Blog 10 Writing Center Observations

Hi everyone,
I have been waiting to post this blog until I actually had an opportunity to observe someone at the writing lab.  I don't know if anyone else is having a problem but I have been to the writing center 3 days now and still have not been able to observe.  On Monday, I spend 2 hours and the 2 students who were scheduled never showed up.  I was told by the manager on duty to return Wednesday.  On Wednesday it was National Writing Day and no sessions were scheduled.  I wish someone would have told me that before I drove in.  I plan to go today.  I was told by the manager on Wednesday that he will have someone for me between 8-9.  If the student doesn't show up, I will have strike 3.  Does anyone who works at the center have a definate student showing up anytime Friday, Sat or Monday?  I need help!!!!

Blog 9 Writing Philosophy draft

Monica Charris

ENG 5070

Dr. Sally Chandler

                                                         Writing Philosophy

The Kean University Writing Center believes that everyone can be a great writer.  Individuals only need the guidance and collaborative assistance in putting the words on paper.  The Writing Center at Kean University embraces this belief and strives to fulfill this commitment by implementing a Burkean Parlor collaborative conversation approach to teaching writing.  Collaboration aids in problem solving, in learning abstractions, in fostering interdisciplinary thinking and in achieving a higher stage of critical thinking.  This is the cornerstone of our writing philosophy. 

Our philosophy is comprised of learning what type of writer the client is and collaboratively developing an individual counseling session that will foster the undergraduate and graduate student needs in the writing process.  By integrating a variety of learning styles, diversity in teaching and working collaboratively with the writer, our clients can be assured a productive counseling session.  Our Writing Center is committed to engaging the student “not only in solving problems set by teachers but identifying problems for themselves” (Barnett & Blummer 1991).  We are committed to working mutually with our clients to facilitate in the expansion of their writing ability.

The Kean University Writing Center employees are made up of undergraduate and graduate professionals that posses and maintain a 3.5 to 4.0 grade point average in their educational field. They are a diverse group of individuals of many different cultures, learning styles and academic disciplines.  These peer instructors attend periodical training sessions on different coaching models that can be implemented in their tutoring sessions.  A hierarchical form of administration and hiring of employees, at the Kean Writing Center, ensures that each client is offered the best service available.   To fulfill this, a step by step method of informational intake is completed for each client.

Before the initial counseling session, the client is encouraged to sit down with an administrative intake specialist and fill out a background survey that will assist in properly matching the writer with the suitable peer counselor.   In this manner, our staff can offer the one to one counseling each client expects.  When meeting with their clients, the peer instructors will work hand in hand with the writer to enhance each phase of their writing process.  Tutors will review rhetorical conventions of academic writing throughout the counseling session and implement technical guidance to foster independence in writing with the student.

The use of technology in today’s institutions has become a commonplace in present society.  This is why at our Writing Center, technology is used to facilitate in the enhancing of writing.  Counselors utilize technology throughout the writing process.  When clients are confronted with an issue of concern in their writing, tutors not only offer one to one assistance but will provide them with the technical resource support that will aid in solving this matter.  This method of fostering independence in writing, promotes lifelong learning. 

We are committed to maintain excellence in our coaching sessions.  As a result of this effort, each student will be encouraged to fill out an exit survey focusing on both the negative and positive aspects of their experience with the Writing Center.  These surveys will assist us in bettering the quality of our counseling.  Andrea Lunford, writer of the essay, Collaboration, Control and the Idea of a Writing Center focuses on this point when she states that “collaboration promotes excellence”(Barnett & Blummer 1991).  This is our foundation, our commitment, and our undertaking.      

Blog 8 Draft of Writing culture

Monica Charris

ENG 5070

Dr. Sally Chandler

                                          The ESL Student and the Writing Center

The ability to write a well- developed professional essay in college is a technique that requires practice and an openness to change.  These professional essays rely on the professor’s expectations but can be defined as expository writings that include scholarly data or research justifying a hypothetical opinion of the student.  The culture of writing at Kean University validates the grade given to the student.  For this reason, an APA format of writing with academic vocabulary and a logical organization is required in many of these essays (Kean University ESL Program Scoring Guide 2006).  While in college, many students attend Writing Centers to aid in the refining of writing skills in order to fulfill the expectations of their professors and college philosophies.  In these writing centers, students of diverse backgrounds and academic abilities have found the necessary assistance needed to create acceptable college essays.  ESL students may require more help in the Writing Center then traditional English writers.  This has required writing centers to change their methods of instruction drastically throughout the years.  ESL students have benefited from this change because strategies have been modified to better service their needs.

The demographics of ESL students at Kean University has grown in number since the Fall of 2006.  In the Fall of 2006, the Hispanics population of students was10.8% and has steadily increased to 11.8% up to the Fall of 2009 (Student Profiles).  The increase in the Hispanic numbers has led to a change in how typical students write.  ESL students demonstrate different needs than a typical native English speaker.  This is dependent on the prior experience the student has had learning English and the academic level of education.

Many ESL students have acknowledged that seeking help of a Writing Center is important to refining their writing college techniques (Bruce & Rafoth 2009).  All ESL students do not write the same.  Some students have issues of codeswitching the home language with the target language.  Other ESL students may have issues that start from incorrect sentence structures to having no idea how an English essay should be organized.  More and more Hispanics students have requested assistance in Writing Center to help with these issues.  In order to better help ESL students, a tutor should observe and decide what kind of writer the learner is.  There are 3 characteristics of an ESL student, a United States ESL High School graduate, an International/ Visa college professional and International Graduate student.

The first characteristic group is an undergraduate ESL student whose home language is not English but has attended ESL classes in a US high school.   These individuals have issues that involve grammar (Bruce & Rafoth 2009).  These students may be proficient in speaking and listening in the target language of English but have not applied proper English grammar and vocabulary usage in their writing.  Their writing skills demonstrate a merging of both Spanish and English writing aptitudes (Bruce & Rafoth 2009).  Writing tutors can service these students through the use of the Rhetorical Approach which walks the learner through each step of the writing process ( Brisk & Harrington 2007) This type of scaffolding support, ensures that the process of writing is understood by the writer.  Simply correcting the ESL student’s essay may seem an easier route to take but facilitating in organizing proper English grammar foundations and focusing on self correcting strategies will give the learner a wealth of power in their writing.  The next subgroup is the International/Visa college student who has attended college in another country that is not the US.  

International /Visa students are individuals that do not intend to stay in the United States and have chosen to complete their college degree here.  These students have a good work ethic, are very proud of their home language and have the flexibility of operating their home language with the target language (Bruce & Rafoth 2009).   These professionals are academically successful and have acquired the basic rules of writing in their home language.  These students have less grammar concerns but demonstrate a difficulty in developing ideas and concepts in the English language.  These students have cultivated an “ear” for grammar but still may lack the instinctive correctness that many native English writer have (Writing Matters #6 2010).  To aid these students, writing center tutors can concentrate on the content of the essay and move towards grammar correctness within the frame work of the writing.  This method of coaching will promote learning and independence in the ESL student’s writing style.  The last groups of ESL students are professionals that have completed an undergraduate degree in their home country and are pursuing a graduate level of study. 

International Graduate Students are less likely to attend Writing Centers.  They seek the direct assistance of advisors, professors and academically equivalent peers.  They are very concern with the structure and formatting of their essays.  They write and rewrite in order to achieve a sense of perfection (Bruce & Rafoth 2009).   When these students do come to a Writing Center, they basically know exactly what they need help in.  The most effective way the Writing Center can service these students is by using their strengths and academic excellence in self correcting their essays.  In this way, Kean ESL students can experience a positive understanding of the writing process in the Writing Center.

When I started my studies in 2000, the Writing Lab was a place where students were forced to go if they had difficulty in writing.  A great amount of these students in the writing lab were ESL students.  The student would hand the tutor their essay, the tutor would red pen the paper with correct grammar structures and send the student off on their way.  I belonged to the first sub group of ESL students that attended a US high school but lacked the proper English grammar and vocabulary abilities to compose a college level paper.  I had many ideas but had difficulty translating it into the English language.  This therapist style of teaching writing did not help in my writing abilities.  On the contrary, it made my writing reliant on what the tutors at the writing center deemed as correct.  I lacked self esteem in my own writing capability.  After several poor grades and lack of creativity, I learned to rely more on outside tutors and work collogues to improve my writing skills.  Kean’s Writing Center has changed since I was forced to attend.

The Kean University Writing Center has a more proactive approach to teaching.  Tutoring sessions are no longer teacher directed but instead student centered.  Tutors do not take ownership of the writer’s essay.  They facilitate in self correcting and support writers in understanding the writing process (McAndrew & Reigstad 2001).  All students and especially ESL students have benefited from this method of teaching.

           

                                         Bibliography

1.      Brisk & Harrington (2007). Literacy and Bilingualism A Handbook for All Teachers.Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. London. Pgs.66-68

2.      Bruce & Raforth (2009). ESL Writiers A Guide for Writing Center Tutors. Boynton/Cook. Portsmouth, NH. Pgs 4-10

3.      McAndrew & Reigstad (2001). Tutoring writing A practical Guide for Conferences. Boynton/Cook. Portsmouth, NH. Pgs.11-14

4.      Kean University ESL Program Scoring Guide. (web).Writing @ Kean. Retrieved September 29, 2010, from www.kean.edu 07/25/2006.

5.      Student profile. (web).Office of Institutional Research, Kean University. Retrieved September 27, 2010, from http://ir.kean.edu/irhome 2010.

6.      Writing Matter #6. (web). Manoa Writing Program. Retrieved October 4, 2010, from www.mwp.hawaii.edu/resourses/wm6.htm 2010.