (This is, I think true for all writing, but for some reason creative writing, at times, seems more emotionally loaded.) The student really didn't know what he wanted from me or what he hoped we would accomplish in the session. I came to realize that the student just wanted someone to read the story, and someone to be able to talk to about his ideas. He didn't want or need my insights: he wanted to share his. I think, ultimately, the session enabled him the time and space he desired to be with this text with an audience.

During S2, I found the student really positive and eager to learn. She told me that growing up she hadn't had a computer, and now her family had just gotten one, but she wasn't really sure how and what to do with one. This, for me, was a pretty eye opening experience. With our Iphone, Ipod, Blackberry, digi-net-text-infused lives it's pretty mindbogglingly to meeting someone who isn't familiar with computers. But it does crystallize the wide gap between those that have access to computers and developing computer literacy and those who don't. I explained a bit about Google scholar, how to access the URI library page, and left her at the controls to navigate through the process/internet while I walked her through the process. Then, I asked her to close out and try to do it independently. She successfully found sources, and then because she said she wasn't familiar with the library, and because I still had time to work with her, I offered to walk her over to the library and locate the book sources she was looking for. I think she was kind of surprised to have someone really want to help her and she was really happy that she came to learn how to use the computer (for research) almost independently. Just a little bit of steering advice from me, but she really did the work.

During S3, a student arrived with an APA paper she had written. She was really pretty anti-self about her abilities and very un-confident that she was "doing" APA correctly. We talked about styles, and conventions for a minute, and I tried to bolster her confidence that, in fact, she had done a very good job. Sure there were a few "technical errors" in the references page (a comma missing here a period missing there), but holistically speaking the page accomplished what its purpose and the APA structures were well followed. As we transitioned into working on her citations and the abstract, again, she had that "I'm doing it all wrong" attitude but after showing her what she had done right, I think she got to see that APA is pretty technical and that knowing every nuance isn't necessary. We worked together at finding the parenthetical citation models to follow, and while at times I felt like she was trying to "get me to do it for her" she ended up doing the work. I thought it was a pretty good session all in all, and we spend nearly an hour working together on the paper which was roughly 12 pages long.

'I have Flu-Like symptoms' says the tutee...

Dealing with a sick tutee is hard. Now that the swine flu has pretty much scared everyone, when someone comes into the Writing Center with a cough, box of tissues, nasal spray, and/or hand sanitizer your first reaction is to stay clear from he/she. It is our first intuition to move away from someone who's coughing or sneezing but, when in the Writing Center, moving away from a tutee can be offensive. Even though you are scared of the tutee's contagious cold/flu, we have to be kind and considerate of the tutee and his or her condition. After all, they came in for your help.

Today, I encountered a situation like this today. My tutee was sick and warned me from the start by stating he had 'flu like symptoms.' I wanted to line the table with Clorox wipes and place the hand sanitizer on the table but I thought that would scare the tutee away by not making him feel welcomed.(I am using sarcasm here--I'm not that mean) But what I decided to do was to make him feel comfortable and provided him with tissues, helped him with his work and distanced myself a little more than I usually do when working with a tutee. The session only lasted 15 minutes because he didn't feel well and just wanted to get an understanding of the assignment so after he left I cleaned.

The session was successful even though I was nervous the entire time. I thought, if I sanitize myself and the table we were working at--it will all be fine.

Open Mic Tonight

There is an Open Mic tonight!

When: Today, Monday October 5th from 8PM-Midnight

Where: The 193 Coffeehouse in the Memorial Union

Who: A number of poets, singers, songwriters and other URI students will be in attendance. I know last spring's graduate-level Academy of American Poets winner will be performing (and he is fabulous).

The 193 has delicious coffee and it is a really neat space. I, unfortunately, do not think I will be able to attend (bogged down with reading). I hope some of us attend and can let the rest of us know what it was like!

Happy tutoring, folks - see you Wednesday.

I can be a bad student too...

Whenever I professors or tutors talk about writing, they always seem to emphasize starting in advance, doing multiple drafts, lots of peer review...etc. And it's fine to say all that. But sometimes...like this weekend...I feel really hypocritical. I had to go to a wedding in Ohio over the weekend, so I got no homework done. I have an essay due today...yeah, it's not written. Is it completely horrible that I can't do what I tell other students to do, like start early and plan and write it way before it's due? I remember WRT 353, where several of the other tutors-in-training said they never write project until the day or night or even morning before it's due. How can we do that but say other things?

This has been on my mind for a while, especially whenever we talk about a community of practice. I often don't write unless it's for a class, and even then I'm really good at procrastinating. Could we perhaps use the community to encourage each other to break these habits? Just some of my thoughts...

WRT 106ers and the Annotated Bib

I've been attempting to lure my students into the writing center as we've been working on the annotated bibliography. The thing is, I am getting ready to leave for a conference (10/7-10/11) and I want to make sure that they know where they can turn for help when I am not physically here.

So, in order to prepare y'all in the event of my students actually getting off their butts and up to the 4th floor of Roosevelt, here are the basics: they need 8-10 usable sources for their research project in the final annotated bib; they have the option of using any citation style they deem fit (mostly MLA with a few APA and CSE, more on that in a minute); summaries of the sources are supposed to be about 200-250 words each (other instructors may give guides in sentences); and I'm already seeing issues with quote integration.

The other issue that I am having is that 2 of my students are choosing to use CSE documentation style. This is not one that I have ever used and so we've been looking at the book together and hashing things out. Is anyone in the center comfortable with CSE or has anyone ever even used CSE style before? I'm hoping maybe I can recommend a tutor for them to go to while I'm out of town.

A Personal First in the WCenter: A Teary-Eyed Tutee

I had plenty of jokes last semester about how I'd never be able to effectively handle a crying writer in the WCenter; yesterday's 3:00PM appointment proved me wrong. Wholly out of necessity (and a general sense of been-there-too-female-kinship) I confronted my fear of crying tutees.
I shipped out to reception to meet my tutee, a freshman girl working on her arguable claim paper. When I walked in, she was sitting very still with black-blue card in hand, staring at the floor - undoubtedly, something was up. Not wanting to make her uncomfortable, I introduced myself in my most up-beat voice and shook her hand. We walked back to the center, where she told me she was concerned her evidence wasn't strong enough (only personal accounts) to support her overall claim (URI should not cram 3 students into 2-person dorm rooms). She was also concerned she was not going to meet the five page length requirement. During her summary of concerns, I was compiling a list of new evidence she could explore - but did not want to overload her with suggestions. Therefore, I asked when her due date was ("tomorrow") and what she had planned for tonight.
And so it happened: as she informed me she had a soccer game but wasn't going to go... she broke down in tears. She continued on, explaining that her boyfriend had called her while she was sitting in reception and dumped her. It was heartbreaking!
What happened next I was wholly unprepared for: ...I didn't freak. Nor did I stutter, become wildly uncomfortable, or run for the hills as I've jokingly predicted during Wednesday meetings. Instead, I offered her a cup of tea (she declined) and said: "Well, I have a few neat suggestions for new evidence for your claim - how do you feel about getting right into this paper as a distraction from him for the evening?" She loved the idea and we got to work.
She ended up searching for psychological studies regarding the "trio-is-detrimental" theory and ultimately interviewed me (I once lived in a triple on campus) as another piece of evidence. After hitting the Longman for how to cite an interview, Sarah and Katie arrived and she also discussed her evidence with them - Katie provided some particularly helpful evidence in her interview.
I was particularly happy Sarah and Katie came in when they did; my tutee had just finished telling me how her two roommates don't like her, and now her boyfriend dumps her out of the blue via telephone - she couldn't catch a break! I think the collective, "team-work" vibe Sarah, Katie and I achieved was really productive for the tutee, not only as a writer but as a student trying to make it through her first semester.

WRT 383 Project 1

So I've been in contact with Claudine from the RIC Writing Center the past few days, and I've arranged a time to go observe one of the tutors there in a couple of weeks. Two points:

1. I don't have a car, so if someone would like to tag along with me who does, that would be great. I'm supposed to go Monday October 19th at 12 p.m. If you do want to go then, just make sure you mention it to Claudine...

2. I mentioned in my last email to her that several other people will probably be contacting her soon, so she said she'll talk to her tutors and see what other times she can fit us in.

That said, do any of you have specific ideas you will be looking for when you go to observe, or are you just going to watch and then see what develops? Would you rather watch one tutor several times to see how they adapt to different situations or watch a couple tutors once each to see different styles?