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?
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