Blog Post #6 (Ian)

I've devoted a number of sessions in the writing center this semester to simply reading together. This has been a new experience for me (before I'd say that the only shared reading I did in my previous writing center work was in trying to break apart the prompt) but I've found it to be just as instructive. For one thing, as the reading notes, "questions about student writing or critical thinking...inevitably turn also to problems of student reading." Though I tend to default to outline work because it allows me to engage with students BEFORE they've written anything - allowing me to first talk to them about their thinking rather than their writing - it's become clear that with some students outlining is still not foundational enough, and that to really help them organize their thinking I first need to help them understand the text (or texts) they've been assigned. Also, in a more basic way, I've also encountered a fair number of vocabulary/jargon-related challenges. In one recent session a student used the word "arsenic" as an adjective for "arson." Later, another wrote a fairly sizable reflection about deceptive, magical imagery when his teacher had asked for a response on the role of "allusion." Worst of all, I spent 30 minutes talking with one woman about per capita income only to have her ask, just as we were wrapping up, "what does per capita mean?" (This particular session still blows my mind a bit - I am now unsure whether she processed even 10% of what I said). By and large these were relatively minor mixups, quickly remedied with a brief explanation, but they also provided yet another reminder about the importance of really meeting students where they are, even if that's at the reading rather than writing stage.

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 25, 2019 at 10:02 PM

    Good insights. I have also done a bit of reading with one of my students, per his request. He cared more about working through the stages of pulling meaning from the text than he did about working on writing. I was surprised by this. I expected that the student would be more concerned with writing a synthesis than preparing to write one. This made me realize, as Ian said, the importance of engaging students where they are at in the writing process.

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