Tuesday, September 21

Tonight, we used work on the assignment on the writing culture at Kean University as a way to model and practice coaching sessions where writers do not have a draft. In these sessions some of you were working on finding a focus, some were working on figuring out what the assignment required, and some were working on understanding what we meant by academic (Kean) expectations for "writing culture." From checking in and selective observations of your sessions it sounds like all of you made progress - which was the point. It also sounds like those of you who don't have much experience with writing centers got a taste of the kind of work that writing centers do. Good.

For Thursday:

Blog 5 (I know it says Blog 4 on the calendar I handed out - I am going to make some revisions + re-post): Post a draft for the writing centers and cultures assignment. Post what you have, as far as you get. The more writing you post, the easier it will be for coaches to participate in your writing process.

Read: Review McAndrew and Reigstad, 42-56 - strategies for working with writers who have a draft. You might also look over the section that begins on 64 where the authors sum up overall sessions (the sections on 66 & 67 might be particulary useful for the in-class sessions you conduct for Thursday's class).

In class on Thursday you will work in pairs to coach one another on your essays. Make sure to establish where the writer is in the writing process before you begin. The object of the session is to move the writer forward in the writing process. This may invole a little talk and lots of writing by the writer - or it may involve a lot of talk. It will depend on your writer.

In Thursday's class - we will begin to do some reflecting and note-taking on your sessions. I know it stated on the calendar that we were going to start on the journals in class on Tuesday - but it seemed like there was already enough going on and introducing one more task would have been counterproductive. So come to class ready to work on your essay, coach, and to begin reflecting on your coaching process.

Though tonight was a little loose - I was really pleased with the progress we made. Good work - and good writing on your drafts! See you Thursday.