This is not the annotated bibliography
One thing that I needed to do for my revised inquiry proposal was to develop a list of sources. In class we discussed something about putting our sources on our blog. I'd don't know if we were supposed to do that now or not but in case we were here are some of the sources I'm considering using.
1) The Postmodern Writing Center: Some Lessons from Lyotard
according to the abstract this article discuss the potential of the writing center to break way from the rigid restraints of traditional academic writing. also has some ideas what the staff of the writing center might do.
http://proxy.elmhurst.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED360630&site=ehost-live
2) Intersections: Theory-Practice in the Writing Center.
This is actually a collection of essays in a book. some seem like they might be more helpful than others. This book is available online through ERIC but the writing seems hard to read. I'd like to try and find this book in print.
http://proxy.elmhurst.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED374464&site=ehost-live
3) Migrant Rationalities: Graduate Students and the Idea of Authority in the Writing Center
This article may be personally interesting but I'm not 100% sure I can use it for the paper. It does discuss why some graduate students feel stiffled by the conventions of traditional discourse in their academic disciplines.
http://proxy.elmhurst.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ515911&site=ehost-live
4) Crossing Over: Individuality and Social Constructivism in the Writing Center
This article looks at writing in a writing center based on some of the ideas we discussed in class before- is writing an inner directed or outer directed activity.
http://proxy.elmhurst.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED402577&site=ehost-live
5) Walking the Tightrope: Negotiating between the Ideal and the Practical in the Writing Center, Part 2: The Real.
This article seems like it might be an offshoot of the Mike Rose article I read. While he seemed to be challenging English departments and the faculty, questions how they fit into the university, this article looks like it more explicitly explores the relationships between writing
centers and the university
http://proxy.elmhurst.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED399538&site=ehost-live
6) Networked Computers + Writing Centers = ? Thinking about Networked Computers in Writing Center Practice.
This article gets me thinking in a slightly different direction. After reading this article there are some new questions I could ask during interviews with staff at the writing center.
http://proxy.elmhurst.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ551935&site=ehost-live
maybe) Reforming College Composition: Writing the Wrongs. Contributions to the Study of Education.
I don't know if I will really be able to use this source. It is a book with a collection of articles. The abstract touches on some interesting issues- what students can and can't do in the class room is one topic which caught my attention- BUT I don't know if it will be practical for me to search through 19 articles to find the information I need. I'm keeping the citation in this list because if I find a topic that needs more information I can check the index of this book and see if any article is helpful.
http://proxy.elmhurst.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED459452&site=ehost-live
7) Writing Center Internships: The Case for Collaboration and Integration?
Seems to be a fairly concise summary of what can be done to prepare tutors in a writing center.
http://proxy.elmhurst.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED439428&site=ehost-live
8) My Place or Yours: Theorizing Eclectic Writing Centers.
Part of this abstract suggested that theories for writing centers don't work that practices only do. It suggested these were difficult to discuss. That made me a little nervous. This should provide a fairly modern but different way to look at my topic.
http://proxy.elmhurst.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED470708&site=ehost-live
9) Making Thinking Visible: Writing in the Center
Unfortunately this article focuses on a high school writing center. I might compare what is described here to what happens in a college writing center.
http://proxy.elmhurst.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ772109&site=ehost-live
10) Formative Assessment and the Paradigms of Writing Center Practice
This particular article seems like a good place to get some background on the evolution of writing centers. It's certainly a much better way to go about it than looking back at the early articles from the 1970s would be.
http://proxy.elmhurst.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ559333&site=ehost-live
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
10-31 in class
Whom could I talk to who could provide me with information that has factness about this question?
Staff members at the writing center are one group of people that would provide factness about the issue. They could explain why they use different strategies when working with students. Students who actually use the writing center are another group of people that I could interview to provide factness. Do they find the approach taken by the staff at the writing center different than the approach taken by professors in class? What strategies used at the writing center are helpful? What strategies aren't helpful? It might also be useful to interview English professors working with freshman or struggling writers at the college level. Do they see improvments in writing when students visit the writing center? Are there situations where they feel the writing center is more helpful than it is in other situations? (would there be a reason not to have a student seek help outside the classroom?)
What could I read that would provide me with information that has factness about this question?
Other than searching for interviews/testimonials from students, writing center employees, or professors that aren't available for me to interview directly I don't know if there is a lot of material which relates to "factness" that I could read. I have a feeling that more of the information that I will read will fall under the term fact as opposed to "factness". If I'm not quite understanding the definition or the question please let me know.
What else could I do besides talk to people and read to acquire information or factness about this question? (Jolliffe 75)
I'm not feeling particularly creative. I'm not sure how to answer this question. I talked to Maria and she mentioned she might do some type of survey of peers. I don't want to promise that I'll do a survey (I'm usually pretty unreliable about putting them together) but if I really found it necessary I suppose I could ask peers if they'd ever used writing centers and what their experience was? I could create some different type of survey for staff members at the writing center but I'm really not 100% sure what I'd ask.
Staff members at the writing center are one group of people that would provide factness about the issue. They could explain why they use different strategies when working with students. Students who actually use the writing center are another group of people that I could interview to provide factness. Do they find the approach taken by the staff at the writing center different than the approach taken by professors in class? What strategies used at the writing center are helpful? What strategies aren't helpful? It might also be useful to interview English professors working with freshman or struggling writers at the college level. Do they see improvments in writing when students visit the writing center? Are there situations where they feel the writing center is more helpful than it is in other situations? (would there be a reason not to have a student seek help outside the classroom?)
What could I read that would provide me with information that has factness about this question?
Other than searching for interviews/testimonials from students, writing center employees, or professors that aren't available for me to interview directly I don't know if there is a lot of material which relates to "factness" that I could read. I have a feeling that more of the information that I will read will fall under the term fact as opposed to "factness". If I'm not quite understanding the definition or the question please let me know.
What else could I do besides talk to people and read to acquire information or factness about this question? (Jolliffe 75)
I'm not feeling particularly creative. I'm not sure how to answer this question. I talked to Maria and she mentioned she might do some type of survey of peers. I don't want to promise that I'll do a survey (I'm usually pretty unreliable about putting them together) but if I really found it necessary I suppose I could ask peers if they'd ever used writing centers and what their experience was? I could create some different type of survey for staff members at the writing center but I'm really not 100% sure what I'd ask.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
WOW-Mike Rose-Reading for 10-31
Before reading our article assigned for Wednesday I went onto the website and looked at other people's responses. Lindsay (I think it was Lindsay) was the only person who had written about the article our syllabus had suggested for reading. Reading her response helped me understand what the article seemed to generally be about and it didn't seem to really relate to my topic. I looked through the cross talk book for articles that seemed to relate more to my topic. Mike Rose's article "The Language of Exclusion: Writing Instruction at the University" caught my eye and seemed to at least partially relate to my topic, writing centers and other outside sources college students might use when trying to learn to write for the academic discourse community.
Rose does talk about writing centers a little in his article. When he discusses writing as a skill he mentions that we have established writing skill centers. The inclusion of the word "skill" might be a keyword which I could use to get more useful returns on my online searches. To my knowledge when we talk about "The Writing Center" at Elmhurst College we're not dropping the word "skill" from the title. I'm just starting my research but I now question why that particular choice was made. I don't necessarily have the answer and I guess ultimately it may not prove to be that important but my gut tells me there's something worth following up on.
Rose really seems to attack fellow colleagues as well as university "higher ups" for their treatment of writers who struggle at their early attempts to master the conventions of academic discourse. He gives some suggestions for how to solve the issues at the end of his article but I was disappointed he didn't offer more solutions. It did make me feel confident that I wasn't misinterpreting a lot of the articles and assuming that the authors seemed to look down on students who struggled. Of all the articles we've read in this course I think it's possible that the lessons/theme of this article will most likely be carried with me for the longest period of time.
I can't help but relate a quote in this article to an idea that was presented in our discussion about the Lu article. On page 565 Rose talks about the work of Mina Shuaghnessy and says "she told us to interpret errors rather than circle them". I think that Lu was trying to interpret the errors of her students. I am 110% behind this idea and I think we as a class worked to interpret the errors or uniqueness of the 106 student's writing at the end of class and YEAH for us to do that and YEAH that Dr. O'Rourke was willing to do it.
Rose does talk about writing centers a little in his article. When he discusses writing as a skill he mentions that we have established writing skill centers. The inclusion of the word "skill" might be a keyword which I could use to get more useful returns on my online searches. To my knowledge when we talk about "The Writing Center" at Elmhurst College we're not dropping the word "skill" from the title. I'm just starting my research but I now question why that particular choice was made. I don't necessarily have the answer and I guess ultimately it may not prove to be that important but my gut tells me there's something worth following up on.
Rose really seems to attack fellow colleagues as well as university "higher ups" for their treatment of writers who struggle at their early attempts to master the conventions of academic discourse. He gives some suggestions for how to solve the issues at the end of his article but I was disappointed he didn't offer more solutions. It did make me feel confident that I wasn't misinterpreting a lot of the articles and assuming that the authors seemed to look down on students who struggled. Of all the articles we've read in this course I think it's possible that the lessons/theme of this article will most likely be carried with me for the longest period of time.
I can't help but relate a quote in this article to an idea that was presented in our discussion about the Lu article. On page 565 Rose talks about the work of Mina Shuaghnessy and says "she told us to interpret errors rather than circle them". I think that Lu was trying to interpret the errors of her students. I am 110% behind this idea and I think we as a class worked to interpret the errors or uniqueness of the 106 student's writing at the end of class and YEAH for us to do that and YEAH that Dr. O'Rourke was willing to do it.
Monday, October 29, 2007
revision/questions about inquiry project
Dr. O'Rourke at 9:45 I wasn't ready to post the questions. Once I've taken a little more time to think I'll post to the blog. Hopefully before Tuesday afternoon. Thanks for your patience.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
multiculturalism/contact zones
This article by Min-Zhan Lu builds off Mary Louise Pratt's article "Arts of the Contact Zone". Both authors suggest that part of the problem with the idea of multiculturalism in writing and education is that it seems to require extra effort to incorportate it. Lu suggests that there may be ways to incorporate the ideas of multiculturalism into an English class which haven't been explored yet.
"Academic Discourse" has a set of conventions that most teachers work hard to adher to, students who struggle to follow these rules are sent to outside sources such as a writing center where instructers work with them on "mastering correct usage" of English grammar. Reading this particular passage should disturb most people in this class after we've discussed the drawbacks to teaching writing as if there was only one correct way for a person to express their ideas.
Lu discusses two examples of people who were intelligent who because of their backgrounds weren't prepared to adapt to the academic discourse in universities. Both of these cases are examples of the problems that occur when we assume that sticking to established conventions is the best way to write.
To combat this problem Lu provides students with papers where there are grammar errors which seem easy to fix. Rather than fixing them though the class is encouraged to discuss why the person might've expressed themselves in this particular manner.
Lu's students seemed to feel that traditional academic discourse was better than the less traditional writing but being exposed to both styles allowed students to have a better
understanding why they preferred one approach to the other.
I'm not sure I 100% understand the definition of contact zones. It seems that they are areas in writing where the way a person learned to use English grammar relates to how grammar is used in academic discourse. Does a contact zone have to include a difference in how grammar is interpreted?
"Academic Discourse" has a set of conventions that most teachers work hard to adher to, students who struggle to follow these rules are sent to outside sources such as a writing center where instructers work with them on "mastering correct usage" of English grammar. Reading this particular passage should disturb most people in this class after we've discussed the drawbacks to teaching writing as if there was only one correct way for a person to express their ideas.
Lu discusses two examples of people who were intelligent who because of their backgrounds weren't prepared to adapt to the academic discourse in universities. Both of these cases are examples of the problems that occur when we assume that sticking to established conventions is the best way to write.
To combat this problem Lu provides students with papers where there are grammar errors which seem easy to fix. Rather than fixing them though the class is encouraged to discuss why the person might've expressed themselves in this particular manner.
Lu's students seemed to feel that traditional academic discourse was better than the less traditional writing but being exposed to both styles allowed students to have a better
understanding why they preferred one approach to the other.
I'm not sure I 100% understand the definition of contact zones. It seems that they are areas in writing where the way a person learned to use English grammar relates to how grammar is used in academic discourse. Does a contact zone have to include a difference in how grammar is interpreted?
Monday, October 22, 2007
inquiry project
Identify the issue or problem that you plan to focus on in your Inquiry Project.
This issue comes about from a few different articles. Reading Royster’s “when the first voice you hear is not your own”, as well as Bartholomae’s “inventing the university”.
I’m not 100% sure whether my paper will focus more on how students are taught to modify their natural dialect to fit into academic discourse or whether my paper will focus on how what happens to students who aren’t able to adapt to the style of academic discourse.
If I choose to pursue the natural dialect fitting into academic discourse I might also look at whether or not academic discourse stifles creativity of students.
2. What is your personal connection to and interest in this topic?
After we discussed Royster in class I was prompted to think more about her article. I carried the article around with me for a few days and sort of tried to think how it applied to experiences I had and other things that we read. Ultimately this connection to Bartholomae came to my mind.
3. What opinions do you already hold about this topic?
I guess with either approach to the topic I’m a little disappointed in the way that the academic community seems to interact with students. I’d work on the assumption that some creativity is lost when students are taught to modify their writing for an academic community. (although even as a I type this I’m starting to think how someone might argue that creativity isn’t lost).
Personal experiences in addition to the way the attitude the theorists seem to have about less experienced writers makes me pessimistic about the chances students have to succeed in academic writing if they struggle at first to adapt their writing to academic communities.
4. What knowledge do you already have about this topic. What are your main questions about this topic? What are you most curious about?
I think I’ve already at least partially answered this question in some of the above questions. I’d expand my thoughts by discussing a place I might conduct some research for either topic. Elmhurst College’s writing center would seem like a place that I might get some valuable information for this topic. What type of interaction takes place when students bring papers into the writing center? How does the aid that takes place here make the students conform to academic conventions? What other resources are available to students who are struggling?
5. How might composition theorists and researchers approach or study this topic? Does this approach differ from those of other related disciplines (such as communication studies)?
Yikes. I’m really not sure how to answer this question.
6. How could you research this topic outside the library (for example, through interviews and/or observations)?
Please see number 4. Once I focus more on my topic I'll be able to answer this better.
This issue comes about from a few different articles. Reading Royster’s “when the first voice you hear is not your own”, as well as Bartholomae’s “inventing the university”.
I’m not 100% sure whether my paper will focus more on how students are taught to modify their natural dialect to fit into academic discourse or whether my paper will focus on how what happens to students who aren’t able to adapt to the style of academic discourse.
If I choose to pursue the natural dialect fitting into academic discourse I might also look at whether or not academic discourse stifles creativity of students.
2. What is your personal connection to and interest in this topic?
After we discussed Royster in class I was prompted to think more about her article. I carried the article around with me for a few days and sort of tried to think how it applied to experiences I had and other things that we read. Ultimately this connection to Bartholomae came to my mind.
3. What opinions do you already hold about this topic?
I guess with either approach to the topic I’m a little disappointed in the way that the academic community seems to interact with students. I’d work on the assumption that some creativity is lost when students are taught to modify their writing for an academic community. (although even as a I type this I’m starting to think how someone might argue that creativity isn’t lost).
Personal experiences in addition to the way the attitude the theorists seem to have about less experienced writers makes me pessimistic about the chances students have to succeed in academic writing if they struggle at first to adapt their writing to academic communities.
4. What knowledge do you already have about this topic. What are your main questions about this topic? What are you most curious about?
I think I’ve already at least partially answered this question in some of the above questions. I’d expand my thoughts by discussing a place I might conduct some research for either topic. Elmhurst College’s writing center would seem like a place that I might get some valuable information for this topic. What type of interaction takes place when students bring papers into the writing center? How does the aid that takes place here make the students conform to academic conventions? What other resources are available to students who are struggling?
5. How might composition theorists and researchers approach or study this topic? Does this approach differ from those of other related disciplines (such as communication studies)?
Yikes. I’m really not sure how to answer this question.
6. How could you research this topic outside the library (for example, through interviews and/or observations)?
Please see number 4. Once I focus more on my topic I'll be able to answer this better.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
class discussion
I didn't say anything in our class discussion on a "scene" where we related to Jacqueline Royster's article. I was able to talk about the discussion a little more after class with Dr. O'Rourke and I think I was able to clarify my thoughts. I can relate to what Brett said in class "I don't feel like I can contribute because I don't think I've had an experience like the one Royster describes". The thought that went through my head as I read the article by Royster and listened to the stories that people shared in class was "This makes me appreciate being a white male who lives with, goes to school with, and works with people that are pretty much like me". I could sit here and list theoretical situations where I might be in the minority and as a result feel that I had to alter my voice because of the environment/people around me but I find it hard to believe I'd ever regularly be in that type of situation.
One solution to the issue Royster raises would be to have white men only discuss white men, black women only discuss black women etc. etc. I can't help but think that if we did this it would take away the unique perspectives that we get when we try and put ourselves in the position of people who come from a background different than our own. A series of question is flowing through my head:
1) Who is allowed to talk about who? Should we only speak about our own race? our own sex? our own religion?
2) Hopefully we would recognize that we're allowed to talk about people from different situations than our own. What are some guidelines that could be established to work torwards not offending people?
I had finished this blog and was ready to leave this topic alone for a while. I had a few extra minutes so I read everyone else's blogs. Signing off the computer and walking back to the dorm I started to feel guilty. I thought to myself that's part of the problem with a discussion like this. I personally shouldn't feel guilt about the other situations because I'm a white male. SHOULD I? I can't believe that Royster was attempting to invoke this response. If she was I'll have to yell at her like she yelled at the panel.
if you read this please feel free to comment. I may update this before Friday/this weekend depending on what else we talk about or if I can find more ways to explain my thoughts. part of me fears that I'm complaining or sending out some type of elitest attitude in this post and neither of those are my goal.
One solution to the issue Royster raises would be to have white men only discuss white men, black women only discuss black women etc. etc. I can't help but think that if we did this it would take away the unique perspectives that we get when we try and put ourselves in the position of people who come from a background different than our own. A series of question is flowing through my head:
1) Who is allowed to talk about who? Should we only speak about our own race? our own sex? our own religion?
2) Hopefully we would recognize that we're allowed to talk about people from different situations than our own. What are some guidelines that could be established to work torwards not offending people?
I had finished this blog and was ready to leave this topic alone for a while. I had a few extra minutes so I read everyone else's blogs. Signing off the computer and walking back to the dorm I started to feel guilty. I thought to myself that's part of the problem with a discussion like this. I personally shouldn't feel guilt about the other situations because I'm a white male. SHOULD I? I can't believe that Royster was attempting to invoke this response. If she was I'll have to yell at her like she yelled at the panel.
if you read this please feel free to comment. I may update this before Friday/this weekend depending on what else we talk about or if I can find more ways to explain my thoughts. part of me fears that I'm complaining or sending out some type of elitest attitude in this post and neither of those are my goal.
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