Questions for 4/21

“Creating a Common Ground with ESL Writers”

It appears that the articles that we have been reading seem to be saying the same exact point. While enforcement is often useful in the learning process, I am unsure that it is necessary, however, that is another topic. A spot that I found that more just irritated me was a method in creating a common ground.

The suggesting is to have the non-native speaker read their entire paper out loud, or to outline, map, and utilize a radical deletion method. How do you feel about this? Personally I felt that a session was way too short to accommodate this type of help, do you agree?

“The Writing Lab Newsletter Article”

Not to reflect negatively on this article, but, this was one of my least favorite articles of the semester. I felt that the writing itself was not grammatically correct. In addition I thought that the writer provided some good evidence, however, her interpretation of linking Saddam Hussein to writing was a bit of a stretch and I failed to see how there was a complete link. Regardless, the writer does make a good point that it is valuable to the writer’s culture when tutoring them as this can be helpful.

Do you think that we should have the students fill out their background/where they are from before attending an appointment so that the consultant can be prepared?

“Qualifying Claims about Contrastive Rhetoric”

One quote that stuck out for me is this, “In a multicultural society, English-speaking readers will have to learn to read writing in a different rhetorical forms without pronouncing it “bad” simply because it isn’t thesis and topic-sentence driven.”

However, this calls into question the debate regarding whether or not teachers should grade differently based on a students background. What do you think?

SHADOWING!

I FINALLY SHADOWED A WRITING CONSULTATION!!!! Interestingly enough, it was a continuing studies student. When I first watched all the videos on writers web I was a bit skeptical of how they portrayed continuing studies students…. I mean in the video they seem completely clueless and almost want to tutor to put the words they need on paper. This student was EXACTLY like the video tutorial. She did the whole “I just… I don’t know how to get what I say on paper,” and then made that silly hand gesture. She had a lot of difficulty creating a clear argument and sticking to one side. Often times when she was making a point to show how the internet had a negative effect on family life, she made the point seem positive, and couldn’t seem to understand that. The session took one and half hours as she truly struggled, and this was her second time here for this paper. However, she did make an excellent point. At the end of the session she thanked Aleena, telling her that she was definitely going to come back to her as she felt that she was most helpful. She said that the other tutors didn’t directly write on her paper, and then when she got home she was completely lost. I thought that this was an interesting point as we are often told to not take control of the paper, but this student wanted us to as it benefited her more.

College Mentoring Session #2

Kaleigh and I met with my college-mentoring student last Wednesday, and she had improved her essay from last time by quite a bit. However, I must admit that I was grateful that Kaleigh was there as when the student left to answer a quick phone call, we were able to discuss our plan of action. The paper had numerous repetitions of similar or of the same sentence throughout the paper, and the grammar was all over the place as English is her second language. Thus the plan was to address the larger issues of content. I did this by having her read the topic sentence and seeing if that sentence applied to the rest of her paragraph. More often then not, it was her second sentence that actually was a great topic sentence. But looking at the topic sentences, we were able to help her realize that she was just repeating herself everywhere. I was a bit lost though as although I had really helped her with the content and topic sentences (which she had told me from the start that she has trouble with) I felt that I didn’t help her grammar, which I felt greatly affected the clarity of her writing. In this situation I was torn when deciding what to focus on. I think this really brings into question how to tutor ESL students. Overall though, I felt good about how the session went.

Questions for 4/12

“CARP” Article

After reading the tips in this article, I used the information given to figure out how contrast, alignment, repetition, and proximity could be related. Contrast focuses on sentence variation, alignment focuses on correct formatting (MLA style), repetition focuses on connected sentences back to the main idea/thesis as well as having an interesting title, and proximity refers to paragraph grouping (not sticking to the 5 paragraph rule).

Do you agree or disagree with how I have connected the CARP article to writing?

“Rule of Thirds”

Although this article focuses mainly on images, the article brings up the point that you should learn a rule before breaking it. I think this is extremely important in writing, but more importantly in poetry. Also, the article talks about how to draw an individual’s attention to a point in a picture, this could be similar to drawing a reader’s attention to the main point in a paper.

Do you agree? And do you think we could use this article when creating a visual for the students in the college mentoring program?

“Planning for Hypertexts in the Writing Center”

I find it odd how the article first talks about how the emergence of word documents on computers contradict their mission as a writing center. Yes, the computer acts more like a fix-it shop,

But isn’t it better to have the computer act like a fix-it shop? That way the tutor shouldn’t have to worry as much about grammar, and can just focus on content. I don’t believe hypertexts should be approached differently, and with all today’s technology, tutors can insert commentary in a word document. Do you think this commenting would be successful?

“Protocols & Process in Online Tutoring”

Although some individuals may enjoy the face-to-face interaction with a tutor, I feel that there are also many benefits to having the writer email the tutor the paper. I believe that this situation would greatly benefit ESL students as we discussed how they often are unresponsive or it may be difficult to read their head nodding.

Do you agree with this? Would ESL students benefit from online tutoring more?

Tentative Plan for First Training Session

In order to discuss how to go about the first training session, I believe we need to discuss what materials we are going to use. Personally, my opinion would be that we should take various articles and chapters of the books we are currently reading and combine them into a writing manual. As mentioned in class, this would be extremely beneficial as the student we train could always refer back to the information we presented them. So my proposition would be this; to create in essence a manual that was organized such that we would cover say… 5 chapters/sections in the first session, then two in each subsequent session. The first session then would focus on the main points we put at the beginning of the manual.

The first goal we should have is to establish the relationship between tutor and mentee and ways to make them comfortable, and how to respond to comments. For example, we could take information from the Bedford guide.

Next, we should address the issue of the fix-it shop vs. abstract editing. Here we could gather information from the study of error article. A sub section of this chapter could be ESL students and how this issue alters depending on the type of student you are mentoring.

Lastly, how does one comment on a paper? After this section I think it would be a great idea to have sample essays. This could then act as a bridge to the following session. For example, go over one. And then assign them one of them to do for the next session.

Questions for 4/5

“Cultural Conflicts in the Writing Center: Expectations & Assumptions of ESL Students”

In American writing, clarity is valued, as many of the ESL students state. However, if these students struggle substantially with vocabulary, then their thoughts are being blurred by their lack of good grammar/word choice. So,

Is it then, our job to cater to these students by changing our tutor style to resemble that of a fix-it shop? Using sheets from the writing center to help them with future problems and explaining the grammar while using their current paper could be helpful. Is this our job?

“Bedford Guide: Chapter 5: The Writers You Tutor”

One thing that struck me as way to controlling was a suggestions about addressing writing anxiety. The suggestion was to help the student make a plan to write the paper in terms of deadlines. I personally, think this is the student’s responsibility and not our job,

Do you agree?

Another question that I had as well was that it seems in many of these readings that other cultures have different writing styles. However, do teachers take this into consideration? Should writers cater their writing style to fit the American writing style?

Should we help them change their writing?

Questions for 3/29

“Thirty-Something” Students

I liked how this article identified the diverse needs of individuals in relation to their age, however, my question is this,:

Is this really a relevant topic here at the University of Richmond? Yes, we do have a few grad students, but they do not tend to be significantly older, and most have just come from an undergraduate college where writing skills are still present in their mind.

“Writing Center Ethics and “Non-Traditional Students”

Thee has been a lot of discussion surrounding whether or not “non-traditional students” should be treated different. I don’t believe that they should be.

Do you think an effective approach to older students, or really just students in general, could be to ask upfront what they are hoping to get out of going to the writing center? This could help gauge where they are in the writing process and help us to adapt to their needs.

“Not-Traditional Students in the Writing Center: Bridging the Gap from a Process-Oriented World to a Product-Oriented One”

Many non-traditional students choose to be paired with non-traditional peers as they feel more comfortable with them. However,

Can being paired with this non-traditional tutor lead the student to become dependent on the tutor for helping them create the perfect paper without going through the correct process?

“In Defense of Conference Summaries: Widening the Reach of Writing Center Work”

After reading this article I reflected on UR’s Writing Center. As far as I know, the student doesn’t get a choice in whether or not a writing report is sent.

Do you think students should have that choice? Should there be a student comment section on this form? Also, should the summaries be completed with the student?



**Note: No post has been made regarding shadowing as there was no student signed up for the spot I shadow this week...