One question that was raised in our post-literacy narrative remix discussion today was, how should the Writing Center be prepared to help students with multimedia presentations and projects? My opinion is similar to what Cat mentioned--that it is our job to provide another set of eyes and ears and let the client know how effective we find their arrangement, visuals, etc. However, I feel that we should not provide walkthroughs with the different multimedia programs or "tech support."
First off, it would be difficult to do this because, as a writing center, people may not even think of us as offering multimedia help--this includes potential clients and potential consultants. People with a strong expertise in multimedia software probably wouldn't think to apply for a job in this field with the writing center. If we don't have people with strong multimedia skills, the task would fall on the writing center to provide the consultants with additional training to cover clients' questions, and between people's busy schedules, the number of satellites we have, and the fact that there are multiple major multimedia production programs, I just don't see this as being logistically possible.
However, a more important point is that I do not at all think that responsibility for this kind of knowledge lies with the writing center. Rather, it is with the professors who assign these projects. It is completely unreasonable and unfair to assign students a project that they may not be adequately prepared for in terms of technology unless the relevant skills are taught to them so that they all have an equal chance to succeed. The professor needs to provide these resources, whether it is an in-class demonstration or some kind of tutorial, and they need to provide students with any out-of-class help they may need.
At the writing center, we understand rhetoric. We understand messages. We are here to help people with clarity, focus, and direction in their work. Multimedia 101 should not be added to that repertoire.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Response to class presentations
I think everyone did an excellent job with their literacy remixes. I noticed some interesting similarities and differences between one another. Some students chose to speak verbally when explaining their literacy, whether speaking before or during the presentation. I think this was very effective drawing the reader into the story with vivid details and explanations. Others let their remix stand as a piece itself by showing a video, letting the reader take their own view on their work. The use of text, images, and mediums varied between such a small class.
Although the imovie was one of the more common presentations, I personally chose this form so I could learn to work with Mac computers. I have little experience with this computer system. This was the first class I was introduced to the iMovie and I had a lot of fun experimenting and teaching myself this new literacy.
When consulting digital presentations, I also agree that we should not be the "tech support" for students. I think as a writer I am equipped to give intelligent comments relative to content, context, audience, format, arrangment, ect. All of these aspects are vital to clearly presenting an effective message. If I really felt I could not help a student with a digital presentation, I would try my best to find another consultant who could.
I feel like we didn't get a chance to talk much about Katie and Scott's presentation. I am always a bit nervous when it comes to class presentations and I think you both did an excellent job.
I wanted to say a few comments for you guys: I could tell throughout the presentation you had a genuine passion for working and helping ESL writers. Your presentation was very detailed and clear giving great explanations of exactly what to do when consulting with an ESL student. These are very important skills for anyone working in our Writing Center. I also liked that you provided examples from your own work with ESL students. Your powerpoint was also visually appealing.
Although the imovie was one of the more common presentations, I personally chose this form so I could learn to work with Mac computers. I have little experience with this computer system. This was the first class I was introduced to the iMovie and I had a lot of fun experimenting and teaching myself this new literacy.
When consulting digital presentations, I also agree that we should not be the "tech support" for students. I think as a writer I am equipped to give intelligent comments relative to content, context, audience, format, arrangment, ect. All of these aspects are vital to clearly presenting an effective message. If I really felt I could not help a student with a digital presentation, I would try my best to find another consultant who could.
I feel like we didn't get a chance to talk much about Katie and Scott's presentation. I am always a bit nervous when it comes to class presentations and I think you both did an excellent job.
I wanted to say a few comments for you guys: I could tell throughout the presentation you had a genuine passion for working and helping ESL writers. Your presentation was very detailed and clear giving great explanations of exactly what to do when consulting with an ESL student. These are very important skills for anyone working in our Writing Center. I also liked that you provided examples from your own work with ESL students. Your powerpoint was also visually appealing.
Good Sessions
The vast majority of the time I get pretty terrible sessions. On one side, I usually get ESL students who have a difficult time communicating with me verbally, and generally only want help with surface level issues. These surface level issues are fixable, but the reasons for that are difficult to explain to someone who speaks the language, let alone someone who is learning it. Though I help their papers I don't feel as though I've helped them much when I explain changes to them and ask "do you understand?" or "do you see what I mean?" and they just nod and smile or say "yes, mmhmm" clearly not understanding me. Otherwise I get students who have no interest at all in writing and come in saying they need to write a paper, "what do you need help with?" I ask. "Uhhh" is all I get in return.
I don't think we talk enough about the really good sessions. I generally don't get these often. When I do, it is one good session out of 4 for my day of work that day, but honestly it makes the whole day worth it. Generally they have a relatively disorganized paper, because all they've done is just write and let it flow without concerning themselves with structure. It is enjoyable to work with them because they have all of their ideas clearly presented, they just need help making sense of it. The most reason one just needed help coming up with a thesis, which was great because he was already making an argument with his paper, he just didn't quite know what. Being an enormous help to someone like that makes the depressing sessions worth it.
I don't think we talk enough about the really good sessions. I generally don't get these often. When I do, it is one good session out of 4 for my day of work that day, but honestly it makes the whole day worth it. Generally they have a relatively disorganized paper, because all they've done is just write and let it flow without concerning themselves with structure. It is enjoyable to work with them because they have all of their ideas clearly presented, they just need help making sense of it. The most reason one just needed help coming up with a thesis, which was great because he was already making an argument with his paper, he just didn't quite know what. Being an enormous help to someone like that makes the depressing sessions worth it.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
I am not your copyeditor
"My paper's done, so I just need some help with editing. I just need you to look it over for like, run-ons and punctuation mistakes."
Not the best way to start a session. This particular client had never been to the writing center before (obviously) and was very up front about what he wanted. He seemed to want to get things done quickly and with minimal effort on his part. So the next thing to do was to explain that that's not quite how our session would go.
He didn't seem to get it.
I gave him a description of what we try to do in the WC similar to ones I've given before, but he seemed to think that writing tutors who wouldn't just point out your mistakes had kind of missed the point. In any case, he didn't argue, and we moved on. He didn't see the point of reading aloud either, but I know from experience how very helpful it is (for native speakers at least), so when he said he didn't really want to, I offered to do it for him. As it turned out, reading out loud was beneficial for this client as well. He read along on his copy of the paper (thankfully, I had a client that didn't even want to do that), and often caught his own mistakes as I read through them. When I noticed consistent errors in his reference section, we discussed what style he was using (MLA) and he informed me that he'd used an online generator to create it. I've told several people now--those are not trustworthy. The best thing (I think) is to have a working knowledge of the easier ones and a good reference site, or book I suppose, for the rest of them.
A nice thing about working with this particular client is that he was partially right--he didn't need a lot of help with the kinds of things other clients often do when they come in. His paper was generally well-written and well thought out, with good evidence and an interesting topic. He followed his thesis and used a variety of sources to back up his ideas. When we started going through his paper again, I could bring up ideas instead of helping him with organization, or flow, or evidence, or any of the many other things that prevent a topical exchange of ideas. Sometimes he had already thought of things that I mentioned to him and he was already going to add them (this was a draft). Sometimes, though, I brought up ideas that he had just not thought of, and in the end I felt as though in the future he would probably be better able to self-edit and maybe even think about his ideas from more and different angles. I think it turned out to be more productive than either of us expected it to be, which was a nice surprise. I wouldn't mind having another session kind of like that sometime.
Not the best way to start a session. This particular client had never been to the writing center before (obviously) and was very up front about what he wanted. He seemed to want to get things done quickly and with minimal effort on his part. So the next thing to do was to explain that that's not quite how our session would go.
He didn't seem to get it.
I gave him a description of what we try to do in the WC similar to ones I've given before, but he seemed to think that writing tutors who wouldn't just point out your mistakes had kind of missed the point. In any case, he didn't argue, and we moved on. He didn't see the point of reading aloud either, but I know from experience how very helpful it is (for native speakers at least), so when he said he didn't really want to, I offered to do it for him. As it turned out, reading out loud was beneficial for this client as well. He read along on his copy of the paper (thankfully, I had a client that didn't even want to do that), and often caught his own mistakes as I read through them. When I noticed consistent errors in his reference section, we discussed what style he was using (MLA) and he informed me that he'd used an online generator to create it. I've told several people now--those are not trustworthy. The best thing (I think) is to have a working knowledge of the easier ones and a good reference site, or book I suppose, for the rest of them.
A nice thing about working with this particular client is that he was partially right--he didn't need a lot of help with the kinds of things other clients often do when they come in. His paper was generally well-written and well thought out, with good evidence and an interesting topic. He followed his thesis and used a variety of sources to back up his ideas. When we started going through his paper again, I could bring up ideas instead of helping him with organization, or flow, or evidence, or any of the many other things that prevent a topical exchange of ideas. Sometimes he had already thought of things that I mentioned to him and he was already going to add them (this was a draft). Sometimes, though, I brought up ideas that he had just not thought of, and in the end I felt as though in the future he would probably be better able to self-edit and maybe even think about his ideas from more and different angles. I think it turned out to be more productive than either of us expected it to be, which was a nice surprise. I wouldn't mind having another session kind of like that sometime.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Literacy Video
I finished up my literacy video this weekend... and I must say, the process wasn't quite what I expected it to be. Honestly, I thought it would be as simple as finding some images to represent the big ideas of my narrative, throwing them on the storyboard, picking an appropriate song, and calling it good. But what I started to realize as I was working was that there is SO MUCH you can do with such a medium. I got the basic outline of the video done, and then I started thinking, well how can I make transitions between pictures to convey the right relationship? How can I add effects to the pictures to add to the message of the video? And then came text... originally I wasn't going to use text, I was going to let the images speak for themselves. Then I felt like it was lacking, so I decided to add text. But then I wondered, should I just come up with little short phrases that describe my literacies? No, I decided, I should take exact quotes from my literacy narrative, and use those. Sure they might sound funny out of context, but I thought I was able to find little pieces that were abstract and got the point across. Then music... what song should I use? Well I decided on that, but then my clips had to be trimmed to fi the length of the song... what a headache. And then, as I got it playing, wouldn't it be cool if I could have pictures move with the movements in the song? And then colors... text colors.. and fonts!! As my stream of conciousness here shows you, an hour-long project turned into a many hours long project, trying to navigate a new media and new computer program (aka frustrating). So.... it was a fabulous learning experience, and I'm happy and excited about the product I came up with.
ESL Contradictions
This past week I tutored a client who was part of an ESL class. Now if you were at the most recent staff meeting you know we had two speakers from the ESL Lab come in and tell us about what they do. They gave us the advice that if we ever get a student from and ESL class don't tutor them. Tell them to come to the ESL Lab because that is where they are supposed to be and that they aren't actually supposed to be coming to us because they aren't ready yet.
But here's where things got weird.
The student was required to come in by his ESL teacher. I was completely taken by surprise. The teacher had required all her students to come in and get help from the writing center and she even sent them with a form for the tutor to fill out. We were asked to give our name, email, how long the appointment ran, and what we talked about with the student. I'm sure there was no reason for me to be annoyed with the form but I was. Why did this teacher need my email? I already filled out the rest of the paper with my name and signature, it just struck me as weird and somehow inappropriate.
The next problem was that the paper the student came in with was 7 pages long. There is no way I could get through 7 pages in one session. I asked him what he most wanted to work on and we focused on two parts of the paper. Those two parts were a page and a half each and going over them took up the entire hour long session.
Then there was the language barrier. I can understand every ESL student I have ever tutored but this student I could not. It was very awkward, I couldn't understand him and he couldn't understand what I was saying. He would repeat the words he knew the meaning of and then just nod along with anything else I said. I tried to give really simple examples of why I thought something didn't make sense or why he should change a part of his paper. It was incredibly hard to feel like I had accomplished anything when he could understand why this didn't fit with that sentence. I was forced to focus on making sure he stayed in the same tense and keeping things either plural or singular because that was all he could understand from the session.
After the session concluded I came away feeling very frustrated. The session had felt like almost a complete bust and I couldn't figure out why the teacher sent the students to the writing center since it appeared my student was not ready for our kind of help. Then I realized that the due date for the assignment was not until November 11th so I could possibly have more session of the same caliber and that depressed me. I came to work at the writing center so I could help students and in that session I felt I had not completed my goal.
But here's where things got weird.
The student was required to come in by his ESL teacher. I was completely taken by surprise. The teacher had required all her students to come in and get help from the writing center and she even sent them with a form for the tutor to fill out. We were asked to give our name, email, how long the appointment ran, and what we talked about with the student. I'm sure there was no reason for me to be annoyed with the form but I was. Why did this teacher need my email? I already filled out the rest of the paper with my name and signature, it just struck me as weird and somehow inappropriate.
The next problem was that the paper the student came in with was 7 pages long. There is no way I could get through 7 pages in one session. I asked him what he most wanted to work on and we focused on two parts of the paper. Those two parts were a page and a half each and going over them took up the entire hour long session.
Then there was the language barrier. I can understand every ESL student I have ever tutored but this student I could not. It was very awkward, I couldn't understand him and he couldn't understand what I was saying. He would repeat the words he knew the meaning of and then just nod along with anything else I said. I tried to give really simple examples of why I thought something didn't make sense or why he should change a part of his paper. It was incredibly hard to feel like I had accomplished anything when he could understand why this didn't fit with that sentence. I was forced to focus on making sure he stayed in the same tense and keeping things either plural or singular because that was all he could understand from the session.
After the session concluded I came away feeling very frustrated. The session had felt like almost a complete bust and I couldn't figure out why the teacher sent the students to the writing center since it appeared my student was not ready for our kind of help. Then I realized that the due date for the assignment was not until November 11th so I could possibly have more session of the same caliber and that depressed me. I came to work at the writing center so I could help students and in that session I felt I had not completed my goal.
Reading DiPardo
After reading "Whispers of Coming and Going," I was acutely aware of how much I have in common with Morgan. As a new tutor, I desperately want to feel like I’m being of some help to the students I work with. All too often, I feel like that’s not the case. Students come to the writing center seeking help, and sometimes it seems like an hour long appointment is not enough to meet their needs. Like Fannie, they have a lot going on in their background that isn’t immediately obvious, and I don’t know how to reach it. A wealth of information remains hidden in the silence. Thinking back, there have been plenty of sessions where I’ve been frustrated by a student’s litany of “I don’t know” and “What should I say?”. I’m ashamed to say that, like Morgan, I failed to dig deeper. I grew frustrated with myself and with the student because I couldn’t find the words to communicate effectively. Part of the difficulty stems from my inexperience; I still need to learn how to ask the right questions.
Throughout the essay, DiPardo commends Morgan’s enthusiasm, while criticizing her actions. Everything she wrote about Morgan felt so familiar to what I’m experiencing myself. By the end of the article, I wanted to throw my hands in the air and say “I know, I know!” I understand that I haven’t been going far enough in some of my sessions. Sometimes things go smoothly, and the student leaves happy. Then there are times when we both sit there, struggling to find the right words. I hate the feeling I get after those sessions, like I’ve failed the student. They came looking for help that I didn’t provide.
In that vein, what do we do for students like Fannie, who have received insufficient (or sometimes nonexistent) instruction in formal composition? The introductory WRA courses are supposed to help students develop the necessary analytical and compositional skills. However, it seems like the professors from these courses are often the ones who send their students to us to gets their papers “fixed.” If a student has difficulty understanding how their paper is supposed to be organized, I can explain that. But what happens if you get a student like Jenna described, who doesn’t understand the concept of analysis? Can a single session make up for years of inadequate preparation? I don’t want to be part of a long chain of people who fail to meet the needs of these students.
DiPardo criticizes Morgan for not knowing that Fannie was a non-native speaker, or that she had been poorly prepared for academic writing. But how do you go about finding this information out? How do you determine when it’s appropriate to ask these questions? It feels like a Catch-22. If you don’t ask, and they aren’t a native speaker, you’re missing out on important information. If you do ask, and they are a native speaker, then you’ll probably upset them. As consultants, what should we be asking students, and how should we be asking it?
Throughout the essay, DiPardo commends Morgan’s enthusiasm, while criticizing her actions. Everything she wrote about Morgan felt so familiar to what I’m experiencing myself. By the end of the article, I wanted to throw my hands in the air and say “I know, I know!” I understand that I haven’t been going far enough in some of my sessions. Sometimes things go smoothly, and the student leaves happy. Then there are times when we both sit there, struggling to find the right words. I hate the feeling I get after those sessions, like I’ve failed the student. They came looking for help that I didn’t provide.
In that vein, what do we do for students like Fannie, who have received insufficient (or sometimes nonexistent) instruction in formal composition? The introductory WRA courses are supposed to help students develop the necessary analytical and compositional skills. However, it seems like the professors from these courses are often the ones who send their students to us to gets their papers “fixed.” If a student has difficulty understanding how their paper is supposed to be organized, I can explain that. But what happens if you get a student like Jenna described, who doesn’t understand the concept of analysis? Can a single session make up for years of inadequate preparation? I don’t want to be part of a long chain of people who fail to meet the needs of these students.
DiPardo criticizes Morgan for not knowing that Fannie was a non-native speaker, or that she had been poorly prepared for academic writing. But how do you go about finding this information out? How do you determine when it’s appropriate to ask these questions? It feels like a Catch-22. If you don’t ask, and they aren’t a native speaker, you’re missing out on important information. If you do ask, and they are a native speaker, then you’ll probably upset them. As consultants, what should we be asking students, and how should we be asking it?
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