I'm disappointed to have missed class, and there's a great possibility that what I say here may have already been discussed, but I'm going to touch on some of what I felt were the most compelling readings for the past week.
We have been reading about three things: What WCs can do besides tutor, WAC/WID, and WC administration. In light of the first focus area, I have been more than interested to read about some of these ideas, about putting WCs in the position of researchers and advocates for change. This can only improve the marginal status we now hold. I especially was fond of the portfolio research. Of course I don't think I would do things exactly the same way, but the idea of collecting these writings and using them to determine the needs of the institution--especially at a smaller one like mine--seems like an invaluable task that would not just help the WC or English majors but all students. It's a wonderful blend of a research project and a WAC project.
At a school where students' writing is constantly a topic of discussion--often a very heated topic--I know that so much of what people complain about is due to a misunderstanding of what WCs--and composition courses, for that matter--are all about. The article about reading our own rhetoric was important, because it reveals what we do to ourselves, how we shape what we are, and how others may read what we write. So this comes right back to this idea of shaping ourselves as something more than editors--and a project like the portfolios (and many others--we wouldn't want to stop there) would help others see that we are not the periphery but the hub of writing on campus. Or at least that is what we would like to be.
Owens' article again addresses this very topic, and says that "The perennial struggle that Writing Center staff face...is how we might better convey the pedagogical role of the Writing Center to students, faulty, and adminisitrators" (155). His idea of a "cultural center" is less appealing to me as I think it takes too much emphasis off of writing, but the idea that we need to be less service-oriented is an excellent way to approach the struggle he discusses.
I was not too keep either on the idea of the WC being committed to "civic engagement" as Wilkey and Dreese imagined. While I think there is some merit to the idea, again, it can make the WC lose it focus on writing. Too, the idea that a tutor and student--the collaborators--would be equally invested in the writing they were working on because it had purpose beyond both of them is just too idealistic to be practical. We all know that the majority of writing that goes on in the academy is for the teacher, is meant to be a performance, and is not an end but a means. I just don't see the faculty all suddenly finding ways to make writing assignments authentic. It's been a struggle for the course of composition's history, and I don't see this being the resolution.
If we take some of the lists from Jennifer Beech's article and make an ideal for our particular circumstance, I can imagine this wonderful place where people come to hang out and work on writing, sometimes for help, sometimes as collaborators, sometimes as part of a writing group, where documents and texts from every discipline and every genre were available for people to look up and work together on, where all students and faculty know and trust is THE place to go to work on yourself as a writer. There would be editing workshops so that this concern would be covered, and technology workshops as well. Here are my favorites from Beech:
"Alternative to misguided classroom practices" (201)
"Voluntary refuge from classroom evaluation" (201)
"Engaged in intellectual labor" (201)
Students as "Writers/authors/producers of meaningful texts" (202)
Directors as "Secured or Tenure-track specialists in the field" (203)
Directors as "Peer/professor/professional worthy of respect/Campus leader (203)
I think Beech dropped the ball, though, by not creating a list of how tutors could be re-visioned, so to this I would add:
Tutors not as editors but as collaborators, mentors, and fellow writers
Tutors not as writing experts but as trained readers, listeners, and guides
Putting these three topics together--WAC/WID, WCs as more than a service, and the roles of WC administrators--I can envision the WC administrator who one day is seen as a colleague for the important role they serve on campus, as an academic, a researcher, a teacher, an as a service to the college. Much as librarians often fight for this recognition--and have at least achieved it in part--WC administrators I believe have hope that their role in the academy will continue to push at its boundaries and WCs all over will come to be seen as so much more than a place to get your comma splices fixed. And it is going to involve WCAs being more and doing more than tutoring in their writing centers. It is going to involve writing in all fields. It is going to involve research projects and publications and conferences and doing the work of the field. But if, in the long run, our students and faculty can see WCs as the one place where writing and writers are made, it would be all worth it.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Leading a Session (Words of Affirmation)
On Wednesday I worked with a young lady whom had a 12:00 appointment however her consultant was no where to be found, I offered to assist her. I sometimes feel like customer service should be something expressed in writing center management-this is off topic but at times when observing the front desk-many students who come into the writing center seem puzzled by who they need to greet to make it aware that they have an appointment, sometimes the front desk is congested with consultants, other times it’s as if the consultant at the front desk is in another world. I have seen too many times students standing at the front desk waiting to be serviced for long periods of time-wondering around trying to make eye contact with someone, anyone who recognizes their puzzlement. I though the online scheduling would be great in that it would provide us as a WC more chances to appear to be welcoming to students whom come in????
So in this case, which has happened more then once the student was waiting for help while the front desk person’s eyes were looking down at a written document and I noticed she was getting irritated (given her body language) so I walked up to her and offered to work with her. I want to know what we can do as consultants to make those who enter our center feel welcome. I think that we should talk about how we perform and greet when working at the front desk? Where do we stand in service to our clients? Perhaps even a student survey to examine how students feel we are doing in this area.
This client was working on multiple written pieces: a short response paper for an investment class, a personal statement for med school and an application for funding so that she could take the MCAT. At best I would argue that the client took the lead when negotiating how much time we would spend on each of them. We working through her response paper first as “It was due at 5pm today”, and because I had spend 1.5 years working at a insurance company processing and studying investments and financial portfolios I knew I was able to help her-she begin the session as if I she assumed I knew nothing about what she was writing or the terms being used in her response to choices a investment product and advise why you choice it? , but I assured her that I had indeed worked at an insurance company and knew what she meant by “risk taking”, “caps” and different investment terminology. We basically worked on sentence level errors and word choice. I did indeed “give away” terms I though would help her see a new way of seeing and saying throughout her paper, her response when I would say, hey what about using “this” to say “that” would be a simple silence, then she would re-read the sentence inserting mine and then her own new word. After finishing she asked: Does this sound like a good paper? Is this paper ok? From my understanding I said, so it seems you have answered all the questions your instructor has asked (woooohhh-way to get outta that questions) It was as If I was positioned to examine the paper's worth, a very uncomfortable position-but why?
When we got to the application for financial assistance to take the MCAT she got very sad and had a defeatist mentality, she would ask me, if you saw this paper would you give me the money? Or this just sounds so stupid to me? Before we could even get to the paper I felt like she needed words of encouragement? So I gave it to her, I became her writer cheerleader!
I told her about the ways in which attitude shapes our writing ‘if you think it’s crap before you even get started-then that doesn’t help the revision process’ I when on the tell her she needed to develop confidence in herself and her writing and that it took time and practice. “Well that’s why I’m here” was her rebuttal (We both laughed) Our session reminded me of Corcoran's article where she talks about the WC being a site of "remediation, a space in which students were to make up fo rthe short-comings of their earlier literacy education" (29). But roles to be as consultants take when opted to save students from their previous literacies? I believe that the client can to realize that her literacy short-coming was in fact the purpose of her visit to the WC.
After ending the session I told her I would be at the WC until 3pm working on a project for ESL convos and that if she needed any additional help that I wasn’t booked-and wanted to help her, she came back at 2:33pm walked up to me and politely asked if I had time to go over revisions with her, I didn’t mind-near the end of the session she asked me the same questions that she asked me prior in which I felt were calls of recognition and affirmation…I'm not sure this helped-and don't know why I said it but I told her about the notion of knowing one's own writing identity-in this case knowing where you are and were you want to go or become as a writer helps build confidence in that you know what you have already-so it's not a matter of Is this paper worthless? It's a matter of why do you think this paper is worthless?
Why do you need so much affirmation when it comes to this particular writing assignment? How can I help you build affirmation?
So in this case, which has happened more then once the student was waiting for help while the front desk person’s eyes were looking down at a written document and I noticed she was getting irritated (given her body language) so I walked up to her and offered to work with her. I want to know what we can do as consultants to make those who enter our center feel welcome. I think that we should talk about how we perform and greet when working at the front desk? Where do we stand in service to our clients? Perhaps even a student survey to examine how students feel we are doing in this area.
This client was working on multiple written pieces: a short response paper for an investment class, a personal statement for med school and an application for funding so that she could take the MCAT. At best I would argue that the client took the lead when negotiating how much time we would spend on each of them. We working through her response paper first as “It was due at 5pm today”, and because I had spend 1.5 years working at a insurance company processing and studying investments and financial portfolios I knew I was able to help her-she begin the session as if I she assumed I knew nothing about what she was writing or the terms being used in her response to choices a investment product and advise why you choice it? , but I assured her that I had indeed worked at an insurance company and knew what she meant by “risk taking”, “caps” and different investment terminology. We basically worked on sentence level errors and word choice. I did indeed “give away” terms I though would help her see a new way of seeing and saying throughout her paper, her response when I would say, hey what about using “this” to say “that” would be a simple silence, then she would re-read the sentence inserting mine and then her own new word. After finishing she asked: Does this sound like a good paper? Is this paper ok? From my understanding I said, so it seems you have answered all the questions your instructor has asked (woooohhh-way to get outta that questions) It was as If I was positioned to examine the paper's worth, a very uncomfortable position-but why?
When we got to the application for financial assistance to take the MCAT she got very sad and had a defeatist mentality, she would ask me, if you saw this paper would you give me the money? Or this just sounds so stupid to me? Before we could even get to the paper I felt like she needed words of encouragement? So I gave it to her, I became her writer cheerleader!
I told her about the ways in which attitude shapes our writing ‘if you think it’s crap before you even get started-then that doesn’t help the revision process’ I when on the tell her she needed to develop confidence in herself and her writing and that it took time and practice. “Well that’s why I’m here” was her rebuttal (We both laughed) Our session reminded me of Corcoran's article where she talks about the WC being a site of "remediation, a space in which students were to make up fo rthe short-comings of their earlier literacy education" (29). But roles to be as consultants take when opted to save students from their previous literacies? I believe that the client can to realize that her literacy short-coming was in fact the purpose of her visit to the WC.
After ending the session I told her I would be at the WC until 3pm working on a project for ESL convos and that if she needed any additional help that I wasn’t booked-and wanted to help her, she came back at 2:33pm walked up to me and politely asked if I had time to go over revisions with her, I didn’t mind-near the end of the session she asked me the same questions that she asked me prior in which I felt were calls of recognition and affirmation…I'm not sure this helped-and don't know why I said it but I told her about the notion of knowing one's own writing identity-in this case knowing where you are and were you want to go or become as a writer helps build confidence in that you know what you have already-so it's not a matter of Is this paper worthless? It's a matter of why do you think this paper is worthless?
Why do you need so much affirmation when it comes to this particular writing assignment? How can I help you build affirmation?
Friday, June 6, 2008
Watching...
I observed a tutorial yesterday, which was very enlightening. I was paying much closer attention to the interactions and language that was used--both by client and tutor--and noticed several things.
One, the tutor was afraid of silence. (I will call the tutor D.) D. would ask questions--very good, open-ended questions--but if the client didn't respond right away, D. would answer them. It's important to note that the client was an ESL student (I'll call her L.) and has not passed into regular writing courses yet. One of her most persistent questions was, "Is my writing really bad?" and "What can I do to get better at writing?" D. reassured her that her writing was not bad (and it wasn't, comparatively speaking). It was obvious this client lacked confidence. However, I don't think that D.'s fear of silence was helpful to L. And, because English is not her first language, I think she just needed more time to formulate answers. So I did learn one thing: as a tutor, when we ask questions, we need to not only give the client time to answer these questions themselves, but we need to be sure to be persistent in asking them, even if we have to reword the question another way.
Two, several of the things we discussed last week and read about in Listening to the World became very real in this session. For one, the student, from China, had a difficult time negotiating the idea of intellectual property. Her assignment was a summary and response to an article, and she often used pronouns interchangeably so that, as a reader, one could not distinguish between L.'s thoughts and the thoughts of the article's author. D. helped her clean this up, but I was never quite sure if she understood why it was so important. The other thing I noticed was L.'s tendency to hedge around the point, to give peripheral evidence rather than directly stating what it was she wanted to say. D, not knowing that this is a characteristic of her culture, noticed this and told her she needed to be more direct, but did not explain why. L. of course complied, but how nice it would have been had D. been able to articulate to her why this is important in our culture.
One last thing: L. asked if the Writing Center could help her understand her readings better, and D. knew that there was a resource for this on campus and excused himself to go check on it. The second he left, she started asking me all the same questions she had asked him. I hadn't said a word the entire time, so I was surprised that she was asking me. I made it clear that D's suggestions were great, and the only thing I added was that reading a lot--even if she doesn't really understand everything she reads--is an excellent way to help her writing improve. Since I had just read this, I knew that research supported more reading for students to improve on their grammar.
After an hour and twenty minutes, I had a difficult time discerning how much the session helped L. D. asked her to work on the things they had discussed and bring her paper back again to see how she was doing. Until then I think it's hard to know how helpful the session was for her.
On an interesting note, I noticed that the professor's name on L. paper was that of my friend, the one I share rides with from Alma every day. So I mentioned to my friend that her student had been in the WC, and she said this student was one of the best in her class, had the best grasp of English and wrote quite well compared to the others. I didn't tell her anything else about the session, since I felt it was private, but I wasn't surprised that she was one of the stronger writers based on one thing: L. was very eager to learn and improve. This attitude, I think, is key to making stronger writers.
On a side note, I've gotten a couple more responses from my survey and they are still harping on grammar and spelling and want the WC to fix this. Sigh.
One, the tutor was afraid of silence. (I will call the tutor D.) D. would ask questions--very good, open-ended questions--but if the client didn't respond right away, D. would answer them. It's important to note that the client was an ESL student (I'll call her L.) and has not passed into regular writing courses yet. One of her most persistent questions was, "Is my writing really bad?" and "What can I do to get better at writing?" D. reassured her that her writing was not bad (and it wasn't, comparatively speaking). It was obvious this client lacked confidence. However, I don't think that D.'s fear of silence was helpful to L. And, because English is not her first language, I think she just needed more time to formulate answers. So I did learn one thing: as a tutor, when we ask questions, we need to not only give the client time to answer these questions themselves, but we need to be sure to be persistent in asking them, even if we have to reword the question another way.
Two, several of the things we discussed last week and read about in Listening to the World became very real in this session. For one, the student, from China, had a difficult time negotiating the idea of intellectual property. Her assignment was a summary and response to an article, and she often used pronouns interchangeably so that, as a reader, one could not distinguish between L.'s thoughts and the thoughts of the article's author. D. helped her clean this up, but I was never quite sure if she understood why it was so important. The other thing I noticed was L.'s tendency to hedge around the point, to give peripheral evidence rather than directly stating what it was she wanted to say. D, not knowing that this is a characteristic of her culture, noticed this and told her she needed to be more direct, but did not explain why. L. of course complied, but how nice it would have been had D. been able to articulate to her why this is important in our culture.
One last thing: L. asked if the Writing Center could help her understand her readings better, and D. knew that there was a resource for this on campus and excused himself to go check on it. The second he left, she started asking me all the same questions she had asked him. I hadn't said a word the entire time, so I was surprised that she was asking me. I made it clear that D's suggestions were great, and the only thing I added was that reading a lot--even if she doesn't really understand everything she reads--is an excellent way to help her writing improve. Since I had just read this, I knew that research supported more reading for students to improve on their grammar.
After an hour and twenty minutes, I had a difficult time discerning how much the session helped L. D. asked her to work on the things they had discussed and bring her paper back again to see how she was doing. Until then I think it's hard to know how helpful the session was for her.
On an interesting note, I noticed that the professor's name on L. paper was that of my friend, the one I share rides with from Alma every day. So I mentioned to my friend that her student had been in the WC, and she said this student was one of the best in her class, had the best grasp of English and wrote quite well compared to the others. I didn't tell her anything else about the session, since I felt it was private, but I wasn't surprised that she was one of the stronger writers based on one thing: L. was very eager to learn and improve. This attitude, I think, is key to making stronger writers.
On a side note, I've gotten a couple more responses from my survey and they are still harping on grammar and spelling and want the WC to fix this. Sigh.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Collaborator or Thief: Negotiating intellectual property in writing center sessions
Since taking the graduate seminar course on Writing Center Theory, I haven’t made an appointment with the WC as a client since my undergraduate days. Now, let me tell yawl! I’ve had my share of good/bad session even before coming to work at the writing center, but I believe I had forgotten how valuable and useful the sessions could be. I left this particular session-I will describe-ready to write and eager to move forward with my writing. I was working on a teaching reflection on the irony of teaching standardized English in the land of diversity and overwhelming cross-cultural abundance...
I set up an appointment with a graduate student that I knew, but had never had the opportunity to work with. This consultant was an African American-and yes, I choice him because he was an African American. I also chose this graduate student because I really wanted to share my writing with someone to who had a teaching background and to whom I believed I could be honest with regarding my frustrations in writing this reflection. Does this mean that I choice him because I knew I would have been comfortable discussing the contents of my draft, perhaps?
In the session I talked through my paper (I had one 2 pages and was really hoping to talk things through) I wanted the session to be a conversation, and I made that clear at the beginning of the session, and It was indeed a conversation. We talked about the issues that were surrounding my paper and the consultant gave great input and asked questions that forced me to see my writing objectives clearer. We also came up with some great ideals, I don’t want to go into the paper content in details, however one thing I noticed and I thought-man I wonder if my own consultants feel this way-I noticed that at times I felt like the consultants was talking too much, maybe even veering away from my paper contents-I wondered if this was apart of his own background or understanding of theory and practice, or perhaps the questions I was raising lead him to re-consider the work he was doing…I don’t know I just remember thinking-Man! This is great information, but I’m not sure I’m trying to go that route with my paper and my own research.
Additionally, At one point the consultant outlined an ideal on a the side of my paper, as he wrote it he said: “This is my ideal”, I though his chart was a great way of looking at my paper, but I was so afraid to even listen or look at the chart because I though that he might think that I was going to steal his ideal. At the end of the session he gently pushed the paper with the hand drawn chart and arrows on it near me, I politely looked at him; graduate student-to-graduate student and said, hey no, that’s your ideal-maybe you could use it, it’s a great one! I though to myself-this is an interesting interaction, as a graduate student-I for one have millions of great ideals-just like my peers I’m certain of it…but when do you share those ideals and when do you house them? I didn’t want to take his chart because I felt like it wasn’t mine on, I for damn sure wasn’t’ tryin’ to be an intellectual thief…Interesting I thought.
Since taking the graduate seminar course on Writing Center Theory, I haven’t made an appointment with the WC as a client since my undergraduate days. Now, let me tell yawl! I’ve had my share of good/bad session even before coming to work at the writing center, but I believe I had forgotten how valuable and useful the sessions could be. I left this particular session-I will describe-ready to write and eager to move forward with my writing. I was working on a teaching reflection on the irony of teaching standardized English in the land of diversity and overwhelming cross-cultural abundance...
I set up an appointment with a graduate student that I knew, but had never had the opportunity to work with. This consultant was an African American-and yes, I choice him because he was an African American. I also chose this graduate student because I really wanted to share my writing with someone to who had a teaching background and to whom I believed I could be honest with regarding my frustrations in writing this reflection. Does this mean that I choice him because I knew I would have been comfortable discussing the contents of my draft, perhaps?
In the session I talked through my paper (I had one 2 pages and was really hoping to talk things through) I wanted the session to be a conversation, and I made that clear at the beginning of the session, and It was indeed a conversation. We talked about the issues that were surrounding my paper and the consultant gave great input and asked questions that forced me to see my writing objectives clearer. We also came up with some great ideals, I don’t want to go into the paper content in details, however one thing I noticed and I thought-man I wonder if my own consultants feel this way-I noticed that at times I felt like the consultants was talking too much, maybe even veering away from my paper contents-I wondered if this was apart of his own background or understanding of theory and practice, or perhaps the questions I was raising lead him to re-consider the work he was doing…I don’t know I just remember thinking-Man! This is great information, but I’m not sure I’m trying to go that route with my paper and my own research.
Additionally, At one point the consultant outlined an ideal on a the side of my paper, as he wrote it he said: “This is my ideal”, I though his chart was a great way of looking at my paper, but I was so afraid to even listen or look at the chart because I though that he might think that I was going to steal his ideal. At the end of the session he gently pushed the paper with the hand drawn chart and arrows on it near me, I politely looked at him; graduate student-to-graduate student and said, hey no, that’s your ideal-maybe you could use it, it’s a great one! I though to myself-this is an interesting interaction, as a graduate student-I for one have millions of great ideals-just like my peers I’m certain of it…but when do you share those ideals and when do you house them? I didn’t want to take his chart because I felt like it wasn’t mine on, I for damn sure wasn’t’ tryin’ to be an intellectual thief…Interesting I thought.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
The Pot Calls the Kettle Black...
As I finished the readings for this week, I couldn't help but notice the repetition of some of the same concerns in comp/rhet that occur in WC work. Of course, I know this is no coincidence, as WCs are the child/adopted child/bastard child/stray cat of composition--and obviously we both deal with student writing, so there are going to be connections. What differs, though, is what I'm trying to cling to--because they are really not the same, again, for obvious reasons. Our main text this week (for those reading who are not in our class) was Nancy Grimm's Good Intentions: Writing Center Work for Postmodern Times. I truly enjoyed this book and found it illuminating, frustrating, helpful, and unhelpful all at once. Page five gives a list of excellent questions that I think every WC should grapple with, questions I intend to bring up in my tutor training sessions. While I think Grimm answers many of these questions, she also created new ones for me.
My biggest question was about her anecdote about "Mary" starting on page 25. For one, I really felt the need to know what the assignment was. How can we understand the inappropriateness of Mary's response if we don't know what she was trying to accomplish? But my questions--or rather, my irritations--about the Mary anecdote didn't end, because Grimm referred back to this situation frequently. And this is what bugged me: whenever Grimm referred to Mary's situation, she made assumptions about her that I felt were biased and prejudiced--the exact opposite of the kind of WC she advocates throughout the entire book. Let me explain:
On page 32, Grimm says that Mary "appears to uncritically accept the wisdom of elders and ... holds some texts holy, appears to be wrong, naive, or at best unenlightened." Why? Because Mary was a devout Christian. Is Grimm saying that people of faith are uneducated? Are the Chinese, who revere the wisdom of their elders and their ancestors, "unenlightened"? Does holding a text as holy make half the population of the world (there are many holy texts) wrong? Doesn't the postmodern notion Grimm advocates reject the dichotomous ideas of right and wrong and encourage embracing difference? There was no evidence in Grimm's tale of Mary that indicated she was naive, wrong, or unenlightened at all. Grimm makes this assumption because (now I'm assuming) she has a bit of a problem with people of faith. Well, I tried to overlook this, because I know that many liberals have problems with fundamental Christianity and think they are all just brainwashed. But on page 49, Grimm says, "We need to learn to live with the paradox that Mary and many other students don't want to be like us..." Who is "us" in this scenario? All WC people? All in academia? All women? And all this because Mary wrote a paper about living under God with her soon-to-be husband? I couldn't get over this and it bothered me through the whole book.
The only reason I think it bothered me so much is that I highly doubt Grimm is aware of her own jaded language in this text, which makes it all the more important. And it illustrates just how difficult it is to adopt the kind of WC that she proposes. Because while Grimm's language concerning Mary was probably not so wisely chosen, the way she proposes working with students we see as being so different is admirable and makes excellent sense. If someone who has thought this through and researched it so much that she writes this excellent book about it can't even overcome her own prejudices, how can our undergrad tutors? I'd love to think that I can get my tutors to adopt this attitude of wonder, but prejudices run very deep.
One other thing I wanted to point out: there were two times that I had questions, explicit questions, that Grimm anticipated and answered. Although I'm still wrestling with her answers, i thought it said a lot about her text that she anticipated these questions. One was on page 97, where she said, "Skeptical readers may ask if writing centers, given that they are often staffed by undergraduates, are up to the transformative tasks I have outlined here." Yep. This (skeptical?) reader was asking just that. I know how difficult this can be for me--and I'm old, a teacher, a mother, have been working class, and (almost!) have a PhD. So my 20-year-old middle-class white tutor is going to be able to do this? Sounds nice. And I know we have to strive for the ideal, even if we don't reach it.
Back to my initial point: what is different between WC issues and comp/rhet? What I noticed most of all today is that WC administrators have to relinquish control, whereas what I learn and struggle with in comp/rhet I can take directly to my classroom and work through myself. In WC work, I have to train others to do this--a much more daunting task. I'm anxious to get working on my tutor training materials!
My biggest question was about her anecdote about "Mary" starting on page 25. For one, I really felt the need to know what the assignment was. How can we understand the inappropriateness of Mary's response if we don't know what she was trying to accomplish? But my questions--or rather, my irritations--about the Mary anecdote didn't end, because Grimm referred back to this situation frequently. And this is what bugged me: whenever Grimm referred to Mary's situation, she made assumptions about her that I felt were biased and prejudiced--the exact opposite of the kind of WC she advocates throughout the entire book. Let me explain:
On page 32, Grimm says that Mary "appears to uncritically accept the wisdom of elders and ... holds some texts holy, appears to be wrong, naive, or at best unenlightened." Why? Because Mary was a devout Christian. Is Grimm saying that people of faith are uneducated? Are the Chinese, who revere the wisdom of their elders and their ancestors, "unenlightened"? Does holding a text as holy make half the population of the world (there are many holy texts) wrong? Doesn't the postmodern notion Grimm advocates reject the dichotomous ideas of right and wrong and encourage embracing difference? There was no evidence in Grimm's tale of Mary that indicated she was naive, wrong, or unenlightened at all. Grimm makes this assumption because (now I'm assuming) she has a bit of a problem with people of faith. Well, I tried to overlook this, because I know that many liberals have problems with fundamental Christianity and think they are all just brainwashed. But on page 49, Grimm says, "We need to learn to live with the paradox that Mary and many other students don't want to be like us..." Who is "us" in this scenario? All WC people? All in academia? All women? And all this because Mary wrote a paper about living under God with her soon-to-be husband? I couldn't get over this and it bothered me through the whole book.
The only reason I think it bothered me so much is that I highly doubt Grimm is aware of her own jaded language in this text, which makes it all the more important. And it illustrates just how difficult it is to adopt the kind of WC that she proposes. Because while Grimm's language concerning Mary was probably not so wisely chosen, the way she proposes working with students we see as being so different is admirable and makes excellent sense. If someone who has thought this through and researched it so much that she writes this excellent book about it can't even overcome her own prejudices, how can our undergrad tutors? I'd love to think that I can get my tutors to adopt this attitude of wonder, but prejudices run very deep.
One other thing I wanted to point out: there were two times that I had questions, explicit questions, that Grimm anticipated and answered. Although I'm still wrestling with her answers, i thought it said a lot about her text that she anticipated these questions. One was on page 97, where she said, "Skeptical readers may ask if writing centers, given that they are often staffed by undergraduates, are up to the transformative tasks I have outlined here." Yep. This (skeptical?) reader was asking just that. I know how difficult this can be for me--and I'm old, a teacher, a mother, have been working class, and (almost!) have a PhD. So my 20-year-old middle-class white tutor is going to be able to do this? Sounds nice. And I know we have to strive for the ideal, even if we don't reach it.
Back to my initial point: what is different between WC issues and comp/rhet? What I noticed most of all today is that WC administrators have to relinquish control, whereas what I learn and struggle with in comp/rhet I can take directly to my classroom and work through myself. In WC work, I have to train others to do this--a much more daunting task. I'm anxious to get working on my tutor training materials!
Friday, May 23, 2008
Mr. & Mrs. Can’t Get Right: A space of becoming white…
I just received my own copy of the “Everyday Writing Center” in the mail and as I placed the book on my bookshelf I considered the ways in which I might revise or utilize my book summary/reader echo. I have begun to think about trust a word that has been present throughout our class considering Trixie’s work with LBGT students. I’ve even asked myself if I trust the writing center? Was it/or is it a safe space for me-and my black body? In “The Everyday Writing Center” the desire to re-negotiate writing center norms and traditions got me to thinking about collaboration, it’s chaos and Lunsford’s notion of it’s “damnable difficultly”. With this I am also considering Mary Pratt’s Arts of the Contact Zone-where she analyzes the presence of the dominant groups influence in an autoethnographic texts-contending that in many ways present in many autoethonographic texts is the theme of marginalized group’s entry into the dominant culture.
Now I will talk about race: So it seems in my experiences as a African American women that I have had to introduce race or apologize for my understanding of races influences in writing-especially when I am the only African American student in the class-with respect to my own research conclusions-when presented in class-as in the past-There seems to be that one white person who empties out the same rebuttal: “but that isn’t about race”…which has altered and complicated my own understanding of academic writing, social conditioning and contact zones.
I’ve come to consider the writing center in such a way, as a space where acculturation or assimilation through writing might occur. I wonder how many African Americans negotiate the “becoming” of their writing identities particularly those who consistently utilize the writing center.
For me, an insider and outsider to the writing center culture. I find the ideals outlined in Melissa Nicolas text to be quite interesting, especially the dialog and research concerning collaboration and negotiating authority. What I wonder or at times seem to see an absence of is voices of African American and Latinos with respect to writing center research. What if we looked at how authority is negotiated in collaboration with consideration of race of cultural differences? What about the lack of representative voices of “others” of whom speak out and speak up in writing center rhetoric?
I ask these questions because I can recall someone who was African American who ranted about how they hated working with ESL students for multiple reasons-I felt were ridiculously stupid…I was token off by the comment as I thought…how can the marginalized marginalize. I refuse to acknowledge a “dominant” voice/writing style because I believe that to say that there is one, admits its rule over me (African American Me)…Ok so although this might be fragmented writing..I do believe I am on to something…
I just received my own copy of the “Everyday Writing Center” in the mail and as I placed the book on my bookshelf I considered the ways in which I might revise or utilize my book summary/reader echo. I have begun to think about trust a word that has been present throughout our class considering Trixie’s work with LBGT students. I’ve even asked myself if I trust the writing center? Was it/or is it a safe space for me-and my black body? In “The Everyday Writing Center” the desire to re-negotiate writing center norms and traditions got me to thinking about collaboration, it’s chaos and Lunsford’s notion of it’s “damnable difficultly”. With this I am also considering Mary Pratt’s Arts of the Contact Zone-where she analyzes the presence of the dominant groups influence in an autoethnographic texts-contending that in many ways present in many autoethonographic texts is the theme of marginalized group’s entry into the dominant culture.
Now I will talk about race: So it seems in my experiences as a African American women that I have had to introduce race or apologize for my understanding of races influences in writing-especially when I am the only African American student in the class-with respect to my own research conclusions-when presented in class-as in the past-There seems to be that one white person who empties out the same rebuttal: “but that isn’t about race”…which has altered and complicated my own understanding of academic writing, social conditioning and contact zones.
I’ve come to consider the writing center in such a way, as a space where acculturation or assimilation through writing might occur. I wonder how many African Americans negotiate the “becoming” of their writing identities particularly those who consistently utilize the writing center.
For me, an insider and outsider to the writing center culture. I find the ideals outlined in Melissa Nicolas text to be quite interesting, especially the dialog and research concerning collaboration and negotiating authority. What I wonder or at times seem to see an absence of is voices of African American and Latinos with respect to writing center research. What if we looked at how authority is negotiated in collaboration with consideration of race of cultural differences? What about the lack of representative voices of “others” of whom speak out and speak up in writing center rhetoric?
I ask these questions because I can recall someone who was African American who ranted about how they hated working with ESL students for multiple reasons-I felt were ridiculously stupid…I was token off by the comment as I thought…how can the marginalized marginalize. I refuse to acknowledge a “dominant” voice/writing style because I believe that to say that there is one, admits its rule over me (African American Me)…Ok so although this might be fragmented writing..I do believe I am on to something…
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Writing Center Research
We've spent the week reading about and talking about researching in Writing Centers. Funny how this never occurred to me, that people were theorizing about researching WCs too! Why not? They are as rich a place for research as any, and from what we've read, much can be learned by researching WCs. And not just about WCs. While we can research our and others' Writing Centers and find out how well they are working, I think we can also discover many other things as well. Writing Centers are places where the writing process is working out loud, where tutor and student talk through what is going on on the page. So this could be an excellent place to learn more about writing processes. It's also a very social space, and much can be learned about epistemological theories and writing as a communicative practice rather than a solo endeavor. While we didn't really read about using the writing center for research other than for writing center purposes, this was something that came to me as I was reading.
Considering the readings more directly, I thought about (of course) my own little WC and what kinds of research I'd like to conduct. The article by Olsen and Moyer, "Student Centered Research Assessment in the Writing Center," particularly caught my attention for two reasons: one, I have my English 200 students do field research and this would be a great project for them and two, because many of the problems the students found in their research resonated with me. For example, we don't have a mission statement that I'm aware of. Also, I know that we are not well-advertised and need to work on our "presence" more: most people don't even know where the writing center is, even though it's not hard to find. And, of course, what we say we do and what we actually do may not be the same; I'd have to actually do some research to find out. However, like the WC in this research, I know that my little WC does much good and is appreciated by those who do use it. So while it isn't all negative, some assessment of my WC would be a very good idea.
One of my concerns about researching writing centers, though, is that I am not a tenured professor. I don't think I have the freedom (yet) to spend my time researching writing centers when I know that this work isn't considered as scholarly as other research I am interested in. Even researching in composition and rhetoric is marginally acceptable at best; I hate to spend my time on something few will consider scholarly. At the same time, while I am writing this it really irks me that what I know to be valuable and scholarly is overlooked by the academy. Is it our job (I'm not sure who "we" are here...) to do this work to show its scholarly nature? Do we fight for this work to be considered scholarly by doing it and showing its value both to writing centers and to academia at large? I don't know the answer, but I do know that writing centers hold the potential for understanding and discovery.
Considering the readings more directly, I thought about (of course) my own little WC and what kinds of research I'd like to conduct. The article by Olsen and Moyer, "Student Centered Research Assessment in the Writing Center," particularly caught my attention for two reasons: one, I have my English 200 students do field research and this would be a great project for them and two, because many of the problems the students found in their research resonated with me. For example, we don't have a mission statement that I'm aware of. Also, I know that we are not well-advertised and need to work on our "presence" more: most people don't even know where the writing center is, even though it's not hard to find. And, of course, what we say we do and what we actually do may not be the same; I'd have to actually do some research to find out. However, like the WC in this research, I know that my little WC does much good and is appreciated by those who do use it. So while it isn't all negative, some assessment of my WC would be a very good idea.
One of my concerns about researching writing centers, though, is that I am not a tenured professor. I don't think I have the freedom (yet) to spend my time researching writing centers when I know that this work isn't considered as scholarly as other research I am interested in. Even researching in composition and rhetoric is marginally acceptable at best; I hate to spend my time on something few will consider scholarly. At the same time, while I am writing this it really irks me that what I know to be valuable and scholarly is overlooked by the academy. Is it our job (I'm not sure who "we" are here...) to do this work to show its scholarly nature? Do we fight for this work to be considered scholarly by doing it and showing its value both to writing centers and to academia at large? I don't know the answer, but I do know that writing centers hold the potential for understanding and discovery.
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