Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Blog Promt
The USCA writing room is what Lundasford would catagorize as a "Garret Center". Lundsford says that a Garret Center as "internal, as inside the student." The job of this type of writing center is to help the student help themself. The help that is given in the USCA writing center is not to correct the student, but help the student realize and see their own mistakes. It is stressed everytime the writing center is even mentioned "they won't write the paper for you, but they will help improve your writing skills." That is something that I heard over and over again as I sat in the writing room working on a paper as multiple tour groups passed by. I personally have had bad experiances with the writing room staff talking down to students. My classmates on the other hand have had good experiances which makes me want to give it another shot. Some students don't feel they need help that writing rooms offer and others feel that they don't have enough time. Either way, the writing room is a good idea for students who would need help in their writing.
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I wonder about that "talking down" experience. I managed the writing center here for ten years or so, and I recognized the same thing from time to time. I do not think it was deliberate, or even conscious, superiority issues.
Rather, I think folks who work in writing centers begin to perceive everyone coming into the writing center as someone who needs their help. Such a perception implies what Lunsford would describe as a "Storehouse" approach, in which the tutor has all the answers and his or her job is to provide those answers to the student. Frankly, in my experience, that's the easiest approach and requires the least amount of training.
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