Welcome Back to Blogger

Good 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, Sherry

Technology, Media, and Writing

I 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!

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!

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!

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.

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!

What stories do you have or what ideas do you have that include an ipad in your consultation?

Welcome to Winter 2012

Dear 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, Sherry

Welcome to Our Busy Season

Good 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.

Read 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!

Thesis Statement Exercise

Hello 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!

adult autistic students

Hi, 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....