Field Observations #1

When I first walked into the Writing Center to do my first job shadowing I was a little nervous and all I had to do was watch.

The first thing we did was introduce ourselves and try and make the client feel comfortable. We then made copies of the work and had the client read the paper aloud find areas that could be more clear.

My consultant used leading questions to have the client search out the answers and when needed talk a little bit of a direct approach when needed.

We also had to a little bit of brainstorming on the thesis to make it correlate with the paper, so that the overall flow was smoother.

My overall experience was that the Writing Center is a place where students can come and get constructive help. The student left happy and I felt better because I now knew better how a session at the Writing Center was conducted.

Writing Center Observations

After shadowing a writing consulting today, I was very impressed seeing the tutoring methods we have discussed in class put into action and the success of this process. The student who came to the writing center was struggling with her essay. The consultant asked many direct questions throughout the session to help the student learn about her writing. The consultant also took a direct tutoring approach (when necessary) by defining certain aspects such as focus, arrangement, and thesis to the student (who is an international student from Turkey).

To start off the session the consultant asked her if the student understood the assignment, what the students main points were, and if the student had any questions. The student was struggling most with her arrangement. To help the student re-arrange her paper, the consultant continuously asked her questions: What is your main focus of this paragraph? Do you think there is anything else you could add to support this idea? The consultant also drew out a small diagram of how the paper was being arranged based on the student's contributions.

The consultant was very friendly and always commented on her ideas positively. I think this is very important. She gave a very friendly impression to the student and always told her "I like that idea" and "Do you feel good with this?". She constantly encouraged the student which I thought was very important. The student also seemed very pleased with her paper when she left.

Collaboritive Learning in the WC

One of things that I disagreed with Lunsford was that collaborative learning challenges the idea that knowledge is individually derived. The American culture is based on an individualistic society, opposed to Asian cultures who place more importance on a collective society. I think it is important to identify this as a root for our individual learning style. Throughout my public education I was given more individual assignment and tasks to complete then group work or more collaborative projects.

But if knowledge is socially constructed, wouldn't a student still be able to learn collaboratively? I think you may still discovery things on your own and learn from others as you share and collaborate with them. There may be less pressure and more comfort learning from your peers. As you discuss and work on things together knew points of view may arise from what you share with one another. To me a collaborative learning style would benefit all involved and include individual learning.

At Michigan State I have had very good experiences with group work that may be considered collaborative. In my WRA 202 class, I worked with two other classmates preparing a series of assigned reports- one including a usability report. We each did our own work but when we came to share our findings we learned from each other, revised, adapted our views, and collaboratively prepared an excellent report in the end. I know there were many things I would not have been aware of without the help and insight of my partners. As I was working with them, I believe I individual learned things on my own. This was the first time I had ever had to write a usability report and researched some background information myself. What I learned working collaboratively did not necessarily discourage my own individual curiosity and knowledge. From experiences as a student, I find this has been overall a successful way to learn. I am unsure on how our educational system can adapt more collaborative styles, but it could definitely be worth the effort.

Commentary on Bruffee- "Collaborative Learning"

I thought this article was enticing and felt that personally, I was exposed to a completely new interpretation of "collaborative learning." Especially since I consider myself a writer, it was relatively mind-blowing to think that one could view writing as two steps away from conversation, as opposed to one step away from one's own thought, as one's own thoughts, at least the structure of these thoughts, is simply a convention one learns from conversing with others. I specifically like the idea of a teacher straddling the line between upholding current accepted ideas within a field, and leaving room for new ideas to sprout and challenge the current socially accepted "knowledge" within the field. As a whole, a strong argument was made in favor of collaborative learning and highlighted the importance of peers talking amongst each other, not with the purpose of defending his/her idea, but with the goal of collectively and informatively coming to new conclusions as to what should be considered the current "knowledge" within a field. I found the article to be informative, making me question ideas that I have formerly taken for granted, but at times the article was a bit overwhelming and daunting.

happy medium?

I kept on thinking of how we could actually find that dynamic “happy medium” moving around between minimalist and authoritative approach. It seems many factors need to be considered when we are making the judgment. Clients’ professional background, stages in their writing assignment, specific needs or concerns etc. Some are easy to identify, while some are not as obvious. It’s always tricky to ask someone what he or she needs. A difficulty in deciding on what the clients need comes from the false or partial understanding of their own specific needs. As mentioned in David Sheridan’s article on multiliteracy, students might separate technical and rhetorical help and think they know exactly what they want say, and just need to make the tool (computer) work. Before finding clients’ real needs, consultants have to help the clients come to a more sophisticated understanding of the inter-relationship of technical and rhetorical concerns. Is that something really doable? or maybe the right question is how we can actually achieve that, because this sounds so similar to the case with ESL writers. “Don’t worry about the content. I know what I want to say. I just want to make sure the language expresses my real intelligence. Does it make sense to you?” …@#% ... How do we respond to the clients’ specific yet partial or even false needs, and how we actually can help them come to a more sophisticated understanding of what they think they already know…very well? If a first-time ESL client comes to WC with a wrong expectation of writing consultation, how do we make sure he/she finds this consulting session helpful, and comes back again with a right expectation?

I hope I am going to find some answers (probably more questions) in the book, ESL Writers.

Attending the Writing Center as a Client

I've never formally gone to anyone to seek help with my writing before, so this was a very new experience for me. I think I'm one of the people who thinks to themselves, "I don't NEED a writing center, those are for people who can't write theses." However, I think what the consultant I met with today helped me with are things I would normally spend an hour staring at, knowing it didn't sound right, but not quite sure how to fix it.

The first thing my consultant did was have me read my paper (a 2.5-page English paper) aloud, which I was expecting. I noticed one or two missing words, and another area where I made a reference to an event I hadn't yet explained. Otherwise my essay read well, and then the consultant asked where I thought I needed help or improvement. I pointed out a certain paragraph, and my consultant said she wasn't sure of the significance of an event I'd mentioned. This event was actually the climax of the book, but I hadn't mentioned that in my paper. I'm sure that was what that paragraph was missing--some hint of the relevance of the evidence I was trying to use.

My consultant then did something I hadn't expected after all our minimalist approach readings, and drew my attention to my introduction and a quote I had tacked on to my thesis statement. She asked me what the purpose was, and really it had no relevance to the thesis, and it wasn't really referenced in any of my explanatory paragraphs, so I cut it. I then asked about another paragraph that I felt wasn't "flowing" well, and my consultant suggested a "map," or a sentence that gives an overview of the paragraph, and I'm very confident that that will be a good solution.

I'd like to make one final point--that writing these notes down in the first place (first in my notebook and now online) has really solidified the whole experience more. I think that writing about the improvement process will make the suggestions and advice my consultant gave stick in my head more, and I think I will be more conscious of them in my future assignments.

My Experience At the Writing Center

Like some of the other posts that I read, I had no idea what to expect on my first shadowing session. And I will admit that I was nervous. I was nervous that I wouldn't know how to answer a question, that I wouldn't be able spot a problem area in paper, or that I just wouldn't be cut out for consulting. 

I now have shadowed two sessions and the truth is I still have some of those nerves in me, but I have a much better idea of how to tackle questions that a client might have,  how to give advice about a paper, or just how to talk to a client. I think getting a grip in the Writing Center will be a two pronged approach. One is getting a basis on the core ideas of a writing center by completing the reading and talking in class. The second, and what I think the more important of the two, taking those ideas and putting them into practice by shadowing and later conducting our own sessions.

My advice, ( after two whole sessions) would be to get the first session out of the way as quickly as possible. Once the jitters are gone it is a lot easier to focus at the task at hand and learn what it is to work at a writing center. The people that I worked with were super helpful and made the experience both a valuable one and a lot of fun.

I am curious to hear everyone else's first experiences at the Writing Center.

All the Best,

John Lauckner