PeerCentered

I've recently become interested in two areas that don't seem to garner much discussion amongst people writing about the writing center: the read-aloud portion of tutoring sessions and tutoring creative writers. Granted, these two topics don't seem to overlap (though I promise they do have an overlap in my odd brain, but since it isn't completely relevant to my point here I won't bore you with it), except in their shared absence of discussion, but I think both merit looking into a bit more, especially reading aloud. In my experience, and from what little I've found to read, it seems like most of us read aloud for a combination of fairly standard reasons: It's the least awkward way to find out what a client has written (having a client just sitting there silently while someone read through, and took notes on, their paper would probably be nerve-wracking and awkward). It seems to help clients notice things they wouldn't otherwise pick up in their writing (m...

Well, a new semester has begun, and I've bought all my books, but the only thing I am excited, at all, about is returning to the Center. I wasn't planning to return this semester--hence my last "Goodbye" post, but I am so glad I changed my mind. I changed my mind for various reasons--the student writers are great, the other consultants are super, the selection of candy is always divine--but, perhaps the number one reason I decided to return is that I just plain missed it, all of it. It's odd, the effect consulting can have on an individual. (When I say individual, I really mean me.) Seeing new faces around the center reminds me of how much change occurs within the walls of the center, within the peoples of the Center. There, change occurs on various levels. Sometimes, change occurs almost invisibly within a session--like that "ah ha!" realization that happens silently, internally within a writer. Sometimes, it's a little more external and noticeable...

I'm in my first semester as a grad student, tutoring at both an on-campus Writing Center and a more general learning center at Long Island University in New York. One of the classes in which I am enrolled is Individual and Small Group Writing Instruction, in which we read various texts pertaining to tutoring, discuss different pedagogies and accepted practices, and discuss tutoring. One of the big projects for the semester has been to record a tutoring session (which I finally managed to do this past Thursday after trying for nearly a month!), transcribing the session (my project for yesterday), and then to write a reflective piece about it - all in the name of becoming a better tutor, of course. I was very lucky insofar that I spent three years as a writing center tutor as an undergrad; my then-director was a bit advocate of self-reflection, and I found it easy to implement. However, this is my first in-depth self-reflective analytical study. Admittedly, at this point, I have on...

I've just had a moment to glance over the new issue of Praxis . It looks good. More later.