Final Shadowing
16 years ago
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Promoting Change Through Writing Centers
I found the notion that writing centers are capable of promoting and accomplishing campus wide change very interesting. Wingate, in her article, claims that students who tutor or visit this center achieve better grades as well as have a higher graduation rate. A word she consistently used was “serious” which I found particularly odd. She claims that students present at the writing center must be “serious” students. However, if this journal article is compared to the WAC program article, students might have ulterior motives for going to this center. If the professor has made it clear to consultants what he or she is looking for, student may have the incentive to sign up for a slot in order to achieve the highest grade. Although this method may be effective, it is writing-to-get-done work contrary to learning to write or the write-to-learn methods. After reading these selections of writing, I am interested to see how the writing center at the University of Richmond would compare. Do students know what particular professors desire in the perfect A paper? More importantly, can the writing center affect the academic life at Richmond?
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Sarah,
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting reflection, and a great follow up to class. I am wondering some of the same things you are! I am also wondering if there is a hard dividing line between writing-to-learn and learning-to-write? What are the various ways those two might be related?
From our previous readings, I found the WAC article particularly interesting, because it touched on the many contradictions and frustrations that are felt by college students. Throughout this article, the author reiterates how professors are constantly asking their students to think of and write about “fresh” and “new” ideas. However, coming up with these fresh ideas often compels students to use their own voice and thoughts in their papers, which is not an acceptable writing technique to every teacher. The ambiguity about whether or not a student is permitted to use first person in their writing, is an example of the vast opinions on what constitutes “good writing.” Because of the teacher diversity at every school, many students struggle about how to please each one individually. For this reason, like Sarah said, if you are a “serious” student you will attend the writing center in order to help you figure out the best possible way to decode the goals of your professors. However, in my opinion it is not the writing center that will be able to get that student the “A” grade that Sarah also mentioned. Only the professor will know exactly what he/she wants, which is why I think that students must first go to their professors for help and then go to the writing center. This is the only way the student will be able to understand what their professor wants, which is something that a writing fellow cannot teach. Although Wingate expresses that the writing center has helped raise the grades of students above those who do not attend, I think that in many more cases, it is the student who better understands what his/her professor wants that will earn the better grade. Unless we can get every teacher at each school to be on the same page, we will not be successful in teaching just one standard of writing. Is it possible for us to have one standard? Or is the variety of writing techniques a valuable asset to a students’ college career?
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