September 30

At the beginning of class I invited you to participate in the Kean University English Department events for the National Day of Writing on October 20, 2009 at Liberty Hall. If you are interested or have questions - stop by my office or send me an email.

Tonight we discussed Stephen North's "The Idea of a Writing Center" and "'The Idea of a Writing Center' Revisited." we focused on conflicts between how the public perceives writing centers, and how North represents writing centers in terms of: who comes to writing centers (struggling students v all writers); why individuals come to writing centers (because they are sent by teacher v because they want to); and what happens at writing centers (drills & skills centered correction v 'holistic' participant observation by tutors who respond to particular writers interests/issues). We also considered North's revisions on these positions, as well as his changing position with respect to relationships between the university (and this mostly meant teachers)and the writing center; and the purpose/function of the center. According to North the center's most important function is to be a place where writers talk about writing - and he tags a few other purposes onto this central purpose.

Thanks for your interesting discussion of these rather abstract articles.

Make sure you have turned in an electronic copy of your response to Lunsford. I will read these over the weekend and return them via email by Monday night class.

For Blog 6: Create a writing center philosophy from the perspective of the director of a writing center. This version needs to address the issues identified by North: the center's purpose, who comes there, why they come, what they do => as well as the assumptions and "reasons" that underlie the practical answers to these questions. For example, assuming that knowledge is created through conversation mandates certain coaching practices, and assuming that knowledge will be created differently in different contexts, or that it is apprehended entirely in the mind of the learner may mandate different coaching practices. In this version of your philosophy make clear connections between what your center will DO - and your assumptions about learning, knowledge, and the political realities of writing centers. I am looking forward to reading these posts!

In class, we will talk about practices for observing and taking notes on writing sessions - and then you will practice some of these techniques while on in-class sessions between classmates.

Have a good weekend and see you Monday.