tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29168051153145034992024-03-13T22:10:14.019-04:00OUWCWriteSpaceOakland University Writing Center's Blog, a space where administrators, consultants, and interested community members can share our craft and and examine the challenges facing writers, writing consultants, and writing teachers.Sherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04302710145386957379noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-28568691910420353502015-02-12T16:08:00.000-05:002015-02-12T16:50:38.868-05:00My RAD Research Journey<br />
Sherry Wynn Perdue, Director, Oakland University Writing Center<br />
Thursday, February 12, 2015<br />
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My thoughts about research and the research agenda for our center occur at the nexus of two important themes: 1) the need for more empirical research to sustain writing centers’ claims to best practices and 2) a growing awareness of the important role that sponsorship plays in WC research. In today’s post, I reflect upon the etiology of my own research and how it has shaped opportunities for my own center’s undergraduate- and graduate student writing consultants.<br />
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My RAD research journey commenced when my colleague Dana Lynn Driscoll and I launched a content analysis of all research articles from 1980-2009 in <i>The Writing Center Journal</i>. This was soon followed by a large-scale survey of writing center professionals (WCPs), follow-up interviews with a selected sample of WCPs, and a focus group of WCPS attending a national conference. (Thank you writing center colleagues for being so generous with your time!) Our first publication demonstrated that of the articles classified as “research,” less than five percent would meet the conditions for empirical research or RAD Research (Haswell, 2005), meaning that most of this research was not replicable, aggregable, or data-supported. Despite this disappointing finding, we determined that research scores were rising over time, particularly over the last decade. More important than our findings about research production was our growing attention to the question, “Why?” As such, we next turned to the conditions that potentially hindered empirical research in and on writing centers.<br />
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In two follow-up articles we have shared six themes that appear to influence WCPs’ research: 1) education and training, 2) labor and institutional oversight, 3) financial resources, and 4) sponsorship as well as our field’s 5) definition of and politics of research and its 6) research practices. Of these, the linchpin is sponsorship.<br />
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Shortly after completing the interviews and surveys and while helping our own department to build a new undergraduate major in writing and rhetoric, we realized that sponsorship needed to occur on all fronts; we needed to BOTH address conditions affecting the situation of our professional colleagues AND prepare the next generation of scholars to do empirical research. While we already taught research and we certainly mentored our WRT majors and consultants, we needed to hone the sponsorship continuum by inviting students, the primary WC practitioners, not only to study with us and work for us but also to collaborate with us on publications and on research projects that we envisioned together.
Our first effort yielded an article for Perspectives on Undergraduate Research and Mentoring in which Dana, I, and three UG consultants (Enrique Paz, Jessica Tess, and Jacob Matthews (two who are now graduate students doing exciting work at other institutions)) reflected on our participation along the sponsorship continuum—moving to and fro among teaching, mentoring, collaborating, and coauthoring. While it did not describe a collaborative empirical research project, it did 1) empower three UGs to articulate their process of becoming researchers in their own words and via their own projects and 2) share a sponsorship framework for future collaborations.<br />
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In our current project, Dana, I, and a UG colleague have I have extended that sponsorship into a truly collaborative empirical research project that examines WCP job descriptions. With undergraduate researcher Sam Boyhtari, we are coding 10 years’ worth of position descriptions culled from the MLA jobs’ list, the WPA Job Board, and job posting shared on WCenter. This project was motivated by a wave of recent job announcements that shocked our community in different ways. One type appears to describe two jobs in one, with expectations for research, a heavy teaching load, and full-time writing center oversight. Another type, which entrusts the leadership and training of an academic service to someone with limited education—a B.A.—carries an embarrassingly small salary and a laundry lists of duties . . . . With this study, we hope to determine how institutions understand the WCP’s role and how this might further affect WC research as well as to make recommendations for a WCP position statement . . .<br />
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Well, I’ve penned too much for a blog post and now run the risk of composing a biography of my scholarship . . . . And, while I share the need for kudos, I don’t think you are reading this just to learn about me . . . .<br />
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In sharing today, I hope to demonstrate the rewards inherent in research—for me, for the center, for the future of the field—even research conducted when not a part of one’s job description, even when I’m coding during the wee hours, even when simple numbers of clients might have been deemed enough. I’m thankful for the research sponsorship extended to me (Thank you Dana (yes, we can learn from younger colleagues), the late Linda Bergmann, Eileen Johnson, and Julia Smith) and for the opportunity to pay it forward.<br />
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This moment of gratitude leads me to my last point of reflection. I would not be positioned to help my co-editor Rebecca Hallman bring her vision for IWCA’s new journal <i>The Peer Review: A Journal for Writing Center Practitioners</i> to life if it were not for this journey, my sponsors, and the lessons I continue to learn from and with my writing center colleagues—directors, graduate students, undergraduate students, and high school students.Sherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04302710145386957379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-36087187021134949792015-02-11T15:34:00.000-05:002015-02-11T15:34:36.120-05:00A Day in the Life of an OUWC ConsultantMy shifts this semester are Monday and Wednesday from 11 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. and Tuesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Currently, I am working close to the maximum allotted hours at the OUWC, and because of the amount of hours I work at the writing center during the week, I believe I am more exposed to a larger variety of clients and assist students, faculty, and staff with different types of assignments--no week is ever the same as the last one!<br />
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This week is half way over and I have already assisted students with papers for nursing, history, business, writing/composition, and even doctoral literature reviews. Because we serve clients from multiple disciplines each session <i>must</i> be approached differently from the last session, not only because the topics vary, but for the more important reason: each client has different writing needs. Assessing students' needs is challenging at times, especially in instances where the client is not a regular client of mine. If this is the case, I generally start the session by asking specific questions about what he/she hopes to accomplish in the 40 minutes we have together. Once we have established the initial needs I focus primarily on those needs in the initial meeting. This is not to suggest that I ignore larger concerns like assignment adherence (because a lot of times clients need help unpacking the assignment at hand), but rather that I do not lose sight of the clients' wants and needs; remaining perceptive and ensuring that you address the "bigger" concerns that pop up in the session that may not have been noticed by the client is important.<br />
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Perhaps my favorite part of working at the OUWC is establishing a professional relationship with my regular clients. It is not uncommon for a whole shift to be comprised of regular clients. I love meeting new clients, too, but there is just another level of personal reward and satisfaction when you can visually see a client's writing progress over a semester, or even after a few weeks.<br />
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It is difficult to write about a "typical" day because there are no "typical" days in the writing center, and that is part of the reason I enjoy it so much. I usually browse my scheduled appointments online the night before in order to prepare myself for the next day, but I often find that while I can go into a session "prepared" to go over certain techniques, citation rules, etc. (based on the client's description of what they want to work on/complete in the session), this often changes in the actual session. The client might change the direction of the session by shifting focus and attention to other aspects of the assignment, or I might suggest another course of action in addition to the initial requests provided by the student on our online scheduler. In any case, a consultant's job largely requires him/her to think on his/her feet, which not only keeps the job fresh and exciting, but personally rewarding as well.<br />
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<br />jerems90http://www.blogger.com/profile/14701078046602420459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-66501383829192744762015-02-11T15:30:00.004-05:002015-02-11T15:30:44.970-05:00#IWCAWeek : The Daily Delights of Oakland University's Writing CenterBright orange walls and lively greenery fill the space that is our writing haven and collaborative learning environment. We are indeed the Write Space on campus. The flow of clients ranges from ESL writers to devoted graduate students, who feed the buzz of brainstorming, grammar discussions, and organizational feedback. This is the daily activity that continues to inspire all of our consultants and keep the stream of knowledge bubbling in the epicenter of Oakland University that is Kresge Library. Kmsheetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03708521592343005876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-13441033873757020822015-02-09T10:36:00.001-05:002015-02-09T10:36:07.257-05:00International Writing Centers Week<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: blue;">Show us your support!</span></b></h3>
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Monday, Feb. 9: Show us your staff!</div>
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Tuesday, Feb. 10: Show us your space!</div>
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Wednesday, Feb. 11: A day in the life of your center</div>
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Thursday, Feb. 12: Research and publishing spotlight</div>
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Friday, Feb. 13: Put your center on the map</div>
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Saturday, Feb. 14: Love your center!</div>
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<b><span style="color: orange;">We have a chance to win a pizza party! Let's do this!</span></b></h3>
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In my WRT 329 class, I worked on a project that dealt with
feedback to students on their writing. While it primarily focused on feedback
in a professor-student sense, I found some parallels to the kind of feedback
that we give at the writing center, so I thought I’d share some insight.</div>
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The article itself is called <a href="http://www.jstor.org.huaryu.kl.oakland.edu/stable/20456939">“Across the
Drafts”</a> by Nancy Sommers. This particular article is an amendment of an
earlier <a href="http://www.jstor.org.huaryu.kl.oakland.edu/stable/357622">article</a>
where she claimed that the power of feedback rested primarily on the instructors.
She urged writing instructors to stray away from the infamous marginal
comments, which consist of broad, universal statements and suggestions such as “this is
too vague” or “expand,” and she thought that instructors needed to utilize
feedback as an “extension of the teacher’s voice” and an “extension of the
teacher as reader” (p. 155).</div>
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However, in “Across the Drafts,” she adopts a new mantra of
the student-professor relationship that serves more like a partnership. A
student needs to be ready to receive and apply such feedback from his
instructor, and likewise, the instructor needs to try to appeal more towards
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">writer </i>and<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>not necessarily the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">writing.
</i>I find that this relates to one of our mantras of helping the overall
student as opposed to the individual paper.</div>
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Even more specifically, Jeff Sommers wrote an <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCcQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.journalofwritingassessment.org%2Farticletopdf.php%3Fid_article%3D59&ei=9chGU_uRNObUsAT5s4GIBw&usg=AFQjCNEHisx7fbvRcGMM3e4SXRLawvk08g&sig2=xD_ERxAWjBrwvyvHtLZkBg&bvm=bv.64507335,d.b2I">article</a>
about different kinds of audio feedback. I think this relates more to us at the
writing center since we give live feedback while we read our clients’ texts,
which is essentially what audio feedback does. Sommers concluded that there are
three main types of feedback labeled retrospective, synchronous, and
anticipatory. Retrospective comments link the teacher’s comment with previous
interaction with the student, synchronous comments include responses that take
the role and perspective of the reader, and anticipatory comments extend to
offer insight and advice about future writing.</div>
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Personally, I find that I use Jeff Sommers’ comment
categories every day, which, according to him, is a good thing. If I saw the
client before, I’ll make a note of how they improved from last time or how it’s
similar to something they already worked on. Similarly, I often take the role
of the reader and audience and tell clients “as a reader, this is what I
perceived and this is what I gathered,” and likewise, I ALWAYS try to offer
them tips or strategies that they can utilize for both the paper at hand and
also for their future writing assignments.</div>
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While reading these articles and other of similar stature, I
really started to think about the entire feedback concept. It’s a really
important thing, especially in the field of writing, and it’s something that
occurs somewhat naturally and subconsciously but that can also be controlled
and monitored.</div>
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So, how do YOU all conduct feedback and commentary? Do you
find Jeff Sommers’ groupings to fit into what you do? Do you think there’s
maybe a different category of feedback on which we could focus?</div>
Mandy Olejnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453720013626766814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-51133199778545134362014-02-03T13:45:00.001-05:002014-02-03T13:45:33.455-05:00Blog Post: Helping Arabic Students with ArticlesWorking with our international students can be difficult when our consultants are not sure what differences exist between the client's first language and English. Recognizing error patterns helps, and knowing how to help the client relate English rules back to their original grammars helps even more.<br />
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With that in mind, I have worked out one solution for our Arabic language clients. As many consultants may have noticed, our Arabic clients, like our Chinese clients and those with some other first languages, often have difficulty knowing where to use articles (a, an, the) in their English writing. They believe that their language does not use articles, but that is not precisely true. In Arabic, most nouns begin with “al,” as in “al asad,” which means “the lion.” Arabic students think of the “al” as part of the noun, so they do not think of it as an article. Consultants may have noticed that many Arabic surnames also begin with “Al,” and that their names are often written as single words; this is because they think of the first two letters as part of the word.<br />
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I have talked with several Arabic students about this. In each case, when I told them that English nouns are usually preceded by articles, they were confused. When I told them that English nouns are usually preceded by articles, in the same way that most Arabic nouns begin with “al,” however, each one expressed dawning understanding.<br />
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If an Arabic client seems to be struggling with when and where to use articles in English, it might be helpful for the consultant to draw the client’s attention to this parallel between Arabic and English. Dealing with the difference between a/an and the is another matter, but getting the client in the habit of using articles is a good start.<br />
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This is just based on personal observation and experience, but I hope it is helpful.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08171921393542992740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-91331224057247423712013-10-30T11:45:00.000-04:002013-10-30T11:45:02.555-04:00M-W-C-A, It's Fun to Go To The M-W-C-A...Hello Everyone!<br />
<br />
A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go with six other lovely ladies to the M-W-C-A, the Michigan Writing Centers Association Conference at Grand Valley State University. It was a great conference to attend for our first time, one I will recommend to anyone because of its informative, yet less formal approach. Everyone was very professional and appreciative of others' work in different writing centers. I especially liked learning about other writing centers and their services, and have recognized how the OUWC has grown to new heights in the past years. The following are descriptions and comments about the sessions I attended for those of you who want to know more about the conference:<br />
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For my <span style="color: red;">first session</span>, I attended, "I thought you were an expert?" by consultants from the writing center at Michigan State University. It was a basic presentation that focuses on students' perspectives and assumptions as they come into the writing center. Although it was interesting to hear about different scenarios others have encountered in their writing centers, I was hoping for more tips and instruction from the presenters. I feel that OUWC consultants are prepared for these types of situations.<br />
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My <span style="color: orange;">second session</span> was titled, "Collaboration 2.0: Working with Technology in the Modern Writing Center," which was presented by a group of consultants from Mattawan High School. I must say that this was my favorite session as I was very impressed by the presentation and how the students carried themselves. Even though they had only experience in working in a high school writing center, they still had iPads, explained how they used Google Docs, and even showed us some different apps they use in their center. The presentation was conducted by using Prezi, they looked at their notes off of the iPads themselves, and they even made handouts and broke us up into discussion groups to analyze the pros and cons of technology in the writing center. Some things I found interesting in that we might want to apply to our practices: iTunes U - you can post forums, forms, readings, or discussions that others can view later. iBrainstormer app - an interactive brainstorm web-making tool that can organize and color code a student's brainstorm. Overall, I just think this presentation was very impressive by these young high school students.<br />
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<span style="color: lime;">Session #3 </span>was composed of two presentations...1. "Beyond Grammar: Reviving Discussions of Rhetoric in Tutoring Sessions" 2. "Under Pressure: Removing the Paper to Empower the Student." The first presentation was given by a consultant from Cornerstone University and she discussed the basics of rhetoric (ethos, pathos, logos, etc.). Even though I thought it was a good presentation, I knew most of the material from my Major in Writing/Rhetoric at OU. The second presentation was given by consultants from Grand Valley State University and it discussed different tips to do when a student is so overwhelmed with the paper in front of them. Both said to take it away and focus on different aspects of the paper. Again, a great presentation, but I believe that most of our training sessions in the OUWC prepare our consultants for these types of situations.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Session #4 </span>was also composed of two presentations... 1. "Making the Connection: Tutors Working as Liaisons to Underserved Departments" 2."Writing Centers Collaborating with Social Media." Both presentations were given by different consultants from Saginaw State University and the first presentation discussed how to get departments that may not know/use the writing center more involved. They both gave examples of what they did in their own departments to get students to use the writing center: one did surveys and the other had meetings with faculty and staff. They also came up with a five stage collaboration process: recognizing needs, initiating conversations, becoming a liaison, facilitating action, what's next? I thought it was a good presentation and maybe we could do the same with some departments on our campus? The second presentation, honestly, I was not very impressed. I think that the presenter was ill prepared and confused about some of the things that were in her presentation. I thought it would be about using different kinds of social media to get the writing center out there. However, she just showed different examples of pictures and asked us if we would post it on Facebook or not and because they all dealt with some kind of discriminatory action, we said no to all of them. However, she paused a minute and told us she did post some of them. I think a lot of people were confused in her reasons why.<br />
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The <span style="color: purple;">last session</span> I attended was titled "A Pic is wrth 1K Wrds: 21st Century Stories and Strategies" given by the Associate Director of the Michigan State University Writing Center. It was a fun session. We talked about what "diversity" means in our community/campus, department/discipline, and our writing center. We also talked about the "multi-modal center." She posted different TRUE examples of scenarios in their writing center and in groups we had to come up with a way to help the student. Some include: how to create a website or podcast, how to organize a poster, or reviewing a powerpoint or prezi. My all time favorite however, a student once came in to get help organizing and using the appropriate tone to send a break-up text. I know, right? But, I think maybe we can have a few small training sessions about helping students with some of these things.<br />
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But all in all, I thought the conference was very informative and worth attending. Hope to hear that more are going next year!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-27227816586142750552013-10-24T11:36:00.001-04:002013-10-24T11:37:01.928-04:00MWCA Response :) Hello dear OUWC bloggers,<br />
<br />
As Jenna so lovely stated in the last post, a few of us had the privilege to attend the Michigan Writing Center Association Conference at Grand Valley State University on Saturday October 12th. It was a really cool experience to see so many writing center consultants, directors, and enthusiasts in the same place. I went to several presentations throughout the day and of those my two favorite were "The Ownership of Narrative: Working with Refugees in the Writing Center" and "Collaborating Across Colleges and Programs."<br />
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I found the first presentation fascinating because I had never encountered working directly with a refugee in the writing center. I have worked with many immigrants, study abroad students, and veterans that have a global experience, but never refugees. The presenters emphasized the importance of sensitivity and indirect tutoring when working with this population of students. First, it is relevant to be compassionate towards the student because the experiences they have encountered may be horrific, to say the least. Next, indirect tutoring helps the student come to terms with what they are comfortable writing about and how they are comfortable relating their points. The presenters addressed how some of these refugee students come from countries that have very different values and it can be jarring for the refugee students to have a voice, an opinion, and feel safe with their relating their thoughts about a subject; they may have experienced oppression of freedom of speech or no freedom of speech in the previous country they lived in.<br />
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The second presentation I attended, with four of my fellow writing center consultants, was "Collaborating Across Colleges and Programs." This presentation discussed placing specialized consultants in different departments throughout the school and campuses. One writing center consultant worked in the Psychology and Biology departments. This consultant had a desk in both departments where she worked specifically with students from that discipline on their writing for classes within that department. A second consultant was placed in the Nursing Department. This student had her desk alongside hospital beds and other nursing equipment. The third consultant was responsible for the online writing consulting. The way that this university (Eastern Michigan University) ran their online writing center consulting was through an e-mail base; the student e-mailed their writing concerns in an e-mail and then the consultant replied within a day to the various students who had written with concerns. According to the presenter, this flexibility was beneficial for the student - they could turn their questions / writing in at any hour of the day - and the consultant - they could reply within a day at any hour of the day and work from any location.<br />
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This post is getting a bit long, but I'll add just one more quick ending note. In addition to listening to presenters, I also had the joy of giving a presentation myself. It was wonderful to be able share our research (the research Brendan and I did over the summer) with a broader audience outside of our OUWC community. Unfortunately, my presentation was cut a little short because the presenter before me ran over time, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed being able to present.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-86982156899753760662013-10-23T11:46:00.002-04:002013-10-23T11:47:09.097-04:00Jenna's Response to the MWCA ConferenceLast weekend I was lucky enough to attend the Michigan Writing Centers Association (MWCA) conference at Grand Valley! Aside from spending the day in the most glorious library I’ve ever seen, I also learned a ton and was super grateful for the opportunity to attend. The presentations that I took the most from were in regards to rhetoric. It’s typical that students will come in for an appointment with concern for only the grammatical components of their drafts, but what about the paper’s rhetorical value? The presenter made an excellent point that I think consultants can easily forget: rhetorical value > grammatical value. This was a great reminder for me (and hopefully you!) that even if the client says he/she wants grammar corrected, rhetoric should always have precedence. The following presentation was about one option we can use to reform our methods as to ensure the product has significant rhetorical value to it. According to the presenters, consulting without a paper is the answer. Speaking with the client about what he/she is hoping to accomplish in the paper, taking notes of what is said, and then finally reading the paper to see if the student has indeed accomplished the stated goals is an excellent way to measure how effectively the student is using rhetoric. Since the conference I have implemented this strategy into multiple sessions, which have resulted in great success. I recommend everyone push the paper aside at least once and see what they can accomplish without it.Sherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04302710145386957379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-85448229666980809432013-05-07T09:38:00.000-04:002013-05-07T11:22:16.689-04:00Summer Lovin'<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Welcome to the summer semester! Come on over to the OUWC for writing help!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Writing in the summer can help to keep your mind active and retain those factoids that you learned during the school year. Here are some tips you can use to help keep up with writing during the summer:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Journal daily about all of the summer adventures that you have. If you're like me and think that your life is utterly uninteresting, try a theme journal, like a "thankful journal" where you write down something you are thankful for every day.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Write</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> one grammatically correct sentence a day. Not something easy either, challenge yourself!!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Research</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> a topic that you are interested in, perhaps a dream vacation destination, and write a little bit about it using the research you gathered. Be sure to use correct citations too!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Read </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a book/magazine or go see a movie and write a review of it. Channel your inner Roger Ebert.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Write</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a fascinating story about your dream summer vacation, because if you have no life, at least you can write about an interesting one. ;)</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don't let your brain cells die, keep your mind active as well as your body in the summer months.</span>BrittanyForthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00645477406930377167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-68333487604611334182013-04-09T11:15:00.000-04:002013-04-11T13:24:00.341-04:00Lazy Languages<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't know if many of you have noticed, but people have gotten lazy with the way they communicate. Oftentimes people will use text lingo in their verbal conversations, no that big of a problem right? Wrong! This translates over into writing as well. Text lingo has become such a norm that students are turning in papers that contains it. People are getting lazy with the way they write. Gone are the days of eloquent language. Instead, they have been traded for trite expressions and initialized words.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This reminds me of a scene in the movie <i>Dead Poets Society</i>. “So avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy. A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Don’t use very sad, use morose. Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women - and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do. It also won’t do in your essays.”</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Personally, the smarter one sounds, the more attracted I am to that person. In that aspect, the quote is right. In all seriousness though, use a thesaurus, try to expand your word knowledge. It will only help you in the long run. </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As the semester winds down and many papers and tests are piling up, that does not give you an excuse to be lazy. Language is a beautiful thing. Don't let it die! Keep it alive! </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Best of luck on your finals! May the odds be ever in your favor!</span><br />
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</span> BrittanyForthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00645477406930377167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-62182555857808050512012-11-19T08:09:00.001-05:002012-11-19T08:15:12.348-05:00Welcome Back to BloggerGood Morning, OUWC Staff:
I've sent out invites to everyone for everyone to join. If you know a new member, help him/her get started. While the invitation has been sent to the webmail account, staffers need to create a gmail account to access the blog.
The blog OUWCWriteSpace has been inactive for months, but I think it is time to start sharing our experiences again, especially because we have so many new members. As we move in to the last few weeks of fall semester, I'd like you to think about the important role that we play in retention, not just in the lives of academically under-prepared or under-performing students, but in the lives and work of all clients.
Best,
SherrySherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04302710145386957379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-36533622974470395572012-01-10T10:37:00.004-05:002012-01-10T11:39:55.598-05:00Technology, Media, and WritingI was just thinking how technology streamlines information and productivity for many people today. I never imagined myself as a grown up using computers, phones, storage clouds and video chats to the capacity that they are being used and are available!<div>
</div><div>In any case, I think the ability for people to jump into the interweb and search for almost any question and find the answer in the form of a yahoo! answer, a youtube video or the infamous, wikipedia!</div><div>
</div><div>Now that we have ipads, I am thinking we are one step closer to using chat videos, websites, social media posts, music, movies and accessing art and other forms of expression right from the circle tables to aid in the discovery of writing!</div><div>
</div><div>Although, sometimes we do not need technology to get our point across. I remember a student who came in and was frustrated because she struggled with spelling. She had the word 'glamorous' in her paper and instead of pulling out the dictionary, we cleared our throats and sang the first part of the refrain "g-l-a-m-o-r-ous" from the infamous song by Fergie and sang our way to a clear spelling! The small act of singing a small line boosted her confidence because she knew that she had tools (music lyrics included) to be a successful speller, and after some more work on her paper, an improved writer.</div><div>
</div><div>We can use what we know, what we learn from others, and if our brain fails us, we can use our little orange and white tablets!</div><div>
</div><div>What stories do you have or what ideas do you have that include an ipad in your consultation?</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-39371343336761886472012-01-09T13:53:00.004-05:002012-01-09T13:56:55.535-05:00Welcome to Winter 2012Dear Staff:
Welcome to the New Semester. Please take some time to review the consultant manual and to acquaint yourself with new procedures. Then, draft a reply to this that lets your colleagues, WRT 320 students, Pamela, and me know what you think about the changes and what you hope to accomplish this semester.
Best,
SherrySherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04302710145386957379noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-25663499120615081552011-11-01T08:58:00.002-04:002011-11-01T09:07:17.130-04:00Welcome to Our Busy SeasonGood Morning Staff:
As you may know, I have just finished penning my IRB application for the Embedded Tutor Program, which I will upload today. Starting Friday, I will be floating through the center to shadow and co-tutor. Please do not view my presence as that of an evaluator. Rather, I hope to learn from and with you as well as to share some of my own strategies and suggestions. Because I cannot possibly work with everyone every day, Genevieve has generously agreed to be your consultant mentor again this fall. As such, she will be taking herself out of the scheduler to shadow and co-tutor as well. She will be contacting your via email later today to explain further her role.
You need not wait for us to approach you. If you would like someone to give your immediate feedback, or if you are struggling with a client, type of client, or a session, please ask for a second set of eyes and ears.Sherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04302710145386957379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-65719113457299060182011-11-01T08:50:00.007-04:002011-11-01T09:18:01.245-04:00Read it Backwards!To continue with Jessica's unique approaches to helping with different stages of writing, I have a new technique I have found helpful for many writers who struggle with clarity and conciseness.
Generally, when we want to examine clarity, we focus on the paragraph or section that needs work. I have found that instead of reading it forward (first sentence to last sentence), reading it backward (last sentence to first sentence) helps in two ways. Initially, when reading the sentence backwards and out of context with the rest of the paragraph, I can see tone and construction. If the writer is using passive voice, it sounds even more strange and the writer catches it when they hear the sentence read on its own, free of connection with previous thought that is usually in the sentence above. Secondly, the writer can identify sentences that cannot stand on its own (e.g. needs the previous or last sentence to make sense).
When I read the paper backward I first have to consider a few things:
1) The writer does not have concerns about the requirements of the paper (they understand the basic premise for writing the paper)
2) The grammar will not get in the way of reading the draft (if you find that reading backwards is great way to edit a draft, you have found a great tool to use on your own and suggest to clients to use for personal editing but I would caution not to use it to edit while working)
If you find these two concerns in the paper, I would work in a more traditional way because reading backwards may hinder the collaboration process of working through assignment clarity and structure. As always, grammar should not be a major focus and reading backwards makes it difficult not to overlook grammar issues.
Try out this technique if you have the chance and post your thoughts, comments, successes and challenges!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-16382219041275372822011-10-04T13:57:00.005-04:002011-10-05T12:48:55.672-04:00Thesis Statement ExerciseHello All!
Well, this is my first post ever. I thought I would share something I discovered today in a non-writing class that would be useful for helping clients write good introductory paragraphs with thesis statements. My professor proposed a 5 step process as thus:
1. Make a Statement
2. Define terms/clarify
3. Give an Example
4. Ask, "So, what?"
5. Answer the, "So, what?"
1. Make a statement: This is in response to a general topic/someone's elses statment/what an article has to say/etc. It's your feelings about something. For example, I read an article that says "high school is the most critical period for character-development" and I disagree. My statement might be, "High school is only one part of a long life journey."
2. Define Terms/Clarify: At this point I now was to clarify what I'm trying to say. I might start a sentence with, "In other words..." Running with my statement in #1, "In other words, human beings are shaped by their experiences from birth until adulthood, which everyone will reach at a different point, despite the expectations of society." I've now developed my topic a little more.
3. Give an Example: At this point, I should illistrate what i am talking about for further clarity and development. "For example, some people act immaturely at age 50, still possessing adolescent behaviors like getting black-out drunk on a regular basis despite the consequences, because they didn't push themselves to develop beyond their high school years."
4. So, what? Now, we need to ask a ,"so what" question in response to what we've said so far. In the case of what I've written so far I might ask myself, "So, why should we care what high school does and does not do for personal/character development?"
5. Answer the "So, what?": Give your best answer. What results should look something like a fairly prescise and concrete thesis statement. I had answered, "If people do not recognize all the facors that contribute to maturity beyond high school, they will likely fail to understand, much less achieve, what signifies a fully developed character."
Let me put all the parts together now:
"High school is only one part of a long life journey. In other words, human beings are shaped by their life experiences from birth until adulthood, which everyone will reach at a different point, despite the expectations of society. For example, some people act immaturely at age 50, still possessing adolescent behaviors like getting black-out drunk on a regular basis despite the consequences, because they didn't push themselves to develop beyond their high school years. So, why should we care what high school does and doesn't do for personal character development? If people do not recognize all the factors that contribute to maturity beyond high school, they will likely fail to understand, much less achieve, what signifies a fully developed character."
It's not perfect. Of course it's not.
But if done correctly, this process will show a paragraph that introduces a topic, develops it a bit, and ends up with an argument. From there, revision and polish can be worked through, but I often find clients struggle to get something written down to work with in the first place. With a little tweaking, I think this 5 step process can be adjusted to fit a lot of assignments that include arguments and asserting opinions.
Anyway, try it! It worked for me!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-30763101217030599212011-09-16T10:43:00.005-04:002011-11-01T10:42:56.448-04:00adult autistic studentsHi,
Sorry this post did not seem to go up at the time that I wrote it. I just now realized that there was no post here..lol.
But anyways, the original post was regarding the occurrence of seeing adult autistic students in the writing center. Though not extremely common, it does happen, on occasion that you may be assigned a student who falls somewhere on the autism spectrum.
My most recent experience has occurred just this year. When I was first told that I would be working with an adult autistic student, to be honest, my reaction was one of "where is this session going to go?"... (In terms of my analyzing of what could be coming up next). And in essence, since not all autism cases are alike, a consultant really does not know what is ahead for them when they are told that they will be tutoring an autism student.
One thing I had to check myself on was my mental process of visualizing a tough case before it ever happened. I think it was the word "autism" that caused me to jump to this visualization. I automatically pictured a difficult appointment. To my great revelation, I now know that I was silly to do this, because this appointment was probably one of the best ones I have ever had.
Let me explain. This student seems to use his autism almost as if it were a gift. Rather than giving in to his frustrations, which happens in students with autism (heavy emphasis on routine and a dissuasion of breaking it) he was able to catch and check himself. Also, (and again, every autism case is unique to the person) he was indeed demonstrating very clear thinking, and he is very passionate about the subject that he was writing about at the time, which made for an excellent paper.
In summation, I would recommend, don't let the word "autism" throw you, and cause you to have a (albeit, perhaps subtle) impression in the back of your mind which exists only because you heard the word "autism" before the appointment began. In this scenario, the old adage defiantly rings true: one cannot judge a book by its cover, or shall we say, its medical diagnosis/label. Perhaps these students, in some way, are actually here to teach us....Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-61238754779328610832011-06-09T16:12:00.006-04:002011-06-09T16:29:49.652-04:00The Use of Honorifics in 2011Hey, Guys!
I thought this short article on Dictionary.com was interesting. What do you think?
<div class="he2">
<a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Mrs.?__utma=1.796624102.1285121231.1285121231.1285121231.1&__utmb=1.2.10.1307650206&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1295071425.1.2.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=chronic&__utmv=-&__utmk=16963641"><img class="alignleft" title="Bride in old-fashioned engraving." src="http://static.dictionary.com/homepage/carousel/June-2011/mistress.jpg" alt="" height="126" width="126" /></a>
What is “Mrs.” short for? The answer may make you blush (or at least laugh)</div> <div class="he3">June 7, 2011 <div class="he301">
</div></div> <p>History and <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/etiquette?__utma=1.796624102.1285121231.1285121231.1285121231.1&__utmb=1.2.10.1307650206&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1295071425.1.2.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=chronic&__utmv=-&__utmk=16963641">etiquette</a> tell us that <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Mister?__utma=1.796624102.1285121231.1285121231.1285121231.1&__utmb=1.2.10.1307650206&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1295071425.1.2.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=chronic&__utmv=-&__utmk=16963641">Mister</a> and <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Missus?__utma=1.796624102.1285121231.1285121231.1285121231.1&__utmb=1.2.10.1307650206&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1295071425.1.2.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=chronic&__utmv=-&__utmk=16963641">Missus</a>, known by the contractions <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Mr.?__utma=1.796624102.1285121231.1285121231.1285121231.1&__utmb=1.2.10.1307650206&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1295071425.1.2.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=chronic&__utmv=-&__utmk=16963641">Mr.</a> and <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Mrs.?__utma=1.796624102.1285121231.1285121231.1285121231.1&__utmb=1.2.10.1307650206&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1295071425.1.2.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=chronic&__utmv=-&__utmk=16963641">Mrs.</a>, are the proper form of address for men and women. Beneath the surface of these everyday <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/honorifics?__utma=1.796624102.1285121231.1285121231.1285121231.1&__utmb=1.2.10.1307650206&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1295071425.1.2.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=chronic&__utmv=-&__utmk=16963641">honorifics</a> lies a linguistic glitch that has spawned social havoc since “Mrs.” entered mainstream English in the 17<sup>th</sup> century.</p> <p>Mister is a direct variant of <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/master?__utma=1.796624102.1285121231.1285121231.1285121231.1&__utmb=1.2.10.1307650206&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1295071425.1.2.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=chronic&__utmv=-&__utmk=16963641">master</a>, which in turn derives from the Old <span id="more-3346"></span>English <em><a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/etymology/master?__utma=1.796624102.1285121231.1285121231.1285121231.1&__utmb=1.2.10.1307650206&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1295071425.1.2.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=chronic&__utmv=-&__utmk=16963641">maegester</a></em> meaning “one having control or authority.” Already a discrepancy rears its head: The period that follows the abbreviation Mr. is usually <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/etymology/Mr?__utma=1.796624102.1285121231.1285121231.1285121231.1&__utmb=1.2.10.1307650206&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1295071425.1.2.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=chronic&__utmv=-&__utmk=16963641">omitted</a> in British English grammar. According to the Oxford A-Z of Grammar and Punctuation, “If the abbreviation includes both the first and last letter of the abbreviated word, as in ‘mister’ and ‘doctor’, a full stop is not used.” However, a period always follows the title in American English grammar – as in Mr. President and Mr. Speaker.</p> <p>Once used to address men under the rank of knighthood, by the mid-18th century mister became a common English honorific to generally address males of a higher social rank. English domestic servants often used the title to distinguish the eldest member of the household – a practice that is, for the most part, obsolete today.</p> <p><a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/etymology/Mrs.?__utma=1.796624102.1285121231.1285121231.1285121231.1&__utmb=1.2.10.1307650206&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1295071425.1.2.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=chronic&__utmv=-&__utmk=16963641">Mrs.</a> is a contraction derived from Middle English <em><a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/etymology/Mrs.?__utma=1.796624102.1285121231.1285121231.1285121231.1&__utmb=1.2.10.1307650206&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1295071425.1.2.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=chronic&__utmv=-&__utmk=16963641">maistresse</a></em>, “female teacher, governess.” Once a title of courtesy, <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/etymology/mistress?__utma=1.796624102.1285121231.1285121231.1285121231.1&__utmb=1.2.10.1307650206&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1295071425.1.2.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=chronic&__utmv=-&__utmk=16963641">mistress</a> fell into disuse around the late 14th century. The pronunciation, however, remained intact. By the 15th century, mistress evolved into a derogatory term for “a kept woman of a married man.”</p> <p>By the early 17th century, Mr., Mrs. Ms. and Miss became part of English <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vernacular?__utma=1.796624102.1285121231.1285121231.1285121231.1&__utmb=1.2.10.1307650206&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1295071425.1.2.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=chronic&__utmv=-&__utmk=16963641">vernacular</a>, creating an awkward socio-linguistic discrepancy. In an attempt to avoid the use of “mistress,” a variety of phonetic substitutes have been utilized, including “missus” or “missis.”</p> <p>While Mrs. does refer to a married woman, according to The Emily Post Institute, <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Ms.?__utma=1.796624102.1285121231.1285121231.1285121231.1&__utmb=1.2.10.1307650206&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1295071425.1.2.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=chronic&__utmv=-&__utmk=16963641">Ms.</a> is the proper way to address a woman regardless of marital status — the term alleviates any guesswork. Miss is often used to address an unmarried woman, presumably a girl under the age of eighteen years old. Note however, that “Miss” also derives from “mistress.”</p> In 2011, what is the proper manner of address for men and women? Miss, Ms., or something entirely different? Are these honorifics too formal for our society, or the perfect bit of courtesy?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-92118007812674358032011-04-08T13:43:00.013-04:002011-04-09T00:52:07.416-04:00Weird End of Semester RequestsHi all, Just wanted to mention to be on the lookout for any strange requests from students these next couple of weeks. As it is getting to the end of the semester, people are becoming barraged with many things to do, and for some, it drives them to a point of desperation. Yesterday, I received two requests for me to type papers for students. The answer to that is a big over- sized NO!! Why might someone request this, I mean, don't all students operate with the same integrity that got us here to college to become respectable intellectuals and members of the labor force? ...Nope. They don't. The sad reality is that many could care less. Sometimes end of the semester pressures get to students, especially those who may be already floundering in their academic pursuits. We may appear as a light at the end of the tunnel when they are operating on a deadline. So what could happen? Well, some of the following has already happened to me. You may get students coming up to you in the middle of appointments with other students, or you may get a request for a student to be squeezed in between appts. I have squeezed some students in if they just need something looked at really fast, but generally I advise against this because you never know what you are getting yourself into. They could need more work than five minutes allows. Here are some ways students could push the boundary and get more time than allotted: -"Can you look at this really quick, I know you have another appointment, but I have a deadline." -"Can you type this paper for me?" *(no joke, this has actually happened, they seriously just wanted a typer. This type of request we have to deny) -"This will only take 10 minutes." (Yeah right buddy) -"I have already had an appointment, but they just went over grammar. Can you look at this and tell me if it sounds right?" (bigtime smokescreen for more editing). -"I really wanted you, but you are booked up. Can you just look at this for me. (..."I really wanted you"... ? ... sounds kind of creepy). -"I'll do half and you'll do half (ummm...quid pro quo...=ILLEGAL, plus you are not the author) -"This is due at 1:00pm, who can I get to look at this?" (Um... yourself if were all booked) - "I was in here earlier, and my friend has an appointment but can't make it. Can I take her spot? (easy way to try to get two in a day). -"Help me I'm desperate" (Aren't we all?) So just to sum up, it may get a little strange with desperate people coming in, but if we are firm and stick to our guns, students will begin to recognize what the boundaries are, and the students who have followed procedures correctly will be able to get the assistance they requested.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-26277754195138208032011-04-06T17:00:00.003-04:002011-04-06T18:15:13.233-04:00Winter Semester 2011 Wrap UpLooking back on the semester this year I found that I was able to learn more about how other people tutored so I could compare, contrast, and understand the different ways of helping others with writing. While I know that many consultants thought I was grading and evaluating their performance during sessions, I would like to clarify one more time that I was not. Instead, I was observing (as we all did as RHT 320 students) and trying to see how the center functions as a whole by understanding each of the parts. In my observations I saw incredible progress, thoughts, compassion and lots of great peer collaboration.
As a recap, I will summarize and generalize a few sessions that I have observed either by directly sitting at the table or through observation at the staff table throughout this semester.
All in all, almost every time I saw a difficult situation either because the client was hostile, indifferent, confused or just plain hard to work with, the consultant reacted in the best possible way by either being infinitely patient, encouraging, and/or understanding. The wide range in which I can see each consultant work makes me really excited and proud that I work with others who can be flexible yet firm in their commitment to tutoring. This semester I saw a client get defensive and the consultant ignored the negative reaction and calmly continued to work, another client go through half the session saying "I'm confused, I'm not sure what is going on" and the consultant rewording and rephrasing until she was blue in the face all the while smiling until the client finally said, "oh, I understand now, it makes much more sense." It is always easier to remember the outlier sessions, so I want to also say that I saw many sessions run "according to plan" in the sense that the client and consultant initiated pure collaboration that left both parties refreshed and excited about writing.
While I can compliment the writing center staff all day long, I also would like to suggest an area of improvement that I have noticed in the past few weeks. Sherry predicted earlier in the semester during our professional development day that with the end of semester arriving, we would be bombarded with appointments and she warned against this coping strategy when we were exhausted with clients: editing. Occasionally, in the past few weeks, I have seen consultants furiously scribble edit notations on a student's draft. In one specific instance I saw the client was browsing the internet with his smartphone while the consultant had the draft and pencil in hand. I want to think that maybe the client was looking up information relevant to the paper, but I had a feeling that was not the case. Just remember, we are not doing the client or ourselves any favors when we shrug our shoulders, drag the paper into our circle, collect the pencil from the jar at the center of the table (Ron organized that for us) and sit intently trying to ignore the gross lack of clarity, focus, and organization just so we can 'get through' the session.
In fact, today, I had 4 back to back appointments and most would agree that after that many appointments he/she would be tired. I thought I was done for the day so I sat down in front of my session logs and breathed a sigh of relief. Actually, I didn't even get through my breath when Ron pointed out another appointment, fortunately, my last. Even still, I was not even able to catch my breathe before I had to restart my brain and get back into tutor mode. Normally, I can make it through a session okay because I ask a few good questions to get the client thinking more about his/her paper. This session was different. First, the client was not really sure what the professor was asking. Second, the client did have good content but a weak thesis to tie it all together and knew it. The client kept asking me "what should I do? How should I word my thesis?" It would be so easy to read the rest of the paper, collect the main points and say, "your thesis should say....." It would be just that, too easy. If I gave the client the answers and a thesis based on how I understand the information then she would still be struggling once she got home to incorporate the information because the thesis was not hers .
The same kind of struggle goes on when we edit a paper for a client. The mistakes clients are making will not be corrected because they are not required to be cognizant of the errors and understand why they are wrong, we just tell them it is wrong. Just yesterday I saw a fellow consultant who collaborated in a session with me point out a few grammar mistakes to the client who then immediately found the a majority of the other similar mistakes as he continued reading. It was so rewarding to see the progression and improvement of writing in just one session. Not only was he more aware of his comma use when using transitions, he also became aware of his audience when he found he was missing descriptive words.
I think tutoring is a hard job. If there are times when you cannot work anymore because of fatigue or illness, please talk with another consultant because we are all really nice and always willing to help if we can. I can also attest to the kindness of our staff because just today I had another consultant take an appointment tomorrow so I could move my schedule around. Thank you Phil!
If you see something that you like or don't like or want to see happen, this is a great place to share those thoughts and feelings with everyone at the writing center.
I just wanted to share all the great things that I saw this semester and my experience as a consultant. I have to give a big thank you to all the consultants for making this semester fun and enjoyable!
Peace,
Genevieve
p.s. If you haven't posted on this blog yet, it isn't too late!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-23876297276214294252011-03-21T11:41:00.002-04:002011-03-21T11:43:46.363-04:00WRT 150 FILM PSA LECTURE NOTES - aaron j. hall<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>FILM PSA GUIDELINES </b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>MEDIUM IN THE MESSAGE - </b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-The medium is the message is a phrase coined by Marshall McLuhan meaning that the form of a medium embeds itself in the message, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived.<b>
</b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>FILM: </b>is the best way to do a PSA. Film is far better than print. Reading a PSA is active. Watching is passive. But if the message is compelling then the viewer becomes active as well. You must involve viewer. <b>
</b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>THINGS TO CONSIDER</b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>FILM METHOD: </b>what is your budget. Find your setting. Use lighting to your advantage. Minimalistic camera movement (NO SHAKY CAM). Be aware of background action. Don’t distract your viewer. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>IDEA - </b>Your idea must be powerful. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>SIMPLICITY- </b>one sentence test. Or even a fragment.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>MINIMALISM- </b>in film technique. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b></b></span>
</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>TYPED MESSAGE <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>vs SPOKEN WORD</b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>-This is a CRUCIAL DECISION
(Use either/or because it is tough in an editing sense to combine them)</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b></b></span>
</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>DON’T OVERWHELM THE VIEWER! TOO MUCH IS BAD</b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>TIME - 30 SECS TO 2MIN </b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>MUSIC - Use film soundtracks or ambient music. No vocals. </b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 17.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">****YOUTUBE VIDEOS****</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><i>President Obama - “The More You Know” NBC PSA </i></b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">One Take. No Cuts. Slight zoom at the end and we have a logo. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Animoto</b> - you can do this one with Sherry’s link … </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">ELEMENTARY SCHOOL -- <b>STUDENT PSA POLLUTION VIDEO.</b> Not a good song. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Anorexia PSA- </b>Okay, but too long, too cheesy, too much of the same theme. The viewer shouldn’t know what to expect. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b></b></span>
</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Bristol Palin’s PAUSE-</b> Great editing, but mixed message? What does it mean?</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Don’t make your viewer jealous of you. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px 'Gill Sans'; min-height: 13.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><i></i></b></span>
</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><i> Don’t condemn the viewer … condemn yourself … or just inform and CALL TO ACTION </i></b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>MODEL YOUR PSA AFTER THESE: </b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Rob Bell - </b>Chairs - Stats with Talking </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Make Dirty Water Clean -- 20Liters </b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Charity Water </b>- Jennifer Connelly - No talking simple message. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Other Water one - 30 secs. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>SOUND: Speechless VIDEOS TV / REMEMBER Hollywood Writers Strike of 2008 </b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Woody Allen … Speechless Hollywood video </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Gill Sans'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>HUMOR:</b> The Office PSA’s vs CBS Cares “Family Jewels” Valentines Day (only 15 secs) shock ending</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-82691548846193074812011-03-09T19:49:00.005-05:002011-03-09T20:17:17.613-05:00Paraphrasing: The Skill No Ones Been Really TaughtAs time has gone and I've worked with regular students and Cite Right students, I've realized there is a major skill that many people do not realize they have not perfected: paraphrasing. When you open up the APA manual to the section about paraphrasing, all you'll see is a small paragraph--it may be the smallest part in the entire manual. Until I looked through the Chicago Style manual, I had not seen an example of paraphrasing that broke down what is and what isn't paraphrasing. Because the main purpose of Cite Right is to discuss ways to cite correctly and to not commit plagiarism, the topic of paraphrasing is something that is discussed at length. During these discussions, I've found that most of these students do not entirely know what constitutes paraphrasing. Now, this isn't that surprising since these particular students are in the program for plagiarism; however, as I've become more aware of this problem, I've transferred this towards normal Writing Center sessions.
In the past few weeks, I have asked multiple students about paraphrasing. If a sentence is cited without quotes, I'll ask them if it's paraphrased. Most times he/she will say that it is, but as I continue on, I usually become more and more suspicious that this student does not know how to correctly paraphrase. As the conversation continues, I'll ask the student on what they believe paraphrasing constitutes and maybe how they do it. By opening up this dialogue, I've found out that a good few of my clients do not know how to paraphrase correctly. At this point, the session turns into a discussion on how to paraphrase. I even had one student come back the very next day to have me look over her paraphrasing to make sure she was doing it right.
Something I've been telling students to make them feel more comfortable with the conversation is that it's a skill that no ones really been taught. Personally, I don't remember a teacher ever going over what constitutes good paraphrasing, and most of my clients don't either. Because of my work with the Cite Right program, I've become especially careful with possible plagiarism within students papers, especially unintended plagiarism. During the session I'll give examples of what constitutes good paraphrasing and then tell the client that if he/she feels unsure, to read the <span style="color:#000000;">sentence or</span> passage and look away and restate what they read. I'm finding now that I've begun to really focus on this, many of my clients have benefited from a conversation about paraphrasing and what constitutes plagiarism. During the discussions with the students in Cite Right, I realized that many people do not know what plagiarism is--and this is not unique among Cite Right students.
This conversation within an appointment I think can be beneficial for all types of students. Because we are administering the Cite Right program, I think it is our duty to especially warn students against plagiarism and do everything in our power to help them to not even accidentally do it. Since I've found this technique to be so beneficial to so many students, I will continue to mention the skill of paraphrasing when citing and try to open up a dialogue with all students willing to discuss what they think it means and what it really is.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-5088026031474078162011-03-02T11:20:00.004-05:002011-03-02T11:59:50.872-05:00Breathe Life Back Into Our PodcastsBelieve it or not everyone but people are saying "we enjoyed the first podcast, 'Comma Drama', but where are the rest?"<div>
</div><div>To continue using technology in a proactive way and gain more recognition from the community on our innovative approaches to reach out, we are asking for ideas and even your time in helping script, read, act, videotape or edit both new podcasts and you-tube videos. </div><div>
</div><div>To generate some ideas and start the ball rolling I have thought of a few ideas I would love to see bloom!</div><div>
</div><div><b>Podcast</b></div><div>*What do students want from us?</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>1. Describe what the writing center does</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>2. Obtain a few common concerns from the "hope to accomplish" section of the session log</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>3. Interview a few students about their experience before/after</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>4. Interview a few consultants</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>5. Bridge the student expectation of a "grammar and spelling check" to generating ideas about his/her writing process.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">*</span>Chicago/Turabian Style</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>1. What's the difference?</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>2. What one should I use?</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>3. What are some good resources?</div><div>
</div><div><b>Youtube</b></div><div>*How to format title pages and headers for APA</div><div>How to add footnotes for Chicago</div><div>Other paper formatting issues</div><div>
</div><div>What ideas or suggestions would you like to see added to our technology of products?</div><div>
</div><div>-Genevieve</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916805115314503499.post-6934242636032220772011-02-11T00:31:00.003-05:002011-02-11T01:00:26.232-05:00Yes its true, they're just happy to be stuck with you..As the title hints, I'm refering to Hewy Lewis and the News' song that could describe clients who like to work with you ... maybe a little too much. There can be many reasons for this, but as I have found, if you feel drained at the end of a session, almost as if you are driving the client around mentally, and you have multiple sessions like this, there could be a boundary issue going on.
One of the great things that I have experineced as a consultant that has helped me even in my personal growth as an indivudual is learning the skill of discernment when it comes to what you can an cannot do during a consultation. It has been my expernience that, there are some instances where a person will come in, see how versed and skilled you are with the English language and develop the mindset that you can therefore teach them all their matierial for a class that they are struggling with. ... If only it were that simple:)
First of all, you are not, and never were their "instructor". You are actually a peer consultant, key word being "peer" so you cannont take on any higher position than that.
Second, its almost not fair to them to take on such a role because they need to go through the struggle of class so that they can learn to overcome what is challenging them, or discover that the current path they are taking may need to divert its courseway so that they can operate within their means (to stop biting off more than they can chew... so to speak).
This has been the difficult part for me as I instinctively want to intervene and then realize that if I act upon this impulse, I have crossed the line into co-authorship. Also, its a mental exercize to try to take over the construction of someone else's project, so its not serving the other clients who come in later when you have only a couple drops of mental energy left. The good thing is that boundaries not only keep negative things out, they keep good things in. So allow your concentration to be preserved, and let the student work things out.
This has been the lesson taught to me in the last couple of years. Even now, I still have to vigilently guard against losing my mental energy to a student who is struggling to stay afloat. A sobering realization I found tonight comes from wiki how describing how to properly lifeguard someone who is being pulled under, bearing an uncanny parallel to boundaries in consulting:
"An active drowning victim's only concern is getting air. In fear, he/she may grab onto you and pull you under, resulting in two victims...."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2