Class Draft Exchange Folder is here.
Week of August 26
Day One: What is Academic Writing? What isn't? Some Goals for the class. Notes here.
Day Two: Do not write commentary but instead, Read "What if Drugs Were Legal?" (make notes about the writer's priorities for revision to bring to class, but there is no need for formal commentary yet). With your writing partners, collaborate on a Google Document in our draft exchange to answer this prompt:
"You get 'Nancy's' draft in the Writing Center. You don't have time to write commentary, but clearly she needs a sense of priorities. What are 3 things (no more than three) for her to address when she revises this? And what is a positive aspect of her draft that your group could agree merits cautiously directed praise?"
NOTE WELL: You'll learn from me that the words and phrases such as "excellent," "good job," "great," "perfect," "strong thesis," "clear understanding of the material," and similar are forbidden, because only professors can make such judgments. Instead, as a reader, react personally. What did you like, what did she teach you, and WHY?
You can find LeMoult's original op-ed here. My notes/slideshow are here.
Week of September 2
Day One: Glaser, Ch. 3. "Voices You Want to Listen To." Just read it; no need to do any of his exercises. My notes/slideshow are here.
Day Two: Bring in a short piece of your writing that you are willing to share; upload it to our Draft Exchange under your name. The piece should reflect your own sense of your stylistic habits as a writer. We will do some work with them together with our writing partners.
Week of September 9
Day One: We begin with two questions. Then the workshop with your own writing continues. Same handout from last class.
Draft of short graded response due by class time Thursday. Upload it to the draft exchange. Topic:
In no fewer than 500 and no more than 1000 words, share how you have you encountered at UR (perhaps earlier) voices that put you off, as Glaser describes. Have you felt forced into those voices? If possible, reflect on how academic writing has worked against your own development as the sort of writer you'd like to be. No professorial names, please, but you are invited to make this personal and "I" is most welcome.
Audience: me and your classmates (we'll share in class and do some checks for focus and evidence). Here are our guidelines for commentary.
Day Two: Watch Mark Nicholas' video "Why is Academic Writing So Boring?" and read "Voices That Put You Off." from Glaser, J. Ch. 4, Understanding Style. Don't do the exercises (as with the earlier chapter) but do glance at them, because in class we will apply some principles to your partners' writing. Guidelines for helping your partners will be linked here.
Revision of graded response due by 4pm Sunday. I'll begin grading on Sunday evening.
Week of September 16
Day One: Read this excerpt from Hjortshoj, K. The Transition to College Writing. Also watch the video from Harvard's study of first-year writers, "Shaped by Writing." Group discussion to return to our staring point:
Did you enroll at UR as an Eduardo or a Marie?
What is academic writing? Has your definition changed since 383 began? If so, how?
What do you see in the video about Harvard that applies here, too?
What was the most important lesson you learned between high school & college? Key words for methods & goals of academic writing: Analysis, Flexibility, Conversation, Learning
We'll then start work with this FYS paper by "John Doe" briefly (and return to it in detail soon).
Day Two: North, S. "The Idea of a Writing Center" (via JSTOR--if you are off campus, you must connect via VPN to see this piece) and Essid, J. "Extending An Alternative: Writing Centers & Curricular Change" (download from WLN archives here). We will discuss, as a group, perceptions of our Center after we look at a few changes since North's day.
"Thinky-Thought" question: how does the perception of the Center at UR fit (or not) that of North's ideal Center? Or mine? What can we do about that?
Week of September 23
Day One: First off: reflections of what writing centers might look like in 2064. Then:
Bartholomae, D. "The Study of Error" (at our e-reserve), my The Art of Good Commentary, and John Doe's essay for a workshop, using several steps. You will need to have read Bartholomae carefully to do well on this, as it will be graded. And I cannot resist the parting shot at style, from The Office.
Day Two: Workshop for "John Doe" continues. Final work on John's Commentary due Sunday Midnight. I'll get you feedback before class Tuesday. Country-Style DOUGHNUTS
Week of September 30 Conferencing Techniques
Sign up for Apprenticeships at the Center (link here to sign-up sheet)
Day One: Sherwood, S. "Apprenticed to Failure" (at our e-reserve) & Santa, T. “Listening in/to the Writing Center: Backchannel and Gaze” (look for pages 2-9). Workshop on what to do when things go well (or don't) with an eye toward a short midterm essay.
Day Two: Parsons, K. “Just Say 'No': Setting Emotional Boundaries in the Writing Center is a Practice in Self-Care” (look for pages 26-29). and Blackmon, E. "I Just Need a Green Sheet: Generating Motivation for Required Visits" (scroll down to page 11 in the WLN Archive issue). Begin notes about techniques and fears for the midterm conferencing project & essay.
Week of October 7 Conferencing Techniques
Day One: Shaparenko, B. "Focus on Focus: How to Facilitate Discussion in a Peer Group" (at our e-reserve). Part I of Midterm Project. Have your essay for your partner uploaded to the Draft Exchange by class.
Day Two: Workshop with Grammarly, using your partner's Midterm essay. Be sure you have a Grammarly account, unless you already have the client installed on your tablet or laptop. Be ready to eat more doughnuts from Country Style! Tasks today here. Screenshot of our feelings about Grammarly are here.
Week of October 14 AI and The Writing Center
Day One: Fall Break
Day Two: Workshop with AI in class. Access to SpiderAI here and Tasks today here. If this fails us, we'll continue with Claude Sonnet from Antropic.
Week of October 21
Draft of Part III of the Midterm Project: due Thursday midnight.
Day One: Begin drafting the reflective essay in class, using some of Shaparenko's "Focus on Focus" techniques as well as ideas here from Thompson, J. “Beyond Fixing Today’s Paper: Promoting Metacognition and Writing Development in the Tutorial through Self-Questioning (look for pages 1-6). Tasks here.
Day Two: Final workshop on midterm essay. Tasks here. By now, your partner should have a developed draft for you to look over. Aim for that during class period. You won't be able to revise past Midnight (I'll roll any late revisions back to the version at 11:59 pm).
Week of October 28
Day One: Considering cultural differences in writing. Harris, M, & Silva, T. "Tutoring ESL students: Issues and Options" (at our e-reserve) & Enders, D. "The Idea Check: Changing ESL Students' Use of the Writing Center." https://wac.colostate.edu/docs/wln/v37/37.9-10.pdf (look for pages 6-9). Begin considering how to comment on Rita Chen's paper.
Notes for class here.
Day Two: Workshop writing commentary for Rita Chen.
Mosher, D., Granroth, D., Hicks, T. "Creating a Common Ground with ESL Writers" https://wac.colostate.edu/docs/wln/v24/24.7.pdf (starts on page 1) & Moujtahid, B. "Influence of Cultural and Linguistic Backgrounds on the writing of Arabic and Japanese Students of English." Writing Lab Newsletter 21.3 (Nov. 1996): https://wac.colostate.edu/docs/wln/v21/21-3.pdf (look for pages 1-5).
Notes for class here. Halloween treats provided.
Week of November 4
Day One: Workshop writing commentary for Rita Chen. Just for fun, or if you plan to travel abroad, you might wish to read an entry or two from this Australian cultural atlas. It's quite extensive but a non-academic site.
Sullivan, P, Zhang, Y, and Zheng, F. "College Writing in China and America: A Modest and Humble Conversation, with Writing Samples." https://www.jstor.org/stable/43490754 (dial in via VPN if you are off campus to see this piece).
Notes for class here.
Day Two: Devet, B. "When Classmates Know You're a Writing Center Consultant" (find here). and reread Parsons, K. “Just Say 'No': Setting Emotional Boundaries in the Writing Center is a Practice in Self-Care” (look for pages 26-29). In-class workshop on setting boundaries.
Commentary for Rita due by Midnight Thursday.
Week of November 11
Day One: Moore, A. “’But I’m Already Done:’ Early Closure and the Student Writer.” https://wac.colostate.edu/docs/wln/v38/38.7-8.pdf (look for pages 14-15) & Janney, A. “Flexing Nonverbal Muscles: The Role of Body Language in the Writing Center.” https://wac.colostate.edu/docs/wln/v36/36.1-2.pdf (look for pages 14-15).
Roleplay in class with one group member portraying a writer with a certain "attitude" or prior experience with the Center or a Consultant. No need to write commentary for your partner but each groups should complete a short evaluation form . More doughnuts from Country Style!
Day Two:
Schneider, C & Essid, J. "Consulting and Neurodiverity" (video)
Murphy, S. “Dyslexia in the Writing Center: Multimodal Strategies.” The Peer Review, WordPress, 10 Sept. 2020, https://thepeerreview-iwca.org/issues/issue-4-0/dyslexia-in-the-writing-center-multimodal-strategies/
Sexton, A. “Assisting All Students in the Writing Center.” Purdue University Global Resource Center, Purdue Global Academic Success - Writing Resource Center and Blog, 16 Dec. 2014, https://purdueglobalwriting.center/2014/12/17/assisting-all-students-in-the-writing-center/
In class workshop on initial strategies for Inclusive Design.
Week of November 18
Day One: Continued work with Neurodiversity. Bellitter, A. "How to Tackle an Essay (An ADHD-Friendly Guide): 6 Steps and Tips." We'll work with an essay that a writer brings in, self-disclosing to you that she has an accommodation for ADHD.
Day Two: Discussion of final project. Rafoth, B. et. al. “Sex in the center: Gender differences in tutorial interactions” Writing Lab Newsletter, vol. 24, no.3, Nov. 1999, pp. 1-5, and Johnson, M. “Different Words, Different Worlds.” Writing Lab Newsletter, vol. 24, no.5, Jan. 2000, pp.14-16.
We will draft a document together about making the Writing Center a more inclusive space.
Week of November 25
Day One: Topic idea and possible title for your essay due to me by e-mail: What area do you wish to explore for the final? Why do you think it might interest a broader audience? (-5 on the final project grade if I don't get that by class time).
Day Two: Thanksgiving! No doughnuts.
Week of December 2
Day One: Lee, K. "Black in the Writing Center" (at our e-reserve) and Davila, B. “Rewriting Race in the Writing Center.”https://wac.colostate.edu/docs/wln/v31/31.1.pdf (article begins on first page). See this short video about how tutoring works at a majority-black institution, Baltimore City College.
We will continue our document about making the Writing Center a more inclusive space.
Day Two: In class we'll watch "Across the Drafts," a video about Feedback at Harvard. We'll work on some notes to sum up how this video applies/does not to what we've learned this semester. We will then apply the same lessons to setting priorities for a paper on a sensitive topic.
Final Notes:
Finish your observations at the Center Friday December 6.
Want feedback on the Final Essay? I will look at drafts if received before Midnight Sunday, December 8. I would like you to use this worksheet with your own essay as well (as time permits) with a peer's
Final Reflective Essay will be due Midnight, Friday December 13. E-mail me a Word Doc or send me a Google-Doc link. No PDFs or Pages documents, please.