3 Suggestions

I'll second Ember's suggestion of the North essay, and add to that:

- Intellectual Tug-of-War: Snapshots of Life in the Center
- by Boquet, page 116, St. Martins
- Postcolonialism and the Idea of a Writing Center
- by Bawarshi and Pelkowski, page 79, St. Martins

3 Suggested Readings

The Idea of a Writing Center
Stephen North
page 32

Responding to Texts
Toby Fulwiler
page 156


A Critique of Pure Tutoring
Shamoon and Burns
page 173

All are from the St. Martin's Guide.

Since I've never taught a class, maybe my tutoring philosophy isn't as developed as Ember's. Watching professors now, I see things that I would do differently, and try to make mental notes that I'll use later.

Thinking about that now, I realize that there are probably 10 other people in those classes making different notes. Everyone has a better way of doing something, so my teaching philosophy might not mesh well with some students.

I think the important thing for me will be to remember that everyone learns differently, and everyone will take something different away from the class. If I can incorporate that into my tutoring philosophy, I will have succeeded.

Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy changed after I taught a class for the first time, and it changed again during my first semester in front of a class, and now that I’m back in school it has changed again. You might think that being a teacher would put me permanently on the side of the teacher, but this has not happened. Instead, while I sit in class as the minutes tick by and all I can think about is getting out, my rebellious instincts threaten mutiny and occasionally take over. The same thing that happened to me in high school happens now in graduate school. I look out of the window, when there is one, and I wish I were someplace else. While I was supposed to be working out my teaching philosophy, these thoughts took over instead. Then it hit me: that’s my teaching philosophy. I can communicate with students because I understand them. I understand them because I am one of them, and will always sigh while I roll my eyes at the clock. I love teaching and learning.

Personal Statements

I was just thinking that we could use a book on personal statement writing in the W.C. I wonder if we have one up there?

Notes from Class, on the Brochure

unity, fulfills a purpose, evidence/support, organization/structure, mechanics/style, grammar

Mission

We Do:
collaborate
improve
id errors
help
make suggestions

We Do Not:
your work for you
edit/proofread
write
fix
grade/evaluate
work on your paper if you're not there
tell you what to do

Tutee's Responsibilities:
bring the assignment description/instructions
come early in the writing process
bring a pen/pencil
set aside 30 minutes
bring/know style guide
know what you want to work on / bring questions
you make the final decisions
you set the agenda for the session

We are not Burger King - you don't get it your way.

We don't do this, but we will do that!
collaborate - tell you what to do; work for you
improve/help - fix
grade - evaluate
no formal assessment
(metaphor: universal 'no' sign with a red pen in it)
make suggestions - tell you what to do

Misconceptions:
-that there is one 'right' way to get an A
-that there is one set standard that applies to all papers for any discipline, for any teacher, for any purpose, any assignment
-the writing center is a fixit shop
-that grammar is the biggest problem

Portfolio Progress

I think I've spent more consecutive hours this weekend fiddling with my online portfolio than I have with any other schoolwork so far this year. Not that that's a bad thing - I'm actually having fun doing it.

Like Bryan, I'm trying to learn some of the finer points of Photoshop. Some things haven't gone exactly as planned, and others have worked far better than I ever thought they would. I won't share what didn't go right, but I'll share one thing that did.

I'm creating a clickable image for the splash page of my portfolio. I wanted to use my own handwriting, rather than a font. I also wanted to make it look like it was written in an old journal. It turns out that black pen on white paper is easily selected with Photoshop's "magic wand" tool. So I can take my handwriting, scan it in, and make it look like it's written on parchment, or whatever, very easily. This revelation makes up for the several hours I spent trying to make edges look smooth (It never looked right, so I gave up and went in another direction).

I still don't have a splash page made, but I've made significant progress. I'm really starting to see a completed portfolio in my head. Soon enough, it'll be on the web.

Ali's technophobia

I am pretty much in the same boat as you when it comes to technology, Ali. I can use Office, Explorer, that sort of thing; but I am kind of lost with a lot of the more technical stuff. I can scan drawings, but when it comes to using photoshop to clean them up, it takes me hours to figure how to do a simple task.

As much as this whole on-line portfolio might be a giant pain in my ass now due to the shear time I have to put in to make it happen, I am very glad we've been assigned to do this-simple because I am getting more and more familiar with photoshop, composer, etc. This is especially important for the field I want to break into (familiarity with photoshop is a must for junior editors at Marvel).

Now, I have worked tech support for Amazon.com (which is really just hand-holding for computer illiterate old people), and if it makes you feel any better, I can tell you that there are people that cannot find the refresh button on their internet browser (or know what it is for that matter). So you're still way ahead of the game for that matter.

Technology and Me

I think that I have made it abundantly clear that I am not the biggest fan of working with computers. Sure, I am proficient in word, can browse the Internet, and have a working knowledge of some other programs, but I am pretty much illiterate when it comes to a lot of the more technical details of computers. At the same time, however, I know how important computers are, and I really do appreciate how much I need them. Any time I have to look something up, buy something, manage my bank account, or just surf around when I am bored. And computers have a way making life easier: word processing has revolutionized the writing process, there are programs to help you do your taxes, email has made communication almost instantaneous, and so much more.
The power that computers give us is quite amazing, but in some people's case, as in mine, knowing that there are all of these possibilities while not being able to utilize them can be quite frustrating. I must admit that computers have become much more user-friendly than in the past, but there is still a great deal of learning involved in many programs. Take for instance using Excel. I am awful at Excel and honestly have no real desire to learn how to use it because it only frustrates me. In the past, I have tried to learn how to use the program on my own but was very unsuccessful because I didn't have any one there to guide me along. So, I just gave up because learning to use one program wasn't worth all of the time and frustration. The limitations that technology puts on me, at least, is in terms of not being able to do some of the things that I know computers can do because I simply have mastered the right program.

My ePortfolio

With the way I have setup my ePortfolio, it will take some time before everything comes together-simply from the fact that I'm drawing all of the graphics, with the exception of one lone page, completely from scratch. Also, I worry that I'm putting too much effort into being clever. I' ve been thinking long and hard about what writers to use as each individual superhero's identity. So far, I have Theodore Roethke as Aquaman and Sylvia Plath as Black Canary (although, Virginia Woolf would make a great Aquaman). Essentially, what is slowing me down is that I am painstakingly trying capture physical elements of these writers in my graphics. While I'm definatley an above-average artist, I'm not nearly good enough to where doing caricatures is just automatic. A bit much guys? Feel free to comment.

Otherwise, I'm not concerned. My page isn't nearly as good-looking as Ali's (hats off to you, by the way), but I just have to keep reminding myself that it's all going to come together come Thanksgiving.

What's slowing me down.

I think my portfolio issues are similar to Ali's. I know what my metaphor and theme are, but I'm unsure as to how much I want to force that theme into my portfolio. I think the idea of a road trip will work well, so I guess it's just a matter of figuring out how much is too much when it comes to the metaphor.

I want each page of my portfolio to look basically the same. Other than the splash page, I'd like each page to have a graphic at the top or side, and the navigation link at the bottom. Going by the class requirements, I'm going to need four pages, which isn't really very many. I suppose things like the tutorial or the visual project could be spread out over more pages, but I think they'd still have to be based on one "stop" on the road trip.

I'm still trying to figure out a visual project. Right now, I have two ideas, one that would be very difficult to pull off, and the other simple, but I'm not sure how effective. Since my theme is a road trip, I'd like to do something about regional differences. I think I just came up with a very easy, very awesome idea. I'll mention it in class and maybe you guys can help me figure out a way to tie it together with everything else.

Nicely done

Hey everyone,

I usually try to stay out of your weblog as much as possible, but after reading all of your latest entries, I lost my resolve. Nicely done, all of you.

Things I have not actualized in my portfolio as of yet

While I have come a long way in regards to my portfolio, there are still some things I am trying to work out. One of the major things I am trying to decide is whether or not I want to use quotes about elephants or quotes about writing or both. Or I was also thinking that I could develop my own little sayings about writing that fit with the pictures I am using (I can explain this better in class). The elephant quotes don't always seem to fit with writing and the writing quotes don't seem to fit with the elephant pictures, so making my own sayings could bridge the gap. Other than that, my main issues deal with my website's design. I am trying out different fonts and alignments, trying to decide what looks best. Throughout the process of making my portfolio, I have found that I have had to adapt my initial design idea several times in order to create a functioning portfolio that is easily navigable and aesthetically pleasing at the same time. I think I am finally getting the two aspects to mesh!

3 points

"We must make students aware of other points of view that my be 'disturbing' to them and my 'distress' them; and we should, if we believe an individual case warrants it, overstep the boundaries and be subjective-without being judgmental-in expressing these views."

The first time I came across this passage in The St. Martin's Sourcebook, I highlighted it and wrote "YES!!!!" in big bold letters at the bottom of the page because it summed up so idealy the mindset that every teacher or tudor that was ever worth a damn. The other day, I was reading up on Torture Porn (a new subgenre of horror, not the actual porn itself), and came across an article Stephen King had written in defense of the genre. His defense was that the genre at least confronted and disturbed it audience, leaving a lasting impression long after the movie was over. And honestly, whether we are writers, teacher, tudors etc.; getting someone to think about something they have just been exposed to should always be our paramount goal. Because unless you are completely brain dead, once an image or idea is in your mind, you're going to analyze it. And honestly, nothing burrows into your brain better than something that really disturbs you.

The problem with having that mindset as an educator is that the system, especially here at Clemson, is designed to completely eradicate any independent thought or rebellion (whether it be cultural or intellectual) before it starts. As Lewis Black says in Accepted, "all college is doing is creating buyers and sellers, BUYERS and SELLERS!!!" Already there have been instances in the semester where I've caught myself trying to help a student get a better grade on his or her paper than help them become a better writer or student. I feel like the educational system in this country is so terribly efficient at rooting out independent thought that the consequence of expressing oneself freely is nearly a complete ostracization from academic society.

I have come to the conclusion that the only way to implement this tutoring philosophy is to do it how undercover cops infiltrate the mafia: do some heinous shit that you're not proud of to get street cred, but keep in mind the ultimate goal. Then when you're in, bring it tumbling down. I had a great history teacher my senior year of high school who was a radical during the 60s and 70s, and that was pretty much how he didit. In no simple terms he told me that he swallowed his pride and did what he was told to as a teacher, then once he received tenure, sought out to do as much damage as possible.

"The tutor's voice is only one of many the writer will hear, and the tutor and writer are colearners who collaborate to negotiate meanings and construct knowledge."

Today, a couple of English 103 students came into our class with papers to workshop. I thought the best course of action would to have mediated a peer-editing workshop that allowed each student to comment on each other's papers. That way, each one would get 4 different perspectives, instead of just one. Plus, I think peer editing is great for most freshman because not only do they learn to identify a specific audience for their paper, they are also confronted with multiple perspectives (some of which may be radically different than their own). Plus, when you're a wide-eyed 18 year old fresh out of the conformity factory, it's great to get some feedback and a pat on the back from someone who's in the same position you are. I guess what I'm saying is, is that I'd much rather be a facilitator, rather than some scary authoritarian grad student. I don't want students conforming to any kind of structure or ideology, even my own (deep down though, I'll admit it would be nice). Conducting peer-editing groups is definately a project I would like to spearhead during my time here at Clemson.

"Show them how to channel the confidence they possess in other areas of their life and apply it to writing problems."

Dr. Ramirez, on our first meeting, told me that tutoring is essentially coaching in that tutors don't necessarily provide knowledge, but build confidence. There's no better way to build confidence than by linking a subject that a student has a deficiency in with something he or she is highly-skilled in. Like John mentioned in a much earlier post, using what our students are passionate about as a way to improve their writing skills is an excellent idea. I can think of no better way for students to become better writers quicker than incorporating their life experiences into their writing.

Clarification of Portfolio Assignments

"Visual" project 20%

Seminar Paper (In Portfolio) 25%

Tutoring Philosophy (In Portfolio) 5%

Tutorial w/powerpoint 15%

The Portfolio (including
the reflective hypertext) 25%

Participation including weblog 10%

OK, that's the description of your assignments as posted on your syllabus. Here is some clarification:

You have two major "paper" type items (in red, above) that should be in your portfolio. One of them, the "seminar paper" has to be new. One of them, however, can be "remediated" for the portfolio. One of them must be visually oriented, and one must be textually oriented. So you have these choices:

1. You can do your seminar paper as a traditional paper, and then use something you already have to make into a visual text.

2. You can create a visually oriented seminar paper, and remediate something you've already written for your text-based paper (make it into a hypertext or some other online form)

3. You can create two completely new texts, one of which is visually-oriented and one of which is text-based.

I hope that clears things up. If you have questions about the other portfolio items, just let me know.

-T. F.

Engrish

Please to check out Engrish.com, you'll love the way foreigners mangle our language. It's a form of English all by itself!

http://www.engrish.com/

Observations on the Reading.

So far this year, I've had several students walk into the writing center and say, "I just need this paper proofread," or "My professor told me to let you take a look at this before I turn it in." For these students (and maybe for their professors), the paper in hand is the beginning and end of their problems. Once the paper is gone, the problem is gone – until next time.

In his essay, "The Idea of a Writing Center," Stephen North writes that we should not be some sort of "fix-it shop" for student papers. Rather, we should use a student's visit as a way in – the beginning of a dialogue that can help them become better writers. This idea puts more pressure on students as well as tutors, and I think it's well-deserved. We should be creating relationships with students at the Writing Center and, instead of fixing papers, making better writers.

Marilyn Cooper, though, brings up a good point in her article, "A Cultural Studies Agenda for Writing Centers." Students are, without a doubt, concerned with grades. So then, how do we turn the focus on long-term writing goals – especially when we're dealing with, say, engineering students who don't think they'll be writing professionally? Her answer seems to be to bridge the gap between students and teachers while we strive to become what she calls "organic intellectuals." Cooper's ideas seem to work at cross purposes of what we've been told are the rules of the Clemson Writing Center. I wonder if we would be considered subversive (or unemployed) if we took matters into our own hands in order to create better students. Maybe this isn't something a first-semester tutor should be considering.

Today, as I worked with a tutor, I found myself making suggestions to improve an essay. I’d say something like, “Suppose you did this….” I learned pretty quickly that I better have two or three “Supposes” or the student would think that she needed to scribble down whatever I said, as if the exact words were the secret password into the world of A+ papers. It’s hard to get students to bring up their own suggestions. They are, for the most part, freshman in ENGL 103, just wanting to do a good job on the paper. Reading “Postcolonialism and the Idea of a Writing Center” by Anis Bawarshi and Stephanie Pelkowski made me realize that it’s going to be hard for this notion to change. It’s going to require a university change, not just a change in the way we do things in the writing center.

And should it even change? I want to hold onto that belief that academic papers have an order, a universal structure, that, while it can definitely be tinkered with, can’t be tossed out completely. If, however, you decide you can toss out that universal structure, fine, but you better know the structure you’re tossing, and why you’re tossing it. I think maybe that’s at the heart of postcolonialism – knowing why the rules are in place. Once you know that, you can begin to question those rules.

Three Points about the Readings

1. In Part I of The St. Martin's Sourcebook for Writing Tutors, the authors briefly touch upon ESL students in the writing center. They note that ESL students are their own subset of tutees and expect and require different things from a given session. Quoting Muriel Harris, the authors introduce the idea that when asked a question by a tutor, a "polite [ESL] student waits for the tutor to answer the question, [and] the two parties are acting out assumptions and expectations from very different worlds" (18). I have come across this issue several times, particularly when working with Asian students. In many Asian cultures, the teacher figure is always correct and ultimately has the final say in academic situations. So, when an ESL writer comes to the center looking for help, the question-answer system commonly used for tutoring doesn't quite work. For example, if I were to ask the student if she thinks something needs to be reworded, instead of saying yes or no, she would simply ask what my opinion was or how I would reword. This scenario occurs because of the teachers' role in many foreign countries and needs to be confronted in a different way. Instead of asking questions in ESL-writing sessions, I have found that it is much more useful to point out errors or possible problems and then help the writer work through the issue.

2. In "The Idea of a Writing Center," North says "The fact is, not everyone's interest in writing, their need or desire to write or to learn to write, coincides with the fifteen or thirty weeks they spend in writing courses--especially when...those weeks are required" (43). I have come across this issue time and time again throughout my tutoring career. Students just don't care about their writing assignments because they do not understand the relevance writing has in their life or will have in their future career. I try my best to explain to them why writing is important and how often it is used in the "real world," but it's very difficult to convince such students. Most often in these situations, both the tutee and I leave the session feeling very frustrated because it was not a fulfilling session. I could not convey the importance of writing and the excitement it can bring, and the student is left feeling flustered, often having to do a great deal of work that they don't care about. I wonder if there is a way to make students more aware of writing's importance and get them excited about it.

3. In Cooper's essay, she brings up the idea that college writing is limited by several institutional constraints that the American collegiate community has overtly implemented in curricula. While I completely agree with what Cooper is saying, I was unaware of these institutional influences when I began tutoring several years ago. Without even thinking twice, I would tell students that the material they were addressing or the way they worded various issues were not acceptable in the classroom; however, I never once stopped to think what made their topics or wording inappropriate. It was not until several years later, as I began editing for some ESL students, that I began realizing how American academic writing constraints affect what writers are trying to say and how they convey their ideas. Quite honestly, it makes me very upset because countless writers are losing their voices in the one place they should be able to keep it. (I am talking outside of the realm of strictly-regulated prose like technical reports.) If such writers cannot express their ideas in their own ways, how do we know that they are conveying their message in the exact way that they want to and not simply how we think it should be conveyed?

Insights from the Readings

The book says:




Recognize that every text and every writer is a work in progress. Writers progress at different rates, but they do progress - in part because they acquire greater intellectual maturity, and in part because writing is an ongoing learning experience. Writers learn to be better writers by striving to improve. The issue is not whether they will make mistakes - because they will; the issue is whether they will learn from those mistakes or be defeated by them. Here the tutor can be instrumental. As a supportive ally and a candid critic, a tutor can encourage progress by fostering potential. (20)





Well, I can't relate to this as a tutor, because we haven't had any repeat business in the writing center. However, I have had a great experience with the process described above as a student. Last fall, I took a Advanced Creative Writing at USCS with Dr. Knight, one of my favorite professors there. She's been a great help to me and was instrumental in cheering me on to graduate school. I took the class just for fun and it was one of the most beneficial courses I've ever taken.



The creative writing class really improved my writing. In fact, it set me on the course to where I am today. We wrote short stories, passed out copies to the class, then read the story in class and everyone responded to the stories and we discussed them in class. We also had to turn in a written response to each story.



It was great for me because people pointed out errors I hadn't even noticed. I have a tendency to state the same thing repeatedly in my stories (and undoubtedly in every other area of my life) without noticing it. People also pointed out errors in continuity, suggested ideas for my stories, questioned my plot holes, and told me what they liked.



Working with a live audience in this way improved my writing at warp speed. I went into that class completely unbelieving in my ability to write short fiction, and came out believing that with more practice I could be good at it. It was like a light bulb went off in my head.



John Trimbur says:

One of the central tasks that [cultural studies] sets for radical intellectuals is to point out that the relatively autonomous areas of public and private life where human agency can mediate between the material conditions of the dominant order and the lived experience and aspirations of the popular masses. (59)

Some scholars see writing tutors as "organic intellectuals" and "radical intellectuals." Radical intellectual is insulting and organic intellectual sounds goofy. But I do understand what organic intellectual means. The academic world moves in cycles. First, a group of ambitious rapscallions overturn the established order. Then they become the established order. After that, a new band of scamps has arisen to overthrow the establishment. Germans say that life punishes revolutionaries by making them dress up in all their medals and attend awards ceremonies when they're old.

I've just been noticing the transition in my life right now, as I enter into graduate school after having been out of school for a while. It's weird. Not bad or anything, just odd.

Finally, Postcolonialism and the Idea of a Writing Center (79) discusses working with multi-cultural students (this could mean more than ESL students). By teaching them how to write in the way that is accepted by the university, aren't we sort of stifling them? Or, is it our job to hold up a standard and see that everyone else strives to follow it? And if so, what purpose does this serve? I think that holding up a certain standard no matter what is putting the cart before the horse. People change language to suit themselves and is there anything that can be done to stop this?

Personally, I think that the type As and type Bs of the world serve as natural checks on the other's power, and we work together in symbiosis to keep the language progressing, but at a slow enough pace.