PeerCentered

Where It All Began While becoming a Consultant at the UW-Stevens Point Writing Lab, I first had to pass the practicum class, Education 301. The ideas discussed and the theories learned in this class are beyond practical for day-to-day involvement with my peers. Allow me to share with you some of my favorite ideas about being a Writing Lab Consultant and what I have learned throughout my practicum experience. I hope after reading this you will find the same motivation I have when working in our Writing Lab. How to Play Psychological Ping Pong Having many memories from class, one of the most intriguing class discussions was prompted after reading the article “Peer Tutoring and the Conversation of Mankind” by Kenneth Bruffee. Bruffee invites his readers to discuss the benefits of peer-to-peer engagement. After reflecting on the things I have learned throughout my time at the Writing Lab, I have come to understand Bruffee’s view firsthand.  At the Writing Lab, you are able to express your id…

Working with ELLs can be challenging and exciting due to the differences in culture, language, and background. Another aspect that comes into play when working with ELLs is the differences in our ways of thinking. I’m not necessarily referring to cultural differences or indirect versus direct communication; I mean things such as differences is cognitive direction and phrases that are not translatable but are extremely functional to each respective language. This is where being able to describe the way we think of phrasings, sentence structure, the functionality of grammar, and word choice come into play. I had a student from South Korea come in one day to work on his Economics paper. We came across mistakes that could be considered “common” amongst ELLs such as article usage and verb tenses, but there was a sentence where he had a phrase along the lines of “make in grander scale” rather than “to put on a grander scale.” For a moment, I hesitated and contemplated how to explain why thi…