Session 3
3:15 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
1. Writing Center Leadership for Sustainable Campus Change – individual
Al DeCiccio, Provost, Southern Vermont College
In “Preparing to Sit at the Head Table,” Muriel Harris tells us that, for the writing center worker, there is “a place-setting at the head of the table where the speaker’s podium awaits . .” (19). Harris suggests that the writing center community should renew itself by collaborating with the world(s) outside itself. She forecasts centers’ need to get up to speed with technology, quantitative data collection, and retention. I seek to engage participants by advocating that writing center workers must envision new, practical ways to collaborate, “maintain viability,” and become campus leaders to make and to sustain positive institutional change.
2. Sustaining the Writing Center for Today’s (And Tomorrow’s) College Students –
individual
Kristine E. Barnett, Writing Portfolio Coordinator, Saint Joseph College
Writing centers have always been committed to evolving to meet student needs, and current trends in student demographics create varied implications for the writing center. Thus, because of the unique characteristics of today’s college students, writing center leaders must craft and execute proactive sustainability plans. After a brief description of the diverse characteristics and needs of contemporary college students, implications on writing center practice will be discussed. The presentation will share insights, suggestions and tips, gleaned mostly from writing center professionals, regarding sustainability strategies.
Revising Authority and the "Peer" Debate in Writing Centers (or Why Peer Tutors
Have Good Reason to Embrace Their Knowledge and Experience) – panel
Haivan V. Hoang, Director, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Alison Tutlys, Tutor, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Russell J. Boutelle, Tutor, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Revisiting an old emphasis on the peer tutor, three members of the UMass Writing Center propose that, rather than grow anxious about power and authority, we might recast authority productively and ethically. The presenters invite discussion about (a) why authority is important for tutors (even in a student-centered writing center), (b) how senior tutors can become mentors to new tutors, and (c) how creative writers in the center can share their expertise with fellow tutors.
3. Beyond Accommodations: Universal Design and the Writing Center – individual
Miriam Pollack, Supervisor, Bergen Community College
One of the most valuable tools I’ve encountered in helping me begin to think through the challenges of working with students with special needs is the philosophy of Universal Design. I’d like to discuss my experience (successes and interesting failures) in implementing Universal Design in order to open up a conversation about what Universal Design might mean in the context of Writing Center pedagogy and practice.
4. Writers Choosing Tutors by Major: Reenvisioning Writing Center Practice – panel
Lucy Sweetman, Tutor, University of Connecticut
Kaylee Czajka, Tutor, University of Connecticut
Candice Pelligra, Tutor, University of Connecticut
Ralph Riello, Tutor, University of Connecticut
This presentation revisits the way we encourage writers to select tutors by major. For some writers, selecting a tutor by major might be the inspiration for a visit; yet for others the selection seems to reinforce old stereotypes about science and humanities writers.
5. Scapegoat: Revisiting the Writing Center/Classroom Debate – individual
Stephen J. Corbett, Assistant Professor of English, Southern Connecticut State University How far have we really come in cultivating writing center/writing classroom collaborative attitudes and actions since the 1980s? Drawing on a recent essay by Steve Sherwood “Writing Center as Scapegoat,” the rhetorical theory of Kenneth Burke, and the literature on the center/classroom connection by authors like Louise Smith, Dave Healy, and Mary Soliday, I will argue that the divisive discourse separating classroom and center—the two-way scapegoating that occurs—is alive, well, and warrants revisiting.
Mandatory Tutoring Sessions: How Writing Center Tutors Can Squash the Combative
Nature of Mandated FYW Tutoring Sessions – workshop
Lauren Kopec, Tutor/Graduate Assistant, St. John’s University, Queens
This workshop will focus on the difficulties encountered during tutoring sessions mandated by first-year writing instructors. Tutors will be encouraged to share their own anecdotes about these problematic sessions and propose their own methods for strategically tackling these problems. Finally, we will discuss Writing Center WrapUps,
a partnership between tutors and instructors that allows for tutor visits to the classroom. The activities that comprise Writing Center WrapUps
provide the same benefits as mandated sessions while eliminating the animosity felt by students towards their tutors.
6. Tutoring Chinese L1 Writers: Common Problems and Solutions – workshop
Jelena Runic, Graduate Tutor, University of Connecticut, Storrs
This workshop will complement the typical guidance for tutoring ESL students by focusing more sharply on one kind of writer—native Chinese speakers—and on one element of writing—grammar. It is well known that Chinese L1 writers tend to make various grammatical errors while developing their English writing skills. My research indicates that most persistent grammar mistakes occur in the domains of agreement, articles, and relative clauses. In this workshop, I discuss basic differences between Chinese and English in the above-mentioned areas, providing suggestions on how tutors could tackle those issues to reduce the Chinese writers’ enduring errors and improve their English writing skills.
7. Tutoring Strategies to Encourage ReVisits
– workshop
Meghan Barry, Consultant, Bryant University
Stephanie Rochefort, Consultant, Bryant University
Zarana Kathrani, Consultant, Bryant University
This interactive workshop will present strategies and techniques to encourage students to “re-visit,” and analyze why our center’s rates of return have drastically increased. After an introduction to our services through statistics and qualitative features, we will present scenarios encouraging audience participation, including critiques of techniques used, as well as discussions of how to increase student return visits through tutor interaction based on our research and audience members’ own methods.
Special Interest Groups
SIGs meet to discuss common interests and to strengthen the bonds of the NEWCA community. Each SIG meets from 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. and from 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
| WAC, WID, and the Writing Center | Writing Center Outreach |
| ESL Writers and the Writing Center | Anti-Racism and the Writing Center |
| Technology in the Writing Center | Thinking about NEWCA 2010? (Conference Proposal Writing) |
| Tutoring Strategies | Tutoring in the Disciplines / Classroom-Based Tutoring |
| Archiving and the Writing Center | So You're Thinking about Grad School |
| Writing Center Administrative Issues |
NEWACC Workshop on WAC Program Assessment
The newly formed Northeast Writing Across the Curriculum Consortium will meet on Sunday to share approaches to WAC program assessment at their institutions. WAC program assessment is becoming a focus at many institutions as part of the larger assessment trend sweeping education. During this workshop, we will focus on some of the key questions swirling around WAC programs these days such as: How do WAC directors handle pressures from administration to implement program assessment that is incongruent with current theory and research? How can WAC directors shape assessment so that the process itself provides opportunities for faculty development and the assessment yields information useful for program development? What models are available for internal assessment, external assessment, assessment that is built from the ground up, ongoing assessment, or for starting program assessment?
Workshop Schedule
9:00 – 10:00 a.m.:
The workshop will open with presentations by WAC directors from several area institutions, showcasing various approaches to WAC program assessment.
10:00 – 11:00 a.m.:
The second hour will be dedicated to small group work, so that participants can share approaches from their own institutions. Then, there will be a larger discussion that focuses on the burning questions about WAC program assessment that arise from the small group discussions.
11:0011:
30 a.m.:
The workshop will be followed by a half-hour business meeting to plan the next NEWACC workshop.
