Writing Center Theory #10

'Earth Aches by Midnight': Helping ESL Writers Clarify Their Intended Meaning by Amy Jo Minett

I really enjoyed this chapter and I just happened to read it after "correcting" a paper written by a Chinese GED student. He had saved his thesis for the conclusion as a surprise for the reader. Of course I told him that it was wrong, just because it felt so wrong to me, a person who has been taught that the thesis goes in the first paragraph of the essay. This chapter showed me that I was the one that made the mistake, not the student. Now I understand why he was trying to surprise the reader and what I could have done to help him clarify the main idea in his paper. His paper was not wrong, it just wasn't following the "rules" I grew up following. It is important that as writing teachers, we keep an open mind when reading papers written by ESL students and take the opportunity to understand what the students are trying to communicate in their writing.

Writing Center Theory #9

Responses to "The House That Mina Built"

I agree with Garri about this book depicting Mina Shaughnessy as a Mother Theresa figure. I think it shows how much Jane Maher truly admired Mina and all of the work she did for the SEEK students at CCNY.

Mina sounds like a fearless woman and a teacher who truly made the effort to listen to and understand her students. Maher says, "Mina believed that one way to discover what the students should be taught in the SEEK program was to discover what they would be expected to know when they took courses in other disciplines" (100). She wanted to prepare her students so that they could be successful in future classes. She believed in them.

I found this chapter inspirational and would love to read the rest of this biography.

Writing Center Theory #8

Peer Group Discussion

“Whispers of Coming and Going”: Lessons from Fannie by Anne Dipardo

I think that an important part of our discussion was explaining the Navajo culture to E. She didn't know what it was and it was difficult to explain because there really aren't any Navajo in NYC. At least not that I know of. Explaining the little Vika and I know about Navajo culture was a reminder of the great diversity of this country.

When a tutor encounters a tutee from a different culture, asking a few questions can be a great learning experience. Of course each situation is different and a student might feel that a tutor's questions are intrusive. Morgan definitely had opportunities to question Fannie about her culture and she just wasn't paying attention. This should remind us as teachers and tutors to pay attention to what our students/tutee say.

"Some members of our group shared their own challenging experiences of being bilingual and bicultural and could personally understand Fannie’s hesitations." This was another point we discussed in detail. All three of us speak more than one language and we have had experiences of learning in a different country. I think we all had great sympathy for Fannie.

Writing Center Theory #7

"Tutoring during Emotionally Charged Sessions" by Corinne Agostinelli, Helen Poch, and Elizabeth Santoro

I think it's important for current and prospective tutors to read articles like this in order to see the unpleasant/challenging side of tutoring. Not all tutoring sessions will be perfect. Not all students will be arrive at the writing center eager for criticism (or what they believe is a personal attack). The tutor won't always like what the tutee is writing about. In fact, the tutor may find the tutee completely inappropriate and offensive. This article provides plenty of ideas on how to deal with issues that may occur when tutoring. The main goal of the tutor is to focus on the writing and remain respectful. Tutees don't show up at the writing center to entertain tutors with delightful stories, they're there to talk about writing.

Writing Center Theory #6

Wynne Ferdinand's Class Visit on 10/27 & Her Writing Center Research Report

I found Wynne's visit to the class to be extremely helpful as we prepared to visit writing centers for our research. Having access to Wynne's research proposal and paper were useful to me as models while I prepared my own projects. What I found most interesting about Wynne's presentation was how much time she dedicated to the project. It made me want to push myself to get to know as much as possible about the writing center I chose as well. The more information you can gather when working on a project like this, the better. I'm very grateful for Wynne's visit to our class.