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Writing That You Love!

Howdy Folks,

I've been reading/watching great writing/screenwriting this semester and I would like to get some insight on what everyone else is reading/watching. Because this is so broad, I'm dividing this post into a multiple sections. Sharing is caring! Click on the links for further fun!

Enjoy!

First - SHORT STORIES -

Everyone is aware about the wealth of short story material that Ernest Hemingway has provided to the English language. Since we've been informed about this consensus and somewhat trust it to be true, some of us feel like there is little value in experiencing his short stories for ourselves. I was one of these skeptics. Of putting Hemingway in a box, I was the chief of sinners. But forgive me, Ernie, I didn't know. Recently, I completed In Our Time. This collection of stories is nothing short of genius. Sure his minimalism and ventures in modernism may cause wrinkles on the frontal lobe, but after you've carefully personally experienced Hemingway you will realize that there is something super special to his literature. His work is of the highest quality. Now, I wasn't completely chaste from Hemingway's short stories, I've read some. But rereading the few familiar passages brought a new level of appreciation. "Hills Like White Elephants" is regarded as one of the greatest short stories of all time and the more you read it the more you love it. I strongly recommend Hemingway's In Our Time collection.

COMING SOON!

Second - FILM -

- Citizen Kane (Welles 1941)

Third - NOVEL -TBD

Fourth - POETRY -

T.S. Eliot's Collection- The Wasteland

5 Poems/Parts.

William Blake's "London"

PLEASE LET'S GET THIS BLOG ACTIVE!

LET'S ALL PARTICIPATE! ADD MORE SECTIONS IF YOU WANT!

THE MORE THE MERRIER!

Thanks :)

Aaron

New OUWC Pic

Enjoy !

OUWC podcast coming soon!

How to end a session: What should I do?

Sessions end as if by magic. I see the clock, wrap up concluding thoughts or ideas, and review the contents of the session. Usually I am dipping into the next appointment by a few minutes and eventually by the end of the day I am about 20 minutes over to allow everyone the full hour.

I am relieved that we have shortened consultations to only 40 minutes. If we need more time to work with a client we can, but at the same time if we do not, we have less time of discharge in each session. To elaborate, I think of myself like a battery. I only have so much juice for each session. If I run an hour, I am pretty drained, but if I only do 30-40 minutes, I still have some energy left. I recharge at the beginning of every session but as with most rechargeable batteries, the more often they discharge all the way, the less effective they become over time (even if batteries really don’t do that, you get the point).

Now that we know that I am excited about implementing a 40 minute session, I have no idea how to enforce a 40 minute session. While sitting here in front of the computer, I feel the urge to generate a list of possible solutions to ending a session:

Spend more time at the beginning explaining how a session will proceed

Ask what things the client would prefer to work on specifically (encourage them to fill out the first question in the session log)

At around 30 minutes, begin to discuss the overall impact of the paper, areas that need more work (research, thesis, etc…) and deliver any praise or compliments (about particular sentence, ability to recognize errors during session, new idea, etc…).

Just state, “Time’s Up!” nicely and ask client if they have any specific questions about what was covered in the session.

Well, I guess I knew how to do these things all along, but I don’t know that they are in my mind until I write them out. Most of these ideas are standard procedure for ending a session of any time length, but I never verbalized them and made sense of them. And because I wrote them out, I thought it would be nice to share with my peers in case you were asking the same question.

Playing into the Resistant Client...A Story

I had the pleasure of working with a doctoral student on her paper she was submitting for publication. I was ready to please and impress this professional student that I too had a good understanding of a topic: writing and revision. Upon reading the first paragraph I understood the writer did not consider an audience for her paper. Well, maybe she did think of an audience, other professionals in her field, but still, as a reader, I was left at the end of the paragraph with no more understanding of her paper than when I started. I wanted to address her lack acknowledgment of an audience by not continuing on to the next paragraph and looking at her slightly puzzled (no need to generate frustration immediately). I told her I was going to summarize her first paragraph to see if what I read was what she wanted to convey to her readers. Well, my summary did not coincide with her beliefs about what she wrote and my little summary technique actually led her to believe that I was not competent enough to understand what she was writing about. She lost all faith in my ability to help her and so when I tried to offer other suggestions later on in the appointment, she would explain the topic or idea again in a way that I would hopefully understand, but never attempted to realize that she needed to write what she was saying to me. Granted, the topic was not overly complex or foreign but because I am not a student in that field of study, I was not qualified to generate ideas about what I thought she was talking about. Long story short, sometimes you enter a session with the best intentions and you want to assist others (especially when they are formally trained in a subject you are not) in a way that is subtle yet effective. I wanted to collaborate with the student on her paper but I instead let myself be played as the student who would be taught by the master. The next time this happens, I will stop the session and explain that while I have not been formally trained in the subject, I am a seasoned consultant and I do have some tricks up my sleeve to help writers of all abilities to improve their skills. The most important lesson from this story: do not let a client make you feel that you are not as helpful as you know you are!

A Sanitary, Swine Flu-free Writing Center

With both bosses down for the count, I feel the flu-ridden walls closing in. As tutors, we are already the first ones to catch the flu or the common cold; we must interact with several students every day in extremely close quarters. Wonderful. Better yet, some of our clients want us to touch their filthy laptops, which have more germs on them than the common toilet seat. This year, 90% of flu cases are expected to be of the swine variety. Once someone is sick with the virus, they can be incapacitated from 7 to 10 days. So what's a busy tutor to do? First of all, if you think you are sick, wear a surgical mask, or better yet, stay home. The Japanese are on to something there. For the rest of us, it is a good idea to obsessively use hand sanitizer, and refrain from touching your face AT ALL TIMES. Also, always remember to cough and sneeze into your elbow. Seriously. Do it. Otherwise, I'll be quite cross with you. Merry flu season tidings, Ashley T.

The Cite Right Program

Obviously plagiarism is a big deal, especially at the University level. However many students, whether through lack of preparation or through lack of knowledge of documentation requirements, plagiarize often unintentionally. The Cite Right Program is a way for us to help students understand how to avoid stealing someone else's words, and instead use others' ideas, documenting appropriately, to compliment their own. I've worked with a couple of students and therefore, Sherry has asked me to share a little bit about what I've done with those of you who might not be sure how to approach this task of helping a student to have a good understanding of plagiarism so that he or she does not plagiarize again. The way I approached my first student worked well. Although, there are always improvements to be made. He brought in the paper that contained plagiarism. First, we looked at that paper to see where he went wrong. We discussed the importance of documentation, and about how using a source is supposed to support your paper. We didn't try to rewrite that particular paper because the paper was not to be resubmitted. Next, we used the resources Sherry provided to better comprehend the difference between plagiarism and non-plagiarism. I told him as we used the resources to ask me about any questions he had. When he had a question, we would talk about it until he surely understood that specific concept. After completing the quizzes and other resources, we still had time, which I thought we could spend productively. Because he claimed that lack of preparation was the main reason for his plagiarism, I asked the student to bring in a book that he would be reading for a future class and together we thought of a possible thesis for a possible future paper. Also, I was able to help him understand the correct way to approach a paper. He read the book, developed a thesis, and began to research articles and books written by critics. We worked on using their ideas to support his own, and we practiced correctly documenting those sources. This approach worked for that particular student. Of course, every student is different. And as we have different types of students, we can share our experiences with each other. This is how we will continue to learn and continue to improve our new program.