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.
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