Letters Home

Kyle Jones, a former writing tutor now taking classes in Athens, recently shared his latest experiences at the Freedom Plaza:

We arrived in DC on Saturday; I went with two friends of mine (who, like me, are ready to stir things up!).  We stayed in Baltimore with one of my friend's aunt. 

Once we got off the metro and walked into DC, we were ready for anything.  Walking downtown, some guy had a dry erase board around his neck that read: "what can we do to make America better?" (See picture attached).  I, naturally, represented my kind, and proudly wrote, "Workers Unite!"  Lol, as you can see, not much has changed.  As soon as we approached Freedom Plaza, I heard a familiar voice, Ralph Nader.  It was nice to meet him, but the man has terrible hearing, lol.  We talked to many protesters, asked them where they were from, why they were here, etc.  The stories were fantastic, and the overall commraderie of the environment was intoxicating.  

We started our first march around 1:15 p.m., and we were heading to the National Air and Space Museum to protest against a drone exhibit.  As my group approached the museum, twenty police cars flooded the area, a helicopter came out of no where and started circling the museum, and all of a sudden I saw several people near the entrance of the building lying on the ground.  That's right, the Smithsonian security MACED about thirty protesters, they also detained (later arrested) a girl who refused to leave the museum--she was a trooper, she sat inside the museum and recanted the Law Officer's Oath.  (Later, I found out that several protesters were trying to go inside the museum, the Smithsonian security told them to leave, they refused, so they maced them. ) As a result of the "confrontation", the museum was shut down, so we (the protesters) had to deal with angry tourists blaming us for ruining their vacation.  However, the fun didn't stop here. 

We found out that the girl who had been arrested was being held at a nearby police station, thus, we decided to go as a group and demand her release.  We marched to the police station, stood outside, and brought the protest to a location that had plenty of mace to go around!   After about an hour, they released our comrade and she recounted what happened.  She told us that they arrested her for "assaulting a police officer."  They took her to the station, and after she successfully fought her case, they changed the charges to "exciting a crowd."  Shows you how ignorant the police were because we were already excited, lol.  Once we arrived at the police station, they released her and made her pay a fine for the excitement of a crowd charge, but it was a powerful moment for me, and my friends. 

My friends and I are planning to make our way to Wall Street, so hopefully, the protesters keep it up! We'd also like to make our way to Boston and Wisconsin, but only time will tell.  It was a great experience going to Freedom Plaza, and it gave me a feeling I never had before; that is, I felt that for the first time in my life, my ideas came to life, and I was "walking the walk." Despite being miles away, I felt enormously at home. 

National Day on Writing

Since an entire day has been dedicated to writing, we can pose questions about that very subject.

Why do you write?

What did you write today? 

What do you like to write about? 

How does writing lead to action?

What is considered "good" writing?

What can be accomplished with a well-written piece?

National Day on Writing

Don't forget the Gallery folks:


THE  FISHBOWL

WC project ideas

National Day on Writing

For the National Day on Writing (Oct. 20), we ought to promote the Fishbowl, our gallery on the NCTE website. It's got some great pieces on it, but it doesn't get a lot of exposure. I suggest we post excerpts of all the gallery pieces on the windows outside the fishbowl, maybe on (tasteful) colored paper or with some graphics or something to give it a bit of a visual draw. We've done stuff like this before, and it usually gets a good response.

Lit Pub 2: The Unenclosing

I'd like to see more artwork in the next lit pub. Maybe we should create separate fliers to solicit art pieces. I think we also ought to look into the possibility of getting the art pages printed in color.

It's Friday morning. I'm short on ideas (and, incidentally, on coffee). What do YOU think, O readers? Quid cogitatis, O lectores?

Something simple: National Writing Day

The task is come up with ideas to celebrate National Writing Day on campus. October 20, 2011 makes number three for this recognized fixed point on the calendar, yet I can't seem to get past the default postcards with writing prompts. I was unaware it existed until my second quarter working as a writing tutor for the college. Not to mention active creativity is not one of my best features. Ideally, I would want to spread awareness before celebrating no doubt a great concept. Writing seems so undervalued in a lot of areas in academia and sitting in the smoker section listening to students talk about the papers they have for their classes for the quarter is not expressed with the greatest enthusiasm. They seem to reinforce the negative side of writing to the point where it becomes a chore instead of something they enjoy doing. So lets celebrate a chore...? I know this may appear pessimistic, that perhaps my perspective on writing papers and college students may be unrepresentative to others point of views, but the probability that there is some truth to it is scary to a student who has a love of writing.

This in turn leads me to the thought process of how to make writing fun? Raffles? One day poetry contests? Offer free food and a place to socialize with "bring a writing piece entry to discuss"? Or default style with postcard/index card prompts spread across the glass of the fish bowl in hopes someone will take an interest to what is on them? Like I said, I am not the greatest active creativity on the spot type of person. I am game for almost anything. I would have fun going around pestering people to answer questions for me on index cards.

National Day of Writing

October 20th is the National Day of Writing. Most people will assume they can't get involved or take part in the celebration. But I think so may people forget how much writing we use in our everyday life. Whether writing a to do list, sending a text, or starting a novel you are taking part in our most universal form or communication and expression. It is easy to take a few minutes and write down what is important to you or help someone (I have my 3 year old in mind here) learn a few letters. There are a million little ways (and some very big ways) we can join in the fun. So take out you pen, keyboards, cell phones or whatever and start writing.

mandatory blogging exercise during off-week training

The prompt--what worked/didn't work (tutoring-wise) during the previous academic year?

The tutors worked, of course.

The lit pub worked. Worked us, anyway. Into the ground, some of us. But it was worth it.

The 2 1/2 months of database catch-up worked extremely well at testing my patience for mindless repetitive busywork.

Blogging didn't work, obviously.

The last-minute rush of slip-seeking students ("Can I just drop this off for a while and come back?") during finals week didn't work. It never works.

To work or not to work

Just starting out in the writing center, I do not feel I am qualified to make such acknowledgements as what did work and what did not work as a new tutor last year. In a sense, everything as a whole did indeed work for me, if anything because it was something fresh and new to learn. I can say that the only time I did have any trouble was reading one students paper that screamed a controlling male was bleeping on my b.s.radar but professionally how I felt at that time is irrelevant and I moved on, thankfully, and forgot about it until this exercise. I also noticed that the varying levels of writing pieces that flow through here can be troublesome to the tutors because there are some students who need more help then the tutors are expected to do i.e. teach how to use a computer, or how to use the basics of Microsoft word, or even the most basic of spelling skills and grammar usage--like a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence followed by a period at the end. However, that is a matter for the initial testing students have to do for placement in levels of classes when they first start. On the other side, the atmosphere in the Learning Center is inviting, and I enjoy my co-workers company and input as well.

One of the biggest irritants for me every quarter is the abundance of last minute students. I have never failed to have at least a handful of students come to me on their first visit to the writing center and announce, "here is my paper, it is due in an hour." Ahhh, really! This summer was no exception for students, including me. I gained a new prospective on all those last minute students by becoming one of them myself. As I was frantically trying to finish a major assignment for my professional writing course (five minutes before I had to leave for class) it dawned on me, maybe the last minute students of the past were not just lazy or unprepared as I had always thought in the back of my mind. Perhaps, like me, they were just overwhelmed. I truly appreciate being able to gain new prospective on the people and situations I have to deal with in the Writing Center, it can only help me become a better tutor and students. I hope the next time I find myself face to face with the "it's due in 20 minutes" student I can remember what it was like for me to be in the same situation. Although there may be little I can do for the student on the writing assignment, now maybe I can at the very least lend on understanding ear.

The majority of my sessions this past year were rather simple, and I didn't have many issues. However, that worries me because I always felt I was missing some glaring error that needed addressed. I think I would be more efficient if I were to be able to quickly notice these problems and help to fix them. Or maybe I'm just a fantastic tutor and solve every problem (ha!) I'm fairly certain this is not the case!
Often, when I didn't have an answer to a question presented by a tutee, I asked another tutor with more experience for help (my apologies to the busier ones!) However, they were always helpful, especially when I first started working in the Writing Center. The team work in here is definitely working.
I try to always ask tutees if the information I have presented to them has helped them at all, and I always hope they say yes! The majority of the students say I have been helpful, and the other part seem simply too overwhelmed with the assignment to come up with a response (mostly ones that haven't begun yet.) My goal is to make these tutees contain the assignment and not feel quite as overwhelmed with it. This feedback has certainly helped me become more confident in assisting other students.
Overall, I hope the work that I do, and have done, is sufficient in helping students visiting the Writing Center.

I seem to come across three types of students who come into the Writing Center each quarter: The Completely Clueless, who leave with a new excitement for writing; The Apathetics, who have absolutely no opinion about being with me or writing a paper; and, my absolute favorite, The Victims, who acts like I have crushed their only thing worth living for, and fights me on every issue. Now, there are varying degrees of how the tutees fit into the categories, and some quarters I feel like I'm making a Venn diagram in my head to encompass all of these personalities. But, in the end, each one of these students has challenges they are facing in writing-- some just want to make them a lot more difficult.

The students I grow agitated with the quickest are definitely The Apathetics. I know some students are strong armed into coming into the Writing Center, but that doesn't mean they have to sit across from me, slouched in their chair, trying to text while I tell them that, no, you do have to cite this entire paragraph that they "paraphrased" from Wikipedia. Students like this... well I think I need some more tips on how to even deal with them.

As far as The Completely Clueless, I really adore them sometimes. They seem to come in with a blank canvas, and by the end of the session, they are completely filled. They always seem the most appreciative and, in a way, are like a sponge; any information I give them, they soak it all up. These are the students with whom I normally form a bond, and they are my "regulars." Last quarter, I had a wonderful Completely Clueless who turned out to be a wonderful writer by the end of the quarter; his professor even came in to comment on how much his writing has changed.

The Victims... oh, how I crush their hopes and dreams with every purple mark on their "perfectly" articulated piece of art. They, along with The Apathetics, are the most likely to fight me. With every suggestion, comment, and question of change, they are defensive and rude; they have a reason for everything, and to them, I don't know what I'm talking about. They are another student that I could definitely benefit from learning how to tutor better; the sessions turn into an endless circle of excuse after excuse, and no changes are made.

But I guess that's tutoring. There are definitely skills I need to refine when working with students who have a bad attitude or who simply don't want to be here because I'm sure I will run into just as many this quarter as I have before.

Sparks.

According to our CIA's annually published World Factbook, The United States (6.26/1000) is #46 globally when it comes to infant mortality (infant deaths per 1000 births). This position is directly behind Guam and two slots behind Cuba. Meanwhile, if the District of Columbia (14.1/1000) were it's own country, it would be displace the British Virgin Islands for slot #96. This means that a baby born in the Ukraine (8.98/1000) is more likely to survive than one born in our capital. The median household income for D.C. was $59,290 in 2009 while the same metric for the Ukraine was $27,996 during the same period.

Thoughts?

Tips for Tutoring

The following sites and links are helpful tips and techniques for creating a helpful tutoring session:

1. In this link, the De Anza College has compiled a list of various links to excellent references and resources used in their own writing tutor sessions. This includes a wide range of topics, from thesaurus and dictionary sites to general writing techniques and their explanations.

- http://www.deanza.edu/studentsuccess/writing-reading-center/resources.html

2. The following is a handbook for the Bluefield College Writing Center. The link states objectives for tutors to use in their sessions, as well as processes and specific steps to follow to be certain a tutor is successful in helping the tutee.

- http://bcweb.bluefield.edu/cowl/tutor/bchandbook.htm

3. The next link is from the Dartmouth Writing Program. They have shared ways of quickly getting to know the student writer, as well as specific questions to ask the writer to help him or her achieve what he or she is attempting.

- http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/tutor/methods/diagnose.shtml

Writing Center Stuff

http://php.scripts.psu.edu/dept/ulc/Dangling_Modifier/index.php

This is a great international newsletter written by and for peer tutors in writing and produced by the National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing. The contributors come from a wide variety of background, from Western Kentucky University to Villanova. But they all do what we do and offer some great insights and ideas. I especially liked “Investing Tutors in the Future of Writing Center Theory and Practice.”


http://www.jccc.edu/home/download.php/19948/WritingCenterJournal.pdf

This is a writing center journal by Johnson County Community College titled “IN THE POCKETS OF YESTERDAY’S PANTS: Theory, practice, theory.” It has some great pieces including “Patchwriters” which deals with recognizing and deterring plagiarism, as well as “On the Road to Being Less Critical” and “The Role of the Peer Writing Tutor.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRc2_U4xJeU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXK8Z79NOBk&feature=related

These are two short YouTube clips titled If Writing Center Myths Were True and Get Thee to the Writing Center! They are not so much educational as just plain funny.

Tutor Resources

I think the Writing Center should offer some sort of certification that can be earned over the years of service. Below are two links that seem reliable and would offer some useful start-up tips in order to gain certification. I think the goal of becoming certified would help some tutors stay motivated and engaged in the tutoring process.

http://www.crla.net/itpc/certification_requirements.htm


http://www.hau.gr/?i=learning.en.tutor-training-program

“Training for Tough Tutorials” looks like a good resource. It offers quick links to the tutor who knows what kind of tutee/paper she is dealing with. (e. g. “reluctant revisor,” “offensive paper,” “I don’t get it!”)

http://writing2.richmond.edu/training/tough/index.html

Some light reading for future tutors.

A writing-center director explains how the concept of "self-efficacy" helps define successful strategies and objectives for both writing consultants and student writers. Tutors can read more in depth components to help them structure sessions to build self-efficacy such as : success through effort, modeling, persuasion and encouragement, and reducing anxiety.

“Mapping the Meaning of ‘Help’: Tutor Training and the Sense of Self-Efficacy”
http://projects.uwc.utexas.edu/praxis/?q=node/336

By observing fellow tutors’ consultations, writing center tutors improve their abilities to evaluate their own practices when working with students. This article gives an example of a good questionnaire and how to reflect after observing an experienced tutor and also reflecting after being observed.

“Watch and Learn: Peer Evaluation and Tutoring Pedagogy”
http://projects.uwc.utexas.edu/praxis/?q=node/340

This is a training video that would be shown during tutor training. There are quite a few chapters to this Bepko tutor training that you can easily find while viewing one video on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD7GjfF4CrY

Here are a few resources that may lend a hand to new writing tutors:

1. Wow! The following is a great resource for both experienced and novice tutors. It includes videos with scenario notes. On the left are various profiles; each depicts a typical "tough tutorial." The resource is from the University of Richmond.


http://writing2.richmond.edu/training/tough/index.html

2. From The Writing Center at Winona State University, this brief chapter from A Guide for Writing Center Tutors is entitled "Self Reflective Tutoring: Practices and Concerns." It includes information regarding conferencing with students and assessing one's tutoring. It also provides a model tutoring session, as well as "some variations on the model."
http://www.winona.edu/writingcenter/05/Guide/guide2.htm

3. This resource comes from Oakland University Writing Department. The series includes videos that depict realistic peer tutoring scenarios. Some of the topics that I browsed include students with disabilities, "texting" tutees, plagiarism, "irate" tutees, tutees who are English language learners, and one entitled "No, You Can't Drop Off Your Paper!" They're somewhat humorous, but also provide insight into tutoring.

These videos may all be found by going to www.youtube.com and typing in "Oakland University Writing Center Video Scenario."

HAPPY TUTORING! :)

Planting a Thinking Seed For Our Literary Mag...

I wanted to jot down a few preliminary thoughts and concerns about our literary magazine. I think this project has so much potential! I'm excited about taking all of our fresh ideas and weaving them into a cohesive unit that makes a great impression on our readers and allows our writers' voices to be heard. This task brings us great privilege and responsibility.

Along with this excitement, some challenges await us as well. Since our literary magazine is a new endeavor, I believe the largest challenge our team faces is lack of experience with a project of this type. Because this is our first installment, we will need to ensure that it is a success so that a possibility for future additions of the magazine exist. I know that we want to produce a literary magazine that is significant; one that truly speaks. With this in mind, I'm planning on conducting some research on the methods and products of other literary magazines to see what kinds of ideas and strategies we can glean (or not glean) from them.

Please water this seed with your own thoughts and concerns...

Winter Snow and Bdays

Happy Birthday, Matt!!!

Agendas... I've never really been one to set an agenda. Maybe they left a bad taste in my mouth after I was scolded by an adviser due to lack of an agenda for a meeting (even though it was totally informal and covered about 3 topics). Overall, I've never seen a point of an agenda in an informal setting. I can understand if the topics are broad and plentiful, having an outline to guide the meeting, but I don't think it would be useful for me in a tutoring session. I also am a firm believer in Murphy's Law, and that anything that could go wrong would go wrong given that I had planned out the session. I have problems with micromanaging situations, and I don't want the focus to be on what I believe is important in a tutoring session-- having an agenda would predispose what would, or according to what I said previously, would not happen. So, to put it simply, they just really aren't for me.

Wrong turns and traffic jams....of being a tutor

I love to make an agenda for everything I do in life, that is just the way my mind is comfortable. I not only make a list of what I need from the store, I make a list of what stores I need to go to and in what order. So I felt having an agenda for my tutoring session was important, almost needed, for me to be successful. I discovered in a short time that my set agenda needed to be tossed.

I can appreciate what William Macauley says in his paper "Setting the Agenda for the Next Thirty Minutes", "I like to think of this plan like planning a trip with a road map". I can appreciate more his line "Anyone who has ever driven on an expressway knows that having a map is no guarantee against wrong turns and traffic jams". There are so many wrong turns and traffic jams that come with the program, they just cannot be avoided. I have discovered the best way for me to deal with this is to leave my agenda with open ends and set it around my needs instead of the writer (what do they need from me, what does their instructer want, how can I help). It is always good to have a plan....brainstorm, pick an idea, write a thesis statement....but you can never know what may be asked of you or what may come up. So my agenda now is set for me. An agenda for what I need to do. After that I listen to the writer and help them direct the flow.

Setting the agenda

I am easily distracted. I can get lost in the beauty of pretty words just as easily as I can get lost in the chaos of a disorganized paragraph. Setting an agenda at the beginning of a tutoring session has helped me work with the tutees who come to the writing center. Having a clear set of goals or tasks to achieve in the session helps me to stay focused on the job at hand. Regardless of the work that I see that I might want to work on, it is important to keep in mind that the session does not belong to me, it belongs to the tutee who has come for my help. I am here to help him or her achieve the goals that he or she has set.

William Macauley Jr. compared setting the agenda to following a road map."I like to think of this plan like planning a trip with a road map. A road map is open ended in that it shows you many possible routes to travel, but the specific course you choose on the map never lets you forget that you're on a purposeful journey to your destination. Charting the course for a tutorial session is also a way to mark, simply and graphically, the things you wnat to do in the tutoring session." Each student who comes to the writing center has a form to record their specific goals for the tutoring session. This is our roadmap. I am sometimes unsure of the propriety of offering advice that does not apply to the specific goals on the form. Will I offend my tutee if I offer additional feedback? What about students who come in, unsure of what help they need? What about the students who simply want me to edit, and "fix" their work? As a teacher, who is accustomed to reaching for the red pen, it has been an adjustment, going from paper grader to writing tutor.

(Grrr...It took me 30 minutes to get logged on...shows how often I blog.)

Done with school --for now.
Want to buy a house, but how?
Can't pay the rent,
Car's covered in dents,
This wallet just won't allow.

So much time on my hands,
What happened to all of these plans?
Creative juices?
All I have are excuses,
But life is pretty grand.

I hope you enjoyed this horrible limerick!

(Did I mention that I hate blogging...it makes me feel like I'm being vain.)

My Road

My grandma and grandpa gave me a card for graduation, and my grandma wrote something along the lines of this: You are not where you have been. You are not yet where you are going. You are well on your way.

Well, I have been on this seemingly never-ending road to “somewhere” for a damn long time! It has been a trip and not always a bad one. But I am tired of this road. I feel like I am in a pothole. Isn’t it time I find my final destination? Do I need a new road? Perhaps I should veer sharply off the road, hit the rumble strips and hope for something to happen.

My Road

Long and dusty,
pothole-ridden,
roadkill-littered
no edge lines…
continually under construction.

Blah. blog. blah. blogged out (although I have not blogged in ages) and bogged down. Does that make sense to anyone? I feel like yuck. I feel stuck in the land of limbo. Stuck between past and future, and not feeling very present.