Reflective Essay for Writing Center Theory and Practice

Jane J. Parkerton

Engl B5600 Writing Center Theory and Practice

December 15, 2010

Making Writing Center Theory Work in Practice

            In many ways this course has been the paramount course in my studies in the Language & Literacy program at CCNY. I make this statement because in Writing Center Theory and Practice I have had the unique opportunity to combine the study and discussion of theory with hands on practice, which has allowed me to actively engage with and try out various theories and methods. Simply, I have been able to put theory into practice.

A key example comes immediately to mind. One of the first articles we read, after the history of writing centers, was Jeff Brooks', "Minimalist Tutoring: Making the Student do all the Work" (from our text, the Longman Guide to Writing Center Theory and Practice). Beginning with this article my classmates and I were exposed to the correct approach to tutoring or consulting in writing, i.e., hands off, don't-pick-up-a-pencil, let alone even entertain the idea of proofreading a student's text. As tutors we are to let the learner set the agenda for the session, and guide the discussion with pertinent open-ended questions. And through my experience as a writing tutor at the Center for Worker Education of the City University of New York I have incorporated these best methods into my own tutoring practices. This, I have discovered, is the way to enable the student to continue to own her text. This approach supports North's central tenet (in "Idea of a Writing Center") which is that our job as writing tutors is to help make better writers, not better papers.

Yet, I have also come to acknowledge that there are times when helping a student find the right word or phrase, and/or actively working with a student to revise a sentence or paragraph is the best way to support the writer in a particular moment. In the times when I felt led, even compelled, to become more actively involved in a student's writing process, I realized that this is one vital way I learned to write well -- through specific suggestions for revision offered by a peer or teacher. Sometimes learning is enabled when  a more knowledgeable other suggests a word or phrase that would not occur to the writer.

Thus, because I was working as a writing tutor while studying the theory I was able to submit theory to a reality check thereby providing a firm grounding to my own practice and making "real" the theories I read and discussed.

Essay of Field Study Report of Brooklyn College Learning Center - Final Paper

Collaborative Learning through Peer Tutoring:

A Field Study of the Brooklyn College Learning Center

The Brooklyn College Learning Center is the focus of my writing center field study. I chose the Brooklyn College Learning Center primarily because of its roots, which are traced back to Kenneth Bruffee. Bruffee created the first writing center at Brooklyn College where peer tutoring and collaborative learning defined the way that writing would be supported, i.e., in a social context. It was this writing center, forged in the fires of the 60’s and 70’s, which I sought when I came knocking on the doors of the Brooklyn College Learning Center.

To read the rest of my final essay field study report, click here:

Further postings from blog

5. jparkerton said... October 3, 2010 1:50 PM


Originally Posted on Sept 28 as "Juxtaposition of Clark, Professor Gibbons and Information Literacy"
After reading Clark's essay on Information Literacy and the Writing Center, I was particularly grateful for the opportunity to learn more about researching online. And thanks to last Wednesday's class with Prof. Gibbons in the Cohen Library I am now more literate in terms of online search techniques and ready to share this new literacy with the students who come to me in the Writing Center.
My perceived need to become more literate in researching academic data bases and journals online was motivated as much by Clark's essay as my own need for better research strategies. In this digital age Clark argues that writing centers "have the responsibility of teaching students to navigate the rapidly changing world of new information sources" (569). She says that students usually visit the writing center either early in the process when he/she is generating ideas and choosing a topic or later in the editing and revising stage of the process. Clark's article is about the space in between -- doing the research to build knowledge. She says "the decisions students make about what sort of information they might need, the strategies they use to locate and evaluate that information, and the methods they use to integrate that information and reshape the text--these are the steps the writing center usually doesn't see" (562). Perhaps this is because writing centers value the recursiveness and collaborative nature of the writing process and research is still considered a linear and solitary endeavor (562). Yet students, particularly incoming undergraduates, are often ill-equipped to conduct research and evaluate sources.
I must admit that initially I was taken aback by Clark's call to writing centers to actually teach research methods and strategies. Isn't this the bailiwick of composition teachers or librarians, I thought. As tutors in the writing center we have so little time with the students who come to us for assistance. And in fact up to this point I had not had a student ask for help with research. This was to change, and fortunately I was prepared thanks to Professor Gibbons.
I have been able to search for books within the CUNY system, put them on hold and pick them up from whichever branch seems closest. This function has worked well for me and I have been able to pass my knowledge on to the students that I tutor in the CWE Writing Center. But finding journal articles has been problematic. Even when I know the title of an article, it has proved difficult to find it ... and then to find a copy, PDF or Full text that I can print out. It was helpful to learn from Prof. Gibbons that EBSCO is the most useful for finding PDF or Full Text. I haven't used GALE for literary criticism but am glad he urged us to take notes so now I can remember it when I need it. And just yesterday I requested a copy of a journal article by Beth Daniell on ILL (Interlibrary Loan). I am curious to see if this works.
And then, only a day and half later, I was able to put my learning to use. Friday afternoon on the job in the CWE Writing Center one of the student writers scheduled to meet with me asked for assistance in finding a peer-reviewed journal article. I was delighted. So we sat down at the computer, the student holding the mouse and called up the CUNY library website. We spent our entire half hour searching articles and she learned how to email them to herself so she could print them at home. Very productive.

6. October 25, 2010 5:58 P Response to "Nothing improves student performance more than one-on-one human tutoring"

jparkerton said...


However, the only issue addressed in this article was to tout the value and usefulness of online education. No further mention of good teachers mattering more than class size and human one-on-one tutoring. Actually I found the article disturbing.
At one point Bill Gates is quoted as saying, “Innovation is your only hope. And the only new game in town is technology.” Innovation is your only hope? Perhaps Gates et. al. could throw a few million into the public school and university budgets to raise teacher salaries and give schools supplies and resources to support the teachers we already have in the classroom. And I fail to see how reading and writing online can "facilitate student teacher collaboration." The difference between online technology and face-to-face exchange in the classroom is the human element.
I believe learning is done in relationship by which I mean human contact. I am not against digital media and technologies. But I am against building distance between teachers and students. Although the article says Gates and co. do not wish to replace teachers, it sounds inevitable. And if this happens, we will all be the losers.

7. jparkerton said... December 2, 2010 9:25 PM Responding to: Teachers' Views on Technology in the Classroom





Hi all, well the digital age dinosaur is going to chime in with her two cents. (It's late, very late, and I should be working on one of the two papers I have due but ... Holly's link to videos much more interesting.)
With all the talk and demonstration of using digital technology in the classroom, I was struck by Mark Coleman's video. He talked rather passionately about the "great divide" ... only this divide is not oral culture vs literate culture but between those who have access to digital technology and thus can become digitally literate and those who don't.
Coleman is a teacher in Booker T Washington HS in Montgomery, AL. He interestingly enough didn't demonstrate classroom teaching practices using digital technologies but he considers himself a techy and evidently uses web based platforms for his classes: posts lessons online, students respond, stay current with him and assignments, comments, etc through Twitter, Facebook, wikis, etc. The technology needed to perform in his classes is low budget, he says, requiring only access to a computer and the web. And his students are mostly middle class but are all "wired", have access to computer and the web. Except, and here comes the divide -- he says, there are usually one or two in each class that aren't and although he spends time helping these students work out ways to gain access. Coleman is troubled. He poses a compelling question: "does the digital divide create an information underclass?" In other words, will lack of access to computers and other digital media and technology become the 21st century version of illiteracy?
Smartphones, Ipads,webcams, Skype -- this is not low budget things we are talking about. Schools with big budgets and families with money can afford to provide plenty of digital tools and exposure. But what happens to the kids of families and schools that can't provide the tools needed for digital literacy?

8. jparkerton said... November 24, 2010 2:08 PM

Responding to "Avoiding Appropriation by Carol Severino
As writing tutors we tred a fine line between helping our students become better writers and appropriating their texts. Carol Severino addresses this concern in her article, "Avoiding Appropriation."
At the heart of this discussion is the issue of control: who controls the text, the student writer or the tutor? To avoid appropriation Severino offers a "ten-step program" for tutors:
1. address expressed needs
2. ask writers to participate in reformulation decisions
3. avoid misrepresenting the student's language level on the page
4. accord the ESL writer authority
5. work on higher-order concerns before lower-order concerns
6. select particular passages to work on
7. use speaking-into-writing strategies
8. explain the recommended changes
9. try to assess language learning
10. conside the type of writing.

I want to touch on two of the ten steps. Number 1 is "address expressed needs." The first question we are trained to ask the student writer is what do you want to work on today? And I, as her tutor, will continue to gently rephrase and ask the question if she shrugs shoulders, produces a long draft, and/or waves a hand in the general direction and says, "fix my grammar." At this point I will probably say, let's pick a paragraph or section of your paper and work on that (which happens to be step #6). If it is a grammar fix she is looking for, I will say, we will do it together. So, yes I agree if we hang close to the student's expressed need, there is little opportunity to appropriate her text, especially if we follow step #2 and insist the student participate in the process.
The step that most grabbed my attention is #7, "use speaking-into-writing strategies." Here "tell me more" questions are good to use. It helps the student clarify meaning and her intention when she is asked to talk about her writing to an attentive and caring peer.
I like Severino's suggestions and writing and wish I could take a paper or two to her to work on together!

9. November 24, 2010 7:21 AM

Responding to: "Reading an ESL Writer's Text" by Paul Matsuda & Michelle Cox

jparkerton said...


In "Reading an ESL Writers Text" Matsuda and Cox make the point that if writing consultants (or tutors) can "suspend judgements, focus on meaning, and be aware of their own preferences and biases" (49), they can then hopefully be able to hear and see more effectively what the writer is saying, or trying to say.
Suspending judgement is perhaps the most important task for me when I work with basic skills or ELL students. I try to read not expecting errors (as Mina Shaughnessy would urge us)but for meaning and intent.
A recent example happened in the GED classroom where I currently work as a student intern. My assignment for them was to write a business letter to a character in the book we are reading. When the letters came back to me last week, on the same day that I participated in a discussion of Mina Shaughnessy's legacy, I was stumped. I saw many errors in spelling, grammar and sentence structure. However, something else hovered into view; I noticed that the writers were demonstrating better organization than in the last assignment, and more development of arguments. Suddenly I knew what I wanted to do. I would not mark the errors; I would read past the errors for meaning and intent. And what I discovered is that they "got" the idea of a business letter and they showed an improved sense of academic or formal writing.
On the suggestion of Serge Shea, the lead teacher, I marked words, sentences and sometimes entire paragraphs that were on target. "nice word" -- "great use of formal language" "good point you make about ..." And then I bracketed words or lines that were too informal and asked for a rewrite. I also offered to work with any student that wanted help in the next Study Hall.

10. November 24, 2010 12:36 PM

further on Matsuda and Cox
jparkerton said...


As Vika discusses above, Matsuda and Cox view the way we as tutors and teachers read ELL texts as how we regard "difference." We either read to "correct difference," to "explain difference," and/or to "overlook difference." Like Severino [quoted and referred to in the essay], as a new tutor I am often "stunned" by the number of errors in my students' texts. Thus,it was with relief and pleasure that I made the decision to overlook errors in my GED students business letters and read for meaning and discovery. And along the way I discovered the errors were mostly local and didn't affect the meaning.
But I did so with a guilty conscience because I too feel, as Mahla says, that it is my responsibility as a tutor or teacher to help prepare them to not only survive but succeed in school and out in the world. The dominant discourse community in the US is still Standard American English and as long as this remains true, I am not sure I have the right to be a maverick separationist.
Moreover, as a student teacher of GED students, I know I have an entire semester to build relationship and rapport and work with them on many levels. But as a tutor, I may have only one opportunity to work with a student. Yet, as the authors point out, Severino resisted the urge to correct a student's errors honoring her writing center's pedagogy to view his text as "an act of communication."

11. November 3, 2010 3:47 PM

jparkerton said... Responding to Walker's "Engaging Reluctant Writers"


I have engaged a reluctant writer, which should be good news except that my reluctant writer has rapidly become an overly dependent writer. Specifically, she expects me do the work. Just last week she confessed, “I don’t like writing. I only want to graduate and start working.” How did this situation develop?

The student, Valerie, we will call her, first came in at the beginning of the semester. Although she returned my greeting, flashed a quick smile and sat down next to me, her eyes were focused elsewhere. After digging around in her bag, she placed her paper on the table. I asked to see the assignment but questioning about it and her paper brought little more than brief smiles or shrugs. Eventually, I decided that Valerie is shy and insecure about writing. And so I set about to get her to relax and talk about her writing and its context -- her education class and the pre-school classroom she is observing this semester. Unfortunately, along the way I realize that I offered too much guidance, filled in too many gaps, and made too many suggestions. Perhaps it is an important milestone that she is confident enough in our relationship to tell me “I don’t like writing.” And perhaps this attitude originates in her insecurity about her writing. These are questions I do not want to speculate on anymore. Taking Walker’s advice, the next session I have with Valerie, I plan to offer some writerly nourishment. I will develop a variation of Vavra’s model (320); we will edit one paragraph together. Since Valerie’s sentences are primarily simple and often are missing verbs or subjects, I think we will have to begin there, at the beginning. But she will do the work.

Blackboard Postings of Substance for Fall 2010

1. Author: Jane Parkerton
Posted date: Sunday, September 19, 2010 5:53:53 PM EDT
Last modified date: Sunday, September 19, 2010 6:18:19 PM EDT
In this digital age Clark argues that writing centers "have the responsibility of teaching students to navigate the rapidly changing world of new information sources" (569). She says that students usually visit the writing center either early in the process when he/she is generating ideas and choosing a topic or later in the editing and revising stage of the process. Clark's article is about the space in between -- doing the research to build knowledge. She says "the decisions students make about what sort of information they might need, the strategies they use to locate and evaluate that information, and the methods they use to integrate that information and reshape the text--these are the steps the writing center usually doesn't see" (562). Perhaps this is because writing centers value the recursiveness and collaborative nature of the writing process and research is still considered a linear and solitary endeavor (562). Yet students, particularly incoming undergraduates, are often ill-equipped to conduct research and evaluate sources.
I must admit that initially I was taken aback by Clark's call to writing centers to actually teach research methods and strategies. Isn't this the bailiwick of composition teachers or librarians, I thought. As tutors in the writing center we have so little time with the students who come to us for assistance. And in fact I have not ever had a student who asked for help with research. (Perhaps this is because I am still relatively new to tutoring in a writing center.)
And how would this be done? The obvious answer is that we sit down together in front of a computer in the writing center, with the student at the keyboard and holding the mouse, and do reseach. Which brings me to the point of realizing that I feel ill-equipped to teach online research methods. I have been fighting for days to gain access to an article written by Patricia Bizzell on basic writers. Do I know enough to teach someone else? Perhaps our class visit to the Cohen Library to participate in Professor William Gibbons' workshop will address this need.

2. Author: Jane Parkerton

Posted date: Saturday, September 11, 2010 11:54:33 AM EDT
Last modified date: Saturday, September 11, 2010 12:00:45 PM EDT
Hi Mahla and Elham,
Some opening comments on Chapter 4, "Helping Writers Throughout the Writing Process."
Following the topics gives us the main ideas of this chapter: Prewriting, Writing, Revising and Editing, Using a Handbook, Coping with a Long Paper, and Exercises for Using Writing References.
It seems to me appropriate that Ryan and Zimmerelli devote the most space to discussing "Prewriting." Getting started, getting something, anything down on paper is always difficult for me, no matter how many papers I have written in my life. It is an angst filled period.
 Other than my own experience I have only the past summer semester of experience working as a "writing consultant" in CWE. Yet it seems to me that this is where the students that I have worked with thus far have the most difficulty -- how to get started, find and focus on a topic, research, and begin to write.
The authors offer three techniques: brainstorming/listing, freewriting and clustering. As they say, "what works with one writer ... may not be as successful with another" (41). So although I find listing and clustering useful, freewriting doesn't seem as helpful. I had a student this summer who brought in two pages of scribbled notes and ideas but was at a loss as to how to arrive at a topic. I suggested that we freewrite. She looked at me, rather coldly and said, "I've done that." Oops!

3. RE: Getting Started, Response to Mahla   Author: Jane Parkerton

Posted date: Monday, September 13, 2010 9:33:20 AM EDT
Last modified date: Monday, September 13, 2010 9:33:20 AM EDT
I agree- setting a time limit to free writing, such as 5-10 minutes can get the juices flowing. I had a student in the CWE writing center on Sat who probably could benefit from this. And I did suggest that he give it a try at home. He described himself as very concerned with structure, how to set up his paragraphs, etc. I suggested that in the beginning anyway this might be limiting if he is trying to generate ideas and places to go with his paper.
In our session we tried "clustering" which he liked and said he would use on his own. But this particular student seemed to benefit more from a guided discussion of the assignment, his initial ideas, his point of view and how he planned to back it up. We only have 30 minute sessions at CWE. We can offer more time if there is no student booked for the following session. However, in many cases, students have to run to class. They work during day, and arrive at CWE with just enough time to get to class usually. Blocking out time to arrive early for a tutoring session is not easy for many of them.
 Pre-writing -- getting started -- is often difficult and I have found all of the suggestions, clustering, free writing and outlining/brainstorming useful. But in the final analysis I think the best role we can play with our students is by bringing a caring, professional, listening/guiding ear to their struggles to write.

4. Author: Jane Parkerton
Subject: Writing, Revising and Editing

Posted date: Saturday, September 11, 2010 2:00:39 PM EDT
Last modified date: Saturday, September 11, 2010 2:00:39 PM EDT
"Have writers read their papers aloud. In doing so, they often make corrections as they go, for the ear frequently judges more accurately than the eye" (53).
I have found that when I read my own papers aloud, I catch errors, difficulties in transitions, etc that my eye doesn't see. And this has proved true with students that I work with. As they read aloud, I hear them automatically correct their writing but oftentimes I have to pause the flow, and point out the verbal correction he just made. If there is time we talk about it.
In addition, when a writer reads her paper aloud, she takes ownership. For tutors like myself who have to learn to step back and allow/encourage a writer to "own" their work, this is a good technique to get the session off to a good start.
Good you brought up this up! You are right to point out the diference between mistakes as opposed to errors. Unless a writer has an intuitive sense of how a language should sound, she is not going to hear mistakes, errors yes but not mistakes. I can hear if I use the wrong verb tense because a sentence just doesn't sound correct. An L2 English language learner probably won't. Which brings me to some reading I did in one of our other texts.

Matsuda and Cox in ESL Writers: A Guide for Writing Center Tutors take a different stance on reading a tutee's text aloud. For ELL writers the authors advocate that the tutor should read the text aloud because L2 learners have not developed an "intuitive sense of the English language" (46). By reading it aloud, the tutor allows the L2 writer to shift her attention from pronouncing English to hearing where a reader stumbles or pauses over some error in their writing. This seemed to me like a good idea for L2 writers until I read this statement. Matsuda and Cox say, "The interpretation of meaning that takes place in the process of reading aloud 'rhetorically with feeling and meaning' may also help the tutor identify where the writer's meaning is not clear to the tutor" (47).
Doesn't this sound like the tutor has taken over the student's paper, since it is the tutor who is now constructing the meaning? Or have I missed the point. I am curious to know what you guys think. I am not sure but I think English is another, second(?) language for you both, so you may not have developed that intuitive sense of the "rightness" of how English should sound?

Final Paper Assignment for Adult Language & Literacy

Three Models of Adult Education: SCANS, EFF and I-Best

Responding to a growing concern that the U.S. workforce will not be able to meet the needs of an increasingly complex, technological and global workplace, in 1989 President Bush and the nation’s governors met in a bipartisan conference in Virginia. Out of this summit came “American 2000” and the President’s ambitious statement that by the year 2000 “Every adult American will be literate and will possess the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise rights and responsibilities of citizenship” (Swanson 1). Congress enacted legislation to formalize this mandate by passing the “Goals 2000: Educate America Act” in 1994.
SCANS and Workplace Competencies
In 1990 the Department of Labor responded to this call with an invitation to the nation’s leaders in education, industry and labor to form a committee, the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills or SCANS as it is known. The Committee’s assignment was to determine “what work requires of schools” (Marshall 3). Specifically, the Committee wanted to identify how schools prepare young people for work and what skills are needed, and to propose acceptable levels of proficiency. To carry out this task, the Committee, over the following twelve-month period, interviewed business owners, labor union organizers, employers in both the public and private sectors, and workers on the job. The results of this research are summarized in their report, “What Work Requires Of Schools: A SCANS Report For America 2000” which was published in 1991.
The Committee found that more than half of high school students leave school without “workplace know-how,” specifically, the knowledge and foundation required to find and hold a good job (SCANS iii). Good jobs require workers who can put their knowledge to work. The 21st century workplace demands a higher level of literacy and technological skills than is currently evident in the workforce. Thus, the Committee states, “All American high school students must develop a new set of competencies and foundation skills if they are to enjoy a productive, full, and satisfying life” (SCANS i). To this end they identified five competencies and three foundational skill sets that are essential skills and attributes needed for “solid job performance” in today’s workforce.

To read the rest of this paper click and paste the following link: https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AejvYXPv3HOaZGY5N2RucXBfMWNwamg4aGRt&hl=en

Blog Postings Assignment for Adult Language & Literacy

Postings Assignment: 10 from Class Blog, Adult Learners of Language and Literacy

1. “The Intelligence of their Mistakes”
Several of us, and Wynne included it in a blog posting, were taken with a phrase that Mike Rose quoted in Lives on the Boundary. He spoke of "the intelligence of their mistakes." This is a quote from Mina Shaughnessy.In the Introduction to her book, Errors and Expectations: a Guide for the Teacher of Basic Writing, Mina P. Shaughnessy says that errors matter. Basic writers make mistakes just as all beginners do. How or why students make errors is complex and reveals rich insight for the teacher who wants to guide her students through the deadly minefield of academic literacy. Errors demand more investment from a reader ("energy" Shaughnessy names it) and these errors may demand more than a reader is willing to give. Errors at best are distracting, at worst, signal a lack of understanding of an accepted code, usually the code of academic literacy. Thus, Shaughnessy insists that teachers pay attention to and try to understand "the intelligence of their mistakes" (11). Shaughnessy is not advocating noticing and marking errors in basic students' writing simply in order to correct them. Although editing and correcting will come at some point in the writing process, Shaughnessy calls for teachers to see "the keys to their development as writers [that] often lie hidden" in the errors themselves.In one passage that is particularly moving she describes the basic writer laboriously at work leaving "a trail of errors behind him when he writes. He can usually think of little else while he is writing. But he doesn't know what to do about it" (7). When we as teachers notice these mistakes and see them for what they are, keys to their development as writers then we will be able to "harness that intelligence in the service of learning" (11).

2. The Conflux of Unions and EducationDuring our class visit to the Consortium for Worker Education I was captivated by the connection between unions and education. The conflux seemed a strange partnership to me. I grew up in small farming communities in rural Kentucky and Tennessee. As a child, in my home education was highly valued. And unions were the work of the devil. Unions were divisive, setting neighbor against neighbor. The mentality was that a man takes care of his own. “We don’t need no outsiders telling us what to do.” And union organizers were outsiders, troublemakers. So in the 1960s when Wisconsin dairy farmers poured their milk out on the ground to protest low milk prices, my father, a farmer and yes, the quality control manager of a small cheese plant, muttered darkly “A sin to waste food.” It seemed a judgment not just on the ignorant dairy farmers but the union behind their protest. Thus, I had a far from favorable attitude toward unions when I married a Yankee and moved to New York. And I continued to hold this attitude despite the fact that my own dear husband supported himself through law school working summers as a carpenter; he was a proud, card-carrying member of the carpenters’ union. But when he died suddenly leaving me a widow with two small daughters to raise, I gradually came to deeply appreciate unions and particularly my own union, 1199. At that time, having a union job pretty much guaranteed job security; the living wage and excellent medical benefits made our life without a husband and father a lot easier. Listening to Eric Shtob and Joe McDermott speak of the history of the CWE, I was impressed with the many educational programs the CWE either directly runs or supports with financial grants. The level of CWE’s commitment to education and job readiness/training programs is truly a vital service not just to union workers and their families but also to many people and communities in the NYC area.

3. Mike Rose, Marilyn Sternglass and Jane

One of the fundamental tenets in Mike Rose’s pedagogy is the necessity of teaching critical literacy. In his book, Lives on the Boundary, he says, "Many young people come to the university able to summarize the events in a news story or write a personal response to a play or a movie or give back what a teacher said in a straightforward lecture. But they have considerable trouble with what has come to be called critical literacy: framing an argument or taking someone else’s argument apart, systematically inspecting a document, an issue, or an event, synthesizing different points of view, applying a theory to disparate phenomena, and so on" (188).Teaching students such critical literacy skills was until recent times reserved for the elite, priests, scholars and leisure classes. Now we expect it of all our schools including our “beleaguered” urban public schools.This reading connects with a recent article for which I wrote a summary essay: Marilyn Sternglass’s “The Need for Conceptualizing at all Levels of Writing Instruction.” This article appeared in the Journal of Basic Writing, 8.2 (1989): 87-98. Sternglass argues that it is not enough to teach students in remedial classes the linguistic forms of Edited American English and the writing conventions, such as spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and paragraphing. She says, “These conventions need to be taught within a larger conceptual framework” (88). In order to be ready for college level work, Sternglass argues that remedial students need to be exposed to, and gain increasing mastery of, academic cognitive skills such as summary, compare/contrast, and analysis. She says that teachers do not need to require mastery of these critical literacy skills but that all students, even and perhaps most especially those in basic writing and ESL, should be required to practice these skills over a several semester sequence of study.I realize that my own early education was sadly lacking in critical thinking. We were taught how to diagram a sentence or how to dissect a frog but very little critical thinking was encouraged (this was the rural South in the late 50’s and early ‘60’s after all). So by the time I got to undergraduate school I was woefully unprepared for college level work. How I managed to complete four years of college and graduate still puzzles me? There were numerous caring, supportive teachers along my educational journey, but none that required the rigor of critical thinking, practice and study that fortunately intervened in Mike Rose’s life. Now at 60 plus and in graduate school, I find it a struggle to catch up.

4. Mike Rose, Lives on the Boundary

Here is a link to an interview of Mike Rose by Bill Moyers about Lives on the Boundary.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tCokgfZmHUIn class tomorrow night we are to discuss Lives on the Boundaries and specifically, issues of access to education. What are some of the barriers or limits to access to education: poverty, an indifferent bureaucracy, poorly qualified and/or uncaring teachers, location and a "diminished sense of the possible." On page 105, commenting on a sense of ineptitude and depression that occasionally washed over him, Rose says, "This, I thought, was how South Vermont kept hold of its errant children. You can leave those streets, but the flat time and the diminished sense of what you can be continues to shape your identity. You live with decayed images of the possible."

5. To respond to Mighty's post I agree with Viktoriia: I suspect higher graduation rates might have more to do with dumbing down the curriculum but I would like to know what Humaira has to say on this.And to respond to Vika's question, I do think we should fire the "bad" teachers and replace them with better ones BUT the question then becomes how do we accurately judge who is a bad teacher? Judging them by their students' grades on standardized tests doesn't seem to me a useful way to determine teaching ability. The article that Vika quoted above, and that I quoted in an earlier comment on Freire's Teaching Philosophy, has caused me to do a lot of thinking about my perception of what makes a good teacher (and thus what makes a bad teacher). The article was "Building a Better Teacher" by Elizabeth Green and appeared in the March 7 Sunday Times Magazine. Vika gave the link above. And in today's magazine are many excellent and provocative letters to the editor about this article, most written by teachers.So what do you all think makes a good teacher? Can it be taught or is it as Sylvia Gist, Dean of the College of Education at Chicago State University says, "there is an innate drive or ability." I think it has gotta be a lot of both. I know from hard won experience that classroom management techniques, well thought out lesson plans and knowing your subject are essential. And also, when I look back at the good teachers in my schooling, I remember that some were tough, all were fair (as in just), some were warm and some more reserved but they had one quality in common: they cared. They cared about the subject they were teaching, they cared about their students and they cared if the students were "getting it" or not. They cared.

6. Quotes from the Tipping Point Research at Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges"Less than one-third (30 percent) of adult basic education (ABE/GED) students made the transition to college-level courses. Only four to six percent ... ended up getting 45 or more college credits or earning a certificate or degree within five years"(3)."Short-term training, such as the type often provided to welfare recipients seeking to enter the workforce, may help individuals get into the labor market, but it usually does not help them advance beyond low-paying jobs. Neither does an adult basic skills education by itself nor a limited number of college-level courses provide much benefit in terms of either employment or earnings"(5).Echoing Megan and Lashalla, I too thank both Amy and Wynne for their presentation on IBEST at LaGuardia. And I have a question. It actually is the same question I asked last Tuesday night but I would like some specifics. My question was, and still is, do you have a plan in place to link with adult literacy centers throughout the city so that promising students/graduates can have the path made easier for them to transition smoothly to La Guardia and further credentials/education. As I said last week in class, the essential motivator for our adult learners is that by accumulating literacy in English, they have access to better jobs. Now, I admit that after several months of teaching at BPL, I found myself wondering just what their chances were to get a better job. I was beginning to realize how high the next hurdle would be, that even reading and writing at a 7th grade level was not going to help much. Nevertheless, I encouraged these goals believing (perhaps naively after I read some of your materials and statistics - see quotes above) that they are attainable. What I learned: I am very excited by the I-Best model. Naturally, as I listened to your presentation (and after reading the materials) I pictured some of my adult learners at BPL moving into the I-Best credential/education track. What is most exciting is that the stop off metaphor would so work for them. They are working adults (30s - 50s)with families and responsibilities. So back we go to my question: is there a plan or do you have direct contact with some of the adult literacy programs in the city. I will be honest. My heart breaks to think that all the effort and time literacy tutors and programs give believing that they are significantly helping to pull their students out of poverty, or more aptly, giving them the tools to pull themselves out.

7. I did look at Grant Williams comments on Defining Assessment. One thing that caught my attention is that teachers should consider assessment before they begin planning the lessons. It is kind of a "duh" moment for most teachers but also a good reminder. The reason is simple: you look at where you want to go, what learning outcomes you hope for the students to gain and how you will assess. Then you design the lesson plans that hopefully will bring students to this point. Williams calls it "backward design". Once you have your objective in mind, how you assess will begin to make sense and then the activities you plan will flow from this.

8. Well, after reading through our Wiley text, I now am more aware and sensitive to looking at an individual’s literacy practices and competencies as a whole. And yes, I find it outrageous that we test only for English competency and then mark the person illiterate if not "literate" in English. If I moved to Italy for a year I would not consider myself illiterate or non-literate simply because I didn't read or speak Italian. And I don't think the Italians would either. Not speaking the native language might make life difficult for me, and I would have more difficulty getting a job, unless of course I could teach English!A semester ago I would have understood and perhaps secretly agreed with the English only advocates. Or at least made some temporizing statement like "Well English is our native language." Now I can't. It seems to me that our nation would be best served by acknowledging the wealth of opportunity we have in our diversity. To be literate in any language is to be literate. To be literate in more than one language is common in other nations. Why wouldn't we want to test for all literacies and then shout it to the rooftops and build on it. Make it easier to get jobs, go to school, etc. For those of us in Troyka's class last semester, remember Harvey Daniels, "Nine Ideas about Language"? Well, one of his myth busters was that the English language is not dying, it is in fact alive and well and people who come here want to speak it, we just have to give them the opportunities and along the way, we also will be enriched. And should I ever move to Italy, I would for certain sure want to learn the language and try to speak and write it like a native.

9. Back to our concern for high school drop outs, how to keep them in school, making it worthwhile for them to stay in school, or coming up with good alternatives like vocational training. (or is that a good alternative?)I like what Mahla's suggesting, a well trained tutor who can form a personal relationship with a disaffected or troubled adolescent. Actually this is what I found most satisfying in tutoring at the Brooklyn Public Library. My students were working adults but it became clear to me that it was after we got to know each other, and develop a trusting relationship that my students began to take risks with their writing and discussions.Doesn't this remind you of the reading "Freire for the Classroom." The teacher and students formed a close relationship and as the semester developed, as their trust levels developed, their engagement and willingness to take risks in their writing and learning process developed also. I loved this reading. This is what I want to do, this is how I want to teach!

10. Defining Literacy
Preparing for tonight’s class (Adult L&L) and reviewing chapter 4 of Wiley’s Literacy and Language Diversity in the United States, I am once again struck by our inability to define literacy, to pin down that elusive non-count noun, “literacy.” What is it, who has I, who doesn’t and how do we measure it?Last semester we talked about literacy in its many manifestations: functional literacy, cultural literacy, literacy as social practice, autonomous literacy, multiliteracies, academic, etc. Wiley in chapter 4 adds several more terms or definitions to confuse the mix.Minimal – “the ability to read or write something, at some level, in some context(s).”Conventional – “the ability to use print in reading, writing, and comprehending texts on familiar subjects and within one’s environment.”Basic – ability to read and write that “allows for continued, self-sustained literacy development.”Functional – “ability to use print in order to achieve one’s goals and meet the demands of society by participating effectively within the family, workplace, and community.”Restricted – restricted to a minority of self-selected people, perhaps gained without formal schooling.Vernacular – unofficial, “may involve the use of nonstandard as well as nonacademic varieties of language.”Elite – “pertains to specialized knowledge, skills, and academic credentials.”Analogical – refers to knowledge and skills related to particular types of texts such as cultural literacy, computer literacy, etcLiteracy as social practices – practicing literacy within social and ideological contexts.I wrote a paper on Functional Literacy for my midterm in Theories & Models last semester and it seems to me that Functional Literacy is at the heart of the discussion. Because what all the differing definitions of literacy boil down to is performance. Can a person perform at this or that level well enough to do this or that job or school or whatever?Perhaps, I find myself wondering, we should set aside the term “literacy.” Allow it to return to its Latin root, literatus which means lettered or learned. Let it remain lofty and mysterious like love.Perhaps, instead when we talk about measuring and quantifying, we should talk in terms of competencies. Then the questions become less loaded, less offensive, and less elitist. Can she read and write (in English, remember each language has its literacy, we are speaking of English right now) well enough to function in daily life in this country to ride the subway, shop, and bank? Can he read and write well enough to complete a job application? Can she read, write and think critically enough to go to high school or college.I am not trying to end the discussion; I am suggesting that we might want to redirect the conversation.

11. I am very troubled after reading Chapter 5 in Wiley, "Literacy, Schooling and the Socioeconomic Divide." "Illiteracy may be more a result of socioeconomic problems than a cause."I have long held to a firm belief that education is the route out of poverty, or at least one key route. Which is why reading this chapter has left me feeling very troubled. One of the main reasons why I joined this program, L&L Masters, is that I want to teach impoverished and struggling adults. I believed and led them to believe that learning to read and write in English would allow them to move up the socioeconomic ladder. I am sophisticated enough to know that the causes of poverty are complex and there are no easy answers but I did think that improving my students' literacy would truly help.

The Temptations - The Way You Do The Things You Do

Baby you're so smart ...You could of been a school girl.