Response to readings 1/10

Hello all,

I'm sure I missed an excellent conversation on Thursday, so I wanted to respond in some way to the issues you all discussed. It's intersting that North's essays can be so monumental in writing center work, and at the same time, still remain so relevant .

One interesting connection I see between Ryan and North is the "Professionalism toward Teachers" section of Chapter 1. North's first essay (which he quotes in his second) touches on the interesting relationship between tutor and teacher. He suggests that the tutor (or consultant--tutor is problematic) should "support the teacher's position completely" and should view the teacher as part of the rhetorical context. The Ryan text adopts a similiar stance. I couldn't help but think back to last semester as I was reading all of this. One of my students did exactly what Ryan said she might: "Sometimes a student who is unhappy about a grade will actively seek support from a tutor for his or her dissatisfaction" (4). My students and I visited the MSU Writing Center often last semester and spent a lot of time getting help from the wonderful DWC's in composing our iMovie projects. So, after one of my students received her grade, which she was very unhappy with, she visited one of the Writing Center staff members that had helped her with the project. No doubt, she wanted him to back her up and tell her that her project should have received a higher grade. I'm not sure what they talked about, but I know that he told her to come see me and to discuss her concerns with me--her teacher. This was probably an awkward situation for the writing consultant, and I feel badly that he got mixed up in it. However, this makes me think about how important it is for the WC to have a relationship with the writing teachers in the institution, and I wonder how other schools handle these types of situations. It makes sense to me, especially after reading North's second article, that writing centers should be more centrally located in writing programs. He writes "I want a situation in which we are not required to sustain some delicate but carefully distanced relationship between classroom teachers and the writing center" (88). This has me thinking about the MSU WC and tier-one writing. There seems to be a closer relationship there than in many institutions.

Did anyone else recognize the overlap between these texts? It's interesting that North's first article was published in 1984 (24 years ago!) and we can still hear a similiar argument in Ryan's 2001 text. What are writing centers doing to make sure that writing programs housed in their institution hear these arguments? Hmmm...

Carrie

Welcome

Welcome to Writing and Writing Centers. I look forward to working with all of you in English 391 this semester and in the writing center at MSU. Please make sure you bookmark this spot because you will be visiting it on a regular basis as we discuss class readings, post responses, ask questions, reflect on writing center sessions, and get to know each other as readers, writers, and colleagues. Enjoy.
Trixie