Weekly Schedule

Notes: It's hard to get to a 7:50 class. I'll need coffee; so will you. So, starting the second week of classes, every Monday we meet at the Dining Center. Get breakfast and do your best thinking over a cup of hot coffee. Every W we meet in the Jepson G20 lab for hands-on work with online materials and student writing.

Readings, video work, and commentary are due by the day under which they are listed. Journals are due when I announce them, but always have them for Monday reading discussions.


Student Writing and Academic Expectations

M 8/27: Policies, Procedures and Orientation to Syllaweb; some discussions about writing

W 8/29: Bartholomae, D. "Inventing the University" (4 Keys) & Wingate, M. "Writing Centers as Sites of Academic Culture" (e-reserve)


Start meeting at D-Hall every Monday: Start bringing your journal!

M 9/3 : Perry, V. "My Teacher Hates Me!" (e-reserve) and Downs, D. & Wardle, E. "Teaching about Writing" (e-reserve)

W: Writing Workshop with an Eng. 103 or Core paper


M 9/10: Ritter, K. "The Economics of Authorship: Online Paper Mills, Student Writers, and First-Year Composition" (e-reserve), Rose, M. "The Language of Exclusion" (4 Keys), & Yother, B. "Helping Students Write Literary Analyses"(e-reserve),

W: Rutgers' plagiarism exercise "Writing From Sources," in class.


Where peer-tutoring fits in: Theory, Practice, Priorities:

M 9/17: North, S. "The Idea of a Writing Center" (St. Martin's Sourcebook), & Murray, D. "Teaching the Other Self: The Writer's First Reader" (4 Keys)

W: Video Work : "The Fix-it Shop" from "Training for Tough Tutorials" (review scenes before class & complete feedback form in class).


M 9/24: Shaparkenko, "Focus on Focus" (e-reserve), Bartholomae, D. "The Study of Error" (e-reserve)

W: Commentary exercise in class (download and write commentary before we meet): "What if Drugs Were Legal?"


M 10/1: Glover, C. & Stay, B. "Grammar in the Writing Center" (e-reserve), Ryan, L. Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors, Ch. 4, Lanham's Paramedic Method (Writer's Web)

W: Video Work : "The Grammar Tutorial" from "Training for Tough Tutorials (review scenes before class & complete feedback form in class).


The role of written commentary

M 10/8: Straub, R. "Concept of Control in Teacher Response," Gorkemli, S. "This is a Redneck Argument!," (e-reserve) & McGlaun, S. "Reflections on Teacher Comments" (e-reserve)

W: Ryan, L. Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors (ch. 1&3--ignore exercises), Bader, A. "Do's and Don'ts" of Writing Commentary (Writer's Web)

Video Work: "The Offensive Paper" and "The Strong Paper" from "Training for Tough Tutorials (review scenes before class & complete feedback form in class).

NOTE FOR MIDTERM PREPARATION: print and bring to class a piece of your writing (at least three pages) along with the assignment, to trade w/ a classmate for a commentary midterm exam after break. You may bring an ongoing assignment for a current class or an old paper. Before the exam, you may e-mail your writer, me, or classmates any questions you have about the paper you are reviewing. Questions about the assignment should go to the professor who wrote it.


Fall BREAK: Oct 13-16. Class will meet again W. Oct. 17. ¡Buen Viaje!


Conferencing techniques and issues

W Oct. 17: Midterm in Class. You will:

1) Hold a conference (no more than 20 minutes) with the classmate with whom you traded papers, then prepare Writing Center Reports (using me as the professor).

2) Answer a short essay Q I will provide (this may be brought to class on Monday the 22nd). The topic will generally involve explaining the approach you took and stating which readings and approaches to tutoring influenced your choices.

Review Before the Midterm:

Tips for Effective Conferences & Reports & An Awful Report & a Good One

Freed, S. "Subjectivity in the Tutorial Session," Brooks, F. "Minimalist Tutoring" & Shamoon, L. & Burns, D. "A Critique of Pure Tutoring" (all in St. Martin's Sourcebook)


M 10/22: Ryan. L. Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors, Ch. 8. & Sherwood, S. "Apprenticed to Failure: Learning from the Students We Can't Help," (e-reserve).

W: Video Work: Each group does one in class: "The Angry Writer," The Demoralized Writer," or "The Bloody Paper" from "Training for Tough Tutorials"


Interpersonal & Cultural Issues

M 10/29: Haynes-Burton, C. "Thirty-Something Students" (St. Martin's Sourcebook), Smith, A. "Non-traditional Students in the Writing Center," & Gardner, et. al. "Writing Center Ethics & Non-traditional Students" (e-reserve)

W: Cogie, J. "In Defense of Conference Summaries" (e-reserve)

Three tough interpersonal situations

Video Work: Each group reviews video for one before class, then we discuss & do in-class reports: "The Friend," "The Nontraditional Student," and "The Student Athlete" from "Training for Tough Tutorials"


Monday: Bosporus-Project Prospectus Due at start of class.

M 11/5: Harris, M. "Cultural Conflicts in the Writing Center" (St. Martin's Sourcebook)

W: Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors, Ch. 5 Bring Journal to Exchange with a Peer in Class

Video Work: "ESL Help" from "Training for Tough Tutorials" (review scenes before class & complete feedback form in class).& Two Business Letters


M 11/12: Severino,C. "The Doodles in Context: Qualifying Claims about Contrastive Rhetoric," Moujtahid, B. "Influence of Cultural and Linguistic Backgrounds on the writing of Arabic and Japanese Students of English," & Mosher, et al. "Creating a Common Ground with ESL Writers" (all are on e-reserve).

Each student selects one of the three and e-mails me a detailed response. Meet in D-Hall or our classroom if needed; I will be away for a conference this week.

W 11/14: Meet in Jepson; visit by Nuray Grove, Director of ESL Services--discussion of ESL issues and Writing Centers & teaching in Turkey for our final project


Technology and writing

M 11/19: Baron, D. "From Pencils to Pixels" & Cooper, G. et. al. "Protocols and Process in Online Tutoring" (St. Martin's Sourcebook)

Thanksgiving break W 11/21-Sun 11/25

M 11/26: Breuch, L. "Tutor Time Commitment in Online Writing Centers." (e-reserve)

W 11/30: Project workshop (Jepson Lab)


Final project week

M & W 12/3 & 12/7: Project workshop (Jepson Lab)

F 12/7: Last day of class. Final work for Bosporus Project due.

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