PeerCentered

So it is officially one week after the flood that tried to shut down the Salt Lake Community College Student Writing Center. They are are doing a massive clean-up asbestos abatement on our floor, we're back down in our building's lobby. We're not feeling so homeless this time, as we have a phone, a computer, and more students than we have chairs for. Our College's President and Academic Vice President have walked by regularly and have been impressed. Here's what the hall near the SLCC Student Writing Center looks like some moments ago: Sad. Well, as they say, whatever doesn't kill us....

Open mic was a great success! We all had fun, laughed, felt, were moved, and laughed even more. I will have to say that the entire trip was worth Paula using the phrase "Belching Divas" in reference to ordering cucumber seeds during the winter. Sorry you all missed it. zwk Update. Here is a photo of me reciting poetry. Here is the link to the SI Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/groups/wcsi2008/pool/

To all the folks that missed the webcast: Boy did you miss out. I was great. But that was not all that happened on day 3, just the most public. I had planned to write every night, but last night a group of us returned late--read 2345 local time--from a fantastic rendition of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." As Brad asked, "What made it fantastic?" Well, the actors did not really hurt the situation, nor did the lighting, music, setting, and the script seemed to be useful. To be honest, the actors performed brilliantly. The adaptation made parts of the setting more modern--such as dress and props--but the lines were more or less original. And the dancing at the end was really great, also. The more academic--if anything can be more academic than Shakespeare--activities of day 3 included an opening session discussing how to prepare consultants for working with multilingual writers. As you can tell, multilingual writers are something of a theme for the SI, but for good r...

Great flood of 2008 , originally uploaded by Student Writing Center . Because of a problem with a new roof, the Student Writing Center was forced out of its traditional home by pouring water. We found a new space, however, in the foyer of our building.

It looks like peercentered.org is finally playing nice. Enjoy the new home!

Blogger.com is being very uncooperative on the redirect to peercentered.org. I'll keep you posted.

Hello all. Another packed day here at the Pyle Center. The weather is holding, the food is good, the conversation stimulating: A good day. But what a day. It started with an in-depth cursory look at diversity in the writing center. Follow me on this one. It was in-depth because we discussed and questioned many oft-overlooked topics within diversity, but cursory because we could not run all the conversations out to their full length or strength. I doubt any conversation about diversity within any institution can ever be really run out, but we did not even get fully warmed up. One point that really stood out to me about the discussion was the varied--and often unaddressed--expectations. It seems that so many topics and points within diversity are hung up on unreconciled--or inadequately articulated--expectations, which are not being met. Since diversity means different thing in different situations--rhetorical or otherwise--and since each mean carries specific, if unexamined and una...

The server on which PeerCentered was hosted was caught in a flood. I have, therefore, moved PeerCentered to its own domain, www.peercentered.org. Hopefully all will go well.

To follow on Clint's message about the webcast, I would like to make a few comments about the SI and who it is progressing. To begin; we are busy and a great deal of information is being shared and discussed. There is no real way to contain it all, but the discussions and ideas that have spawned are intriguing and inspiring. To we began the discussion by looking at the similarities and differences between the varied centers represented. Four basic types of centers were detailed: high school, community college, American universities, and international universities. Each has specific needs and goals, but they all are focused on writing and writers. From there we discussed the use of theory and how it to use 'theory' as a verb, not just a noun. This took some work to wrap my head around, but by the end of the session, my mind--and it would appear the minds of those around me--were spinning with new ideas and possibilities. One phrase that I hear over and over hear: "I...

The IWCA Summer Institute (an annual gathering of writing center professionals from around the world which focuses on writing centers and writing center development) will conduct a live webcast this year: How Did We Get Here? Finding and Mapping Writing Center Literature Presenter(s): Neal Lerner, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Elisabeth Piedmont-Marton, Southwestern University Status: Not Started During this interactive webcast session, originating from the 2008 IWCA Writing Center Summer Institute, we'll survey the field of writing center literature, identifying and discussing key texts and ideas that helped define and continue to shape the field. We'll do this, in part, with game playing to examine participants' knowledge of writing center literature. Next, we'll move beyond surveys and games to take a critical look at writing center literature and consider such questions as, have some of our founding texts become codifying and limiting, a...

I'd like to introduce Kayla into our peer-centered discussion. She's posting under my identity because she will be here only fleetingly. We would love to hear any of your comments! Here she is: Hi! My name is Kayla Sinclair. I am a sophomore at Meridian High School in Idaho and I am part of the TRiO Upward Bound program. TRiO is a program helping first-generation college students with low income get into college and get the job they want. One thing TRiO does is a five-week summer program where the students stay on Boise State University campus for five weeks. While we're here, we take two classes and do a lot of activities, including service-learning projects. Some students are doing internships instead of their second class. My internship is at the BSU Writing Center. Since I've been working at the center, I've been thinking that it would be really nice, not to mention really useful, to have a writing center at Meridian High. I am working on an artic...

Last week I tagged along with our Writing Center director to Freshman Orientation, in order to 'represent' the Writing Center. After struggling to assemble a rather complicated poster contraption behind our folding table and admiring (coveting) the library table's schmancy set-up with lap-tops, a table cloth, and candy, we settled in ready to arm incoming students with Writing Center bookmarks and pencils. The students rushed the room in big clumps. I attempted to give a bookmark to anyone that would make eye contact with me. A few times I almost forgot what I was doing and said "Vote for Change"...but it was not election flyers I was handing out, but a valuable summary of what the writing center is: information that defines my academic passion, my pedagogy, and my day-to-day work. Most students opened their complimentary trick-or-treating bags just long enough for me to drop a pencil in and moved on to the Student Health Insurance table, which was giving out c...

Brazen excuse time: Because of the hectic-- hectic, I tell you! --spring semester, my bloggy presence was rather lackluster, if not bordering on the non-existent. But one of the topics that I wanted to blog about and didn't get to because of my incredible lack of mad organizational skillz was the Rocky Mountain Peer Tutoring Conference that took place in Boise, Idaho. (If you like, you can easily jog your memory of this conference by scrolling down and re-reading the posts that were written about this event.) I thought the conference was a huge success, despite my presence. That, my friends, is a clear marker of success. One of the pleasures for me (besides grazing at the stellar dessert table) was getting to meet other consultants and tutors from other areas of the country. Whoever came up with the "Game Night" idea is brilliant (no, it wasn't me), as it allowed the local BSU consultants to easily connect and socialize with those that had made the trip from out-...

Ah, summer readin'... reading so relaxed you have to drop the "g." I just finished reading a great Tutor's Column in the March 2008 issue of The Writing Lab Newsletter . The article, written by Emily Plummer, discusses the importance of making "small talk" in a tutoring session. She brings up some insightful points that illustrate the positive benefits of small talk, not the least of which is using small talk to make a writer feel more comfortable, as well as establishing a rapport with the writer. When I first started doing consultations, I didn't engage in much small talk. Engaging in the rhythms of small talk has never been easy for me. I'm too self-conscious. My feeble attempts (How bout this weather, huh?) sound forced because they are forced. Being a newbie, I was hyper-aware of everything I was doing in a consultation--to my own detriment. After a few months of doing consultations, however, I found myself becoming more comfortable with ...

Well, my series of posts on difference in the writing center kind of fizzled out. I have to apologize for that. After the ECWCA conference, things just got backed-up for me and unfortunately this blog hit the back burner. I really enjoyed the conversation from the posts I did get up (and from this blog in general). I never did write posts on gender, age, and sexual orientation, although I had planned to. I'll be working reduced hours in the WC over the summer. Due to typically slow summers, we're only open a part of the time, and with less tutors. So just a quick poll today - is your WC open over the summer? If so, are hours reduced? And how about actual use? Slower, busier, or about the same?

I just finished reading LeAnn Nash's article, "ESL in a Different Light: Can You Hear Me Now?," in WLN 32.9. I enjoyed the article and think if offers some useful points and insights, but I feel that she did not go quite far enough on one point: ASL may directly translate to Standard American English, but the words do not always mean the same things. By this I mean that an ASL sentence can be translated directly to a SAE sentence, but that the exact words do not have the same meanings. For example, I worked with a Deaf student a few months ago. We did not have an interpretor for the first meeting, so we worked on the computer, each typing questions and answers. I thought the session went well. However, for the next appointment we did have an interpretor and when I started to work with through the interpretor, the paper took a different direction. The interpretor understood that some words mean different things in ASL, but the words are written and use exactly like SAE wor...

Today marks the last day for the Boise State Writing Center for the Spring 2008 semester. It has been a great semester, and we have worked with some fantastic writers and consultants. This also means this is my last day as the graduate assistant. I hope you all have a great summer! zwk

Well, it's almost the end of this semester, and I can say, with confidence, "I am so glad!" What a ride this one's been: four million credits, a zillion papers, two boys with endless baseball games and practices, a house that refuses to clean itself, and one very loud kitten, too. Okay, most of my excitement with the coming end stems from personal, non-writing center stuff, but the writing center is part of my personal stuff, too. I'm glad the semester's almost over, but I am sad that my time as a consultant is almost over, too... I don't know about all of you, but towards the end of the last two semesters, I've found myself feeling a bit sad. This semester's been the worst, so far. I don't feel sad about getting those four million credits out of the way, or not writing another Sociology response--good riddens to all that--yet, I do feel sad about leaving the center, yet again. When inside the center, among nice people and interesting consulta...

I spend a great deal of time wandering around in the weeds of topics and discussions: I see the world in a different light. While that can be frustrating to those around me, I tend to find some great vantage points. On that note, I will take you all on a journey through the maze that is my mind and into the weeds on the edge of authority within the writing center. Be forewarned, this is a ramble; there will be no justification and there is no authority beyond "I said so." This idea has bothered for most of my time in the WC. While I could ignore it the majority of the time, the more I work with writers and read WC theory and pedagogy, the more I am forced to look at authority in the WC. And I am convinced of one point: Consultants and tutors have authority. They may be titled 'peer tutors' or 'collaborative assistants' or any other title, but the fact is that we have authority and power. And I think this needs to be addressed because our actions are more ...

Yesterday, I was offered a $10 tip after a 30 minute consultation. "Is this okay?" she asked. "I really don't know," I said, "so I must decline." Should I have taken it, purchased a round of drinks for my friends later at The Broadway? Should I have toasted, with zeal, the Korean exchange student? I really have no basis for ethical standards in this regard; and, suddenly, I'm standing at the precipice of an infinite existential dilemma, having declined the money. Your thoughts?

We are quickly approaching the end of the semester here at Boise State and tension is in the air. Students come into the Center with their stress levels high as they are scrambling to complete their final assignments, and look us to us for help - we are after all supposed to be an oasis, right? Yet, I am wondering if our stress levels as students, impact our experiences with the students we tutor. Having recently finished my culminating activity for graduation this May, I am actually feeling quite relieved and relaxed. I know that when I was in the midst of working on my Portfolio, I was very stressed out and I am sure that parts of that came across in my consultations, no matter how hard I tried to keep them at bay. I am curious if other tutors notice a difference in their consultation sessions during different points in the semester. I know we are supposed to leave our baggage at the door when we walk into the Center but I wonder how realistic that is. How can we ever let go o...

Hi, all! This past weekend was the 24th Annual Northeast Writing Centers Association Conference , this year hosted at the University of Vermont, in Burlington, Vermont - one of the most beautiful (and biggest!) campus I've ever seen. It was quite a conference, and it made me realize just how much I missed by not going last year. We all had such a great time. I was fortunate enough to be one of the presenters this year, and, along with fellow tutors and graduate students Tamara Lebron and Zahra Patterson, led a well-received panel presentation on our experiences having (audio) taped a tutoring session, then transcribing that session and analyzing it. Our work was prompted by an assignment given by our professor and Writing Center Director (and overall fearless leader), Dr. Patricia Stephens, who attended our NEWCA session with us and was able to offer insight into her reasoning behind having given this assignment as a means for tutors to reflect upon their tutoring strategies and te...

Hello all! I want to extend my heart-felt thanks to all of you that attended RMPTC this year. I have some brief stats to give you an idea of how it went from a quantitative view: 105 consultants/tutors and administrators attended 32 presentations occurred--not including the keynote by Neal Lerner 8 states were represented (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Utah, and Washington) 17 schools were represented (BSU, BYU, Cochise College, ISU, Mesa State College, MIT, Naropra University, North Idaho College, NNU, Salt Lake Community Collge, USU, U of I, U of U, University of Louisville, WSU, Weber State University, and Westminster College) 100% of the attendees and presenters left smiling Thanks again zwk

I am sitting in the Boise State session about their use of PeerCentered. It is just starting up with Alisha Kamph, Samantha Sturman, Sara Welch, and Sarah McGuire. This is, therefore, meta-meta-meta-blogging. Update 10:30--The folks have been discussing the benefits and drawbacks of blogging with the following questions: The Nature of the Discussion 1. Are our posts on PeerCentered discussion that could not have been carried on inside the classroom or the center? 2. What post(s) are most useful? Peers and Community 1. How important is the emphasis on peers and the open membership of PeerCentered? 2. Do we build a sense of community or is it exclusive? 3. Are there privacy issues to blogging publicly? Tutor Training and Coursework 1. Does the blog serve as a tool for tutor training/development? 2. Is it limited to an Oasis that complements classroom training and writing center experience or could it replace teacher-student interaction? The Technical Terrain 1. How do we feel about th...

Right now, I'm in Columbus, OH, and using my director's laptop to post this. We're getting ready to begin day two of the ECWCA conference. A few more sessions, lunch, the final plenary, and back home we go. Last night we got to see keynote speaker Andrea Lunsford. She spoke about her own writing center, it's history, and especially about where its recent focus has been. At Stanford's WC, they've taken a keen interest in the performative aspects of writing. The spoken word collective uses the WC facilities, and so does another poetry group. They hold a number of reading per year in the WC, sometimes tying into campus events like Admissions Week or Parents Week. They also host a series which allows undergrads to give presentations of their academic work throughout the year. Lunsford presented much of this information through a 15 minute video she played, giving us a sort of virtual tour of her WC. The sessions I attended yesterday were great - there was s...

Behind me there's a consultation that's become a heated debate. I'm pretty sure that they're not even having the same conversation. Have you ever . . . had a consultee get defensive? Perhaps he takes offense to the accusation that his sentence is a fragment. But it's not an accusation--it's a fact. However, before you can explain why it's a fact, he/she sits back and his eyes glaze over and he puts his fingers in his ears and begins to sing, "Of course I know how to write a complete sentence, I'm not listening, I can't even hear you, la, la, la." Okay, well, minus the song. So what do you do? -I compare it to a good example in the paper to put the emphasis back on something they are doing "right". -Consult a source (handbook, another consultant, the assignment), in case it has a clearer explanation or just because maybe he/she would rather listen to someone else. -OR I talk to the hard stare until I reach a point where I gloss ove...

There is a discussion on a writing center listserv about not reading the writer's paper in the session but using Socratic method to work through the paper. In Wendy Bishops book, "Acts of Revision," she suggests a similar idea to revising that she calls "memory drafts" (13-27). In some sessions, I have found it useful to ignore the actual paper the writer brought in and discuss global ideas sans the confines of an actual paper. All that being said, I wonder if any of you have experienced/tried this?

A new edition of Praxis: A Writing Center Journal has been posted. Articles for this edition range from tutoring theory and practice, to practical methods.

When I first signed on to Peer Centered, I worried if my contributions here would be meaningful. I worried I would run out of things to write about, about topics of interest to WC people. Then I had the idea of posting on a theme. I figured I would connect my posts here to the research I enjoy - working with difference. So I've set a goal to post once a week with each post relating to one element of Beverly Tatum's 'Seven Categories of 'Otherness'" - 1) race or ethnicity, 2) gender, 3) religion, 4) sexual orientation, 5) socioeconomic status, 6) age, and 7) physical or mental ability. So far, we've covered religion, race, and economic class, and I've been very motivated and excited by the discussion taking place around each issue. What I want to investigate is how both directors and tutors respond to these categories of Otherness. Does our training take them into account, and after such training, do we feel confident in our abilities? What about admini...

The ability to write doesn’t come naturally—or supernaturally—to anyone. Despite the myths, one’s ability to write well isn’t created in luck. I doubt that it's a trait acquired through inheritance of the "writing gene," either. I'm not a geneticist, but I'm pretty sure that the "writing gene" is fictional. If this gene does exist, then I didn't inherit it, and I've never met anyone that has. Of course, writing's more difficult for some than it is for others—yet, I believe that putting one’s thoughts onto paper isn’t an easy process for anyone. I'm convinced that this "writing gene" is pure myth, a myth that's very popular and very dangerous. I can’t count the number of times that I’ve a student come into a session saying something similar to, "I’m a _________major…so, writing just doesn’t come natural for me." Statements like this one bother me a lot, and always make me wonder—does writing really come naturally fo...