....from the editor...

Hello again. As we all slip intohigh gear- and the frenzy that definesthe beginning of the new academicyear- this year's volume of thenewsletter promises some goodreading. The articles in this issuecontinue to reflect the diversity ofour work: tutoring artists andinternational students, usingcomputers, expanding services,planning and/or attendingconferences, and taking a fewmoments off to laugh at ourselves.For addicts of David Chapman'ssatires on writing labs, we'redelighted to start the year off withyet an-other of his gems.

Hello also to an unusually largenumber of new friends in ournewsletter group. The summer hasbrought a high incidence of those "help-l'm-starting-a-writing-lab"phone calls that so many of us havemade or answered at one time oranother. Are writing labs in anothergrowth spurt? (Was there ever a lull?)

We look forward to hearingfrom the newcomers as well as theold hands.

-Muriel Harris, editor

The Writer's Journal and theArtist's Sketchpad

Somewhere aroundmidsemester, Tony ambled into myoffice. He was five minutes late.Tony was always five minutes late,and always wore the trademarks ofhis profession. Tony was an artmajor; he was a painter. He wore thegarb of an artist: faded jeans, usuallydecorated by a forest of rips andpatches, a well worn tee-shirt, theobligatory red-rimmed eyes of latehours in the studio, and splotches ofoil paint removable only by time. Healso wore the expression of someonewho was out of his element writing,and didn't mind anyone knowing hisdisdain for things non-art. He wasthere to discuss his plan of attack forhis latest writing assignment- adiscussion I was not looking forwardto because I had seen little successwith Tony all semester; I had fewexpectations of making him see theimportance of revision in his work,let alone of all the other importanttools available to writers.

As usual, Tony hadn't startedon the assignment; his excuse wasthat he was trying to

figure a way around a problem in a painting hewas working on. This excuse irritated mebecause it told me where writing stood on hispriority list. However, it was the most importantthing Tony told me all semester.

I am a painter, and so I started to talk toTony about his painting as a way of breaking theice. In the span of only two or three minutes,Tony radically changed many of my assumptionsabout teaching written composition. He did this byshowing me his sketchbook and not a draft of hisEnglish paper. Drawings, not sentences,demonstrated that he understood the compositionprocess maybe even better than I do. The problemthat had been hindering Tony's performance allsemester was not, as I had thought, hisrecalcitrance, but rather my failure to makeaccessible to him the composing methods andwriting tools I preach. I was using catchwords anddefinitions meaningless to Tony, expecting thatthrough repetition he would catch on to the methodI was preaching-through repetition he wouldunderstand "invention," "revision," "drafting," andtheir pedagogical cousins. I might as well havebeen speaking to Tony in German.

As a serious student of the visual arts,Tony was educated in methods of composing. Healready knew the theory behind what I had triedrepeatedly to present to him in our one-to-onemeetings; however, Tony didn't see that he hadcontrol over these writing tools. He didn't believehe could wield a pen to the same ends as apaintbrush. I had not helped Tony's impassebecause I failed to let my knowledge ofcomposition in visual arts enter into my under-standing of written composition. I failed to makemy instruction of written composition moreeffective by using the composing tools of themedium Tony was immersed in, to make writingless alien to him, to let him know he knew howwriting was done.

I believe this type of oversight is ageneral one in composition instruction, and isone that results in much needless frustration forwriting instructors and writing tutors. In thewriting classroom there is often time for studentsto come to understand and use the compositiontools essential to effective writing. However, thewriting center does not usually have the luxuryof repeated tutorial sessions with a student.Often there is a one-shot opportunity to get astudent to recognize how some part of the

this one chance can have a greater success rate iftutors realize many of these students know how tocompose, but these students often do not have areference base of meaning for many of writtencomposition's to .

Tony is typical of the students who cometo writing centers for help. More often than notthese students' academic interests are not focusedon writing. However, students from all over thecampus are familiar, like Tony, with some methodof composing. The engineer, the musician, andeven the athlete know how to use the tools of aparticular composition method: The engineerknows the initial idea of a bridge is probablyunsafe, but can become a safe passage; the footballplayer knows the big play only works when it hasbeen run through and modified countless times.This familiarity with composition tools- discoverytools and revision for instance-can be used tomake a student's introduction into good writingmore efficient.'

I changed my tactic with Tony and beganto explain writing and its goals by using avocabulary that was not only familiar to him, butconveyed the same concepts as the writing terms Ihad used with little success.

Mature painters have developed a dis-covery process as an initial step in their system ofcomposition, This discovery process replicates

the tools carry different names, they are basically thesame. What I call freewriting/brainstorming aremethods painters have used for centuries as doodlesand thumbnail sketches, methods Tony also usedeffectively. Both sets of artists are engaged in the sameactivity: putting pen or brush to paper or canvas inorder to discover what lies dormant in their uncon-scious- what they feel, what they need to express, orwhat they want to investigate. These artists areinvolved in a process of initial learning and discovery-the same activity, but employing a different symbolsystem for a unique medium.

The importance of having a neutral ground onwhich to explore, accept, reject, or alter ideas is notlost on the painter. Tony knew the use of a journal:and, even though he called his a sketchbook, Tony usedhis sketchbook as I had hoped he would use his journalfor my class. He went there to experiment away fromthe public eye. Tony eventually embossed "writ-ingsketchbook" on the cover of his writing journal afterhe saw the similarity in the two vehicles.

While writers are creating effective voices,determining prospective audiences, and testingspecific details, the painter is working through hisown similar approaches to these problems. Tonydetermined his equivalents of tone, audience, andvoice by experimenting with such elements of thecomposition as perspective, the lines of vision thatcreate the painter's relation to his audience. Lines ofperspective determine the exact relation and the typeof interaction that the audience will have with thefinal product. The painter also decides on thearrangement of the internal elements of a painting. thefinal results of which will create the artist's tone andvoice.

The importance of drafting to the compo-sition process. including revision, has not beenignored by both the writer and the painter,2 Bothgroups draft and redraft repeatedly to insure effectivecommunication takes place among the artist, theaudience and the text. I preach the power contained inthe revision process for writers. Revision lets themfine-tune and hone their product to its most effectivefowl. Similarly, masterpieces are rarely created on afirst trip to the easel. While the presence of revisionmay seem obvious in the meticulous and tightlystructured work of such masters as LeonardoDaVinci, Michaelangelo, Raphael, and

Rembrandt, revision plays an equally important part inthe art of more modem painters. The sketchbooks ofVan Gogh, Picasso, Homer, Klee, Dali and others arefilled with as many drafts of their work in progress asare the journals of their predecessors. Painters andwriters realize that "vision" and "re-vision" areessential to the creation of meaningfulcommunication. This was the dilemma Tony wasinvolved in when he came to my office. Hissketchbook was filled with versions of the painting inquestion, none of which yet achieved Tony's goals.He was in the thick of revision.

The affinities between the compositionprocesses of the written and visual arts continue afterthe completion of the drafting process. After thewriter and the painter have restructured their work forthe final time, they both continue to make Importantdecisions that affect the level of communication.Polishing and the application of cosmetics are theorder of business at this stage of composing. Thewriter proofs his final draft for the mechanical, typo-graphic, and other errors that might impedecommunication, The visual artist also makes choicesthat serve as the final flourish, He chooses mattingformats, selects presentation modes- non-glare orstandard glass, etc,-making the necessary, but oftendisregarded, choices that assure that little will distractor impede the painting's audience from entering intoan effective dialogue with the final product.

By trusting the validity of an insight, andrelying on my knowledge of the way visual artistscompose to explain how writers compose, I was ableto make progress with Tony. But Tony was only onestudent. There were other students I worked with whowere not artists. but chemists, accountants, biologists,agronomists, with whom I wasn't able to makewriting as familiar because I do not know how thesedisciplines compose. I need to become familiar with asmany composing methods existing within theuniversity community as I can. While this task isdaunting, it may need to be one goal of writinginstructors and writing tutors if writing is to be madeas integral a part of the university education as theWriting Across the Curriculum movement advocatesWhen students realize that they already know quite abit about how to approach a writing task and that thatknowledge comes from the familiar turf of thechemistry department, art department, agriculturedepartment or even football

(cont. on p. 7)

What If We Stopped Writing Draftsand Started Drafting Writers?

The average annual income for mostprofessional athletes hovers around the million dollarmark. Those of us who were told over and over by ourparents, "Work hard in school if you want to amountto anything in life," are sometimes outraged by thefinancial success of athletes who think that "Guatemala" is some-thing to be ordered at a Mexicanrestaurant. We believe that in the great scheme ofthings an understanding of physics ought to be worthmore than a good curve ball.

Still, for the general public. there's nodisputing the relative entertainment value of theSuper Bowl versus the College Bowl. It is unlikelythat 80,000 people will ever gathertogether to watch a mathematical genius work outwith a calculator, or, to bring the matter closer tohome, that admiring throngs will gather around tosee an All-Pro Tutor help a struggling student with apaper.

We can only imagine, then, what it would belike in another world and time where contributions tosociety were given the same status now accorded togrand slams and slam dunks. In the followingscenario, the "Write 'n Raiders" are considering theirdraft selections for the coming year.

THE CAST

Tam "Scratch" Scribman: longtime coach of theRaiders

Alicia "Mucky" Bucksworth: general manager ofthe Raiders

Marsha Crowe: head scout for the Raiders ErmaHawk: new scout, assistant to Crowe[Hawk and Crowe enter the boardroom.] Hawk: Have you seen the new uniforms?

Crowe: Oh yes, they're gorgeous. I love themauve scads.

[Scribman and Bucksworth enter.]

Scrib: 0k, let's get started. This has got to beone of the best years for the draft since I'vebeen coaching. Have you looked over theprospects?

Bucks: Yes, we have some terrific scouting reports. Ithink this is going to be a makeor--break year forour organization. Let's see what we've got.

Crowe: I think we oughta go with this kid fromTexas- Tootle Rutherford-in the first-round.Everybody knows they eat, sleep, and breathewriting centers down. in Texas. Her high schoolwriting center never lost a student all of the yearsshe tutored there, and everyone knows the caliberof people coming out of that Texas WritingProgram. Nearly all of them are starting for prowriting teams.

Hawk: I would go with Tootle, too, but r don't thinkshe'll be left by the time our pick comes up. NowI've had my eye on a terrific line-editor out ofYale, Alice Fairchild-DuPont. Now I know theIvy League teams aren't generally competitivewith the big schools, but it's always been myphilosophy to go with the best available intellect.

Scrib: Wait a minute. I know you girls recognizetalent, but we've got to take the team's needs intoconsideration. We already have some outstandingpencil point-guards. But you know Simpson isclose to retirement, and we need somebody who istough inside. You remember how we got creamedlast season when we took on that engineering firmwith the legal problems. That new kid,Fenclemeier, thought a tort was some kind of anhors d'oeuvre, and we nearly got laughed right outof the place.

Crowe: Well, if you want class, then you're going tohave to trade up. Stella Harris is probably goingto skip her post-doe year and enter the draft thisspring. If she does, she's almost sure to be thenumber one pick.

Hawk: I like Stella, too. I mean she just looks like apro player. The glasses, that intelligent look inher eyes, that friendly smile. And her morn wasa Hall of Fouler.

Scrib: You mean she's Mickey's kid?

Crowe: That's the one. You remember her '72 season.

Scrib: Over 400 conferences and a perfect E.R.A.

Crowe: All-Star Tutor for fourteen consecutiveseasons.

Sail): I played for the Tablets the year she was withthem. I once saw her go four-for-four with a bunchof the toughest basic writers you've ever seen,

Crowe: Yeah, and that was back in the days beforethe big contracts and the domed writing center,back when people used to tutor just for the loveof it.

Scrib: You said it. These kids today, they wanteverything handed to them on a silver blotter.

Bucks: That's right, Scratch. And that's the problemwith Stella. Even if we drafted her, she might betough to sign. I hear she wants four million peryear, plus incentives.

Serib: Yeah, but just think what that name's worth.We could fill the stadium every Sunday.

Hawk: Not to mention the revenue from post-seasonplay. This girl is a franchise player. I think wewould be a legitimate contender for theChampionship Write-Offs.

Bucks: You know what it would take to get a numberone pick? We would probably have to tradeSimpson.

Scrib: I never thought about that. Trade off theDoctor? Remember in '84 when she picked up arough draft with five minutes to go in a tutorial,ripped it in two, and started brainstorming again?The client was horrified, but they came up with aprize-winning report.

Crowe: Yeah, people still call it the ImmaculateInvention.

Scrib: No, we can't let the Doctor go.Bucks: What's our alternative?

Hawk: I've got an idea, but I don't know if you

girls are ready for it.Scrib: Let's hear it.

Hawk: Well, I have had my eyes on a recruit out ofOhio for a long time. Does the invention in lessthan five minutes. Really good grasp of revisionstrategies. Lettered in the writing center all fouryears. I see a lot of potential.

Bucks: Sounds too good to be true. Who is she?

Hawk: Well, that's just it. It's a he. His name is EddieCorbett. I think he's pro material.

Scrib: Listen, Hawk, I'm sure he looks great in themen's writing leagues, but no guy has ever playedon a pro team.

Hawk: OK, it was just a thought.

Bucks: So we trade Simpson to get Stella?

Scrib: I guess. But it will be rough breaking thenews to the Doctor.

[Hawk and Crowe leave.]

Serib: I'm worried about Crowe. What in the world isshe thinking o f - suggesting we hire a man for thebig leagues!

Bucks: Yeah. Next thing you know, she'll bewanting a man to coach a writing center.

Serib: (chuckling) That'll be the day.

David W. ChapmanTexas Tech UniversityLubbock, TX

Expanding Services of theHigh School Writing Center

Those of us who work in high school writingcenters know that the struggle for establishment,recognition, use, and even funding, are on-goingefforts, and we often spend much of our time andeffort fighting for our very existence. However, Ibelieve that the high school writing center can, and ifpossible should, offer expanded services which willincrease awareness and use of and support for thecenter by students, staff, and the community.Offering some of these expanded services may helpthose who are starting centers and those who haveexisting centers to build further use of and support fortheir operation. I do not believe that anyone woulddisagree that the most important key to a successfulhigh school writing center is the quality anddedication of those who work there, but quality anddedication alone are often not enough to generateadequate support. However, expanding the scope andnature of the services offered can increase use andrecognition of the services and can build support forour efforts.

While I believe that the direct confer-ence/tutorial work with students is the mostimportant and rewarding work which centers cando, expanded student services can be valuable inincreasing student knowledge of, use of. andsupport for the center. Early in the year, centerpersonnel should visit each class-room tointroduce themselves and provide informationabout the center and its services and invitestudents to visit. Signs about the center,announcements about center services, and TreeCoupons" for visits in the center are excellentways to heighten awareness of the center amongstudents, Throughout the year, conducting mini-clinics about essay exam writing, book reportwriting, research processes and products, etc.before and after school or in study halls is anexcellent way to provide valuable information tostudents and to further increase awareness of thecenter and its services. The center should also bethe center for all writing contests, and arranginggroup work sessions for those interested inentering the same contest is an effective activity.

Publishing student works through the

center is also very effective in encouraging studentsto visit the center and in further heighteningawareness of the center and it services. Often times,center personnel can work with the keyboardinginstructors and have the keyboarding students printand duplicate the submissions to the center publi-cation. I do not believe that a center publicationshould be a contest or have restrictions of any kind;the more student writing which is published andshared, the better for students and the center.

Other important student-centered services toincrease use of and support for the center includeoffering study skills information and presentation,introducing word processing through the center. andoinking the center a book swap area.

However, the center should not be limited toproviding services just to students directly, Manyimportant services and much valuable use and supportcan be gained by offering assistance to all contentarea instructors. All instructors should be encouragedto refer or suggest that students use the services of thecenter, and center personnel should be available tomake presentations in all classes about study skills,essay exam writing, re-search processes and products,and other traditional uses of writing. Such in-classwork is another excellent way to provide importantinformation to students and staff and is a mosteffective way to help increase awareness of thecenter. Center personnel can then work with the staffand students as an additional re-source throughout thecourse or specific assignment. Center personnel canalso work with all content area instructors indeveloping writing to show/share learning activities,and the center can become a storehouse of suchassignments by subject matter, grade level, ability,etc.

Such activities are also important if aschool is moving to writing-to-learn. The centercan also become the storehouse for collecting andsharing writing-to-learn assignments among allstaff members. The value of

the center as a resource center for all staff who wishto explore and use writing in their class-rooms is oneof the most important. functions a high school writingcenter can serve, and it is one of the most effectiveways to develop staff use of and support for centerefforts.

The center personnel can also work with staffon their own writings for college or publication andcan publish a regular newsletter of writings by staff.The publication should encourage and publish asummary of writing activities in classes, reviews ofprofessional materials, opinion pieces, creative works,etc.; literally any writing by staff should be encour-aged and shared.

Beyond the direct services to students andstaff, the center can gain much important and valuablesupport by providing services which involve parents.For example, our center sponsors annual "Study SkillsNights" for students and parents. The evening is aseries of mini-sessions about study skills, writingstrategies, test-taking strategies, ideas for parents tohelp them help their children in language arts, andpresentations by content area instructors who shareideas about study skills, note-taking, and test-taking inthe specific courses. We also sponsor eveningsessions for students and parents to help themsuccessfully complete college admission essays andscholarship application essays. These eveningsessions do require extra time and effort, but in termsof increasing awareness of and support for centerefforts, these are among the most successful andimportant activities which a center can sponsor.

Writing centers should be an integral part ofevery high school, and center personnel should berecognized and compensated for their work anddedication. However, like many great ideas which arenot initially recognized as great ideas, high schoolwriting centers must often work to provide servicesand to increase awareness of and support for theservices they provide. These ideas are some whichhave been successful for us, and we hope they mayinspire others who need to build awareness andsupport for their efforts. If we can provide additionalinformation, please contact us.

James UptonBurlington Community High SchoolBurlington. Iowa

The Writer's Journal(cont. from p.3)

practice, then writing will be a more applicable andthus a more meaningful task, Learning to recognizeand use the similar composition methods existingbetween writing and the visual arts for instance canlessen part of the writing center's burden. The visualartist and the writer share many of the same creativetools and aids. By knowing where the methods ofcreative disciplines overlap, the tutor can use thelanguage of the one medium to create a more naturaland less threatening understand-ing of the othermedium. In this way an effective dialogue is created,and learning is facilitated. Students are aided in theirattempts to become better writers, the awareness of thevalue of writing is increased in the academiccommunity, and the writing center can reduce itsfrustration level by establishing a medium ofcommunication with part of their clientele moreefficient than what was previously used.

Eric H. HobsonUniversity of Tennessee-Knoxville

Notes

1The sentiment that the writing instructor canlearn much about her composing in her own craft byexamining the composition methods of other artists isechoed by Ann Berthoff in "A Curious Triangle andthe Double-Entry Notebook: or, How Theory CanHelp Us Teach Reading and Writing." The Malang ofAkan dig. Ann E. Berthoff. Upper Montclair, N.J.:Boynton/Cook, 1981.

2 An excellent discussion of compositionalsimilarities in the visual arts and of how writinginstructors can use painters' composing process toprovide models around which students can improvetheir own composition process is Catherine Golden'sarticle "Composition: Writing and the Visual Arts."Journal of Aesthetic Education 20.3 (1986): 59-68.

New Editors forThe Writing Center Journal

Jeanette Harris and Joyce Kinkead are pleasedto announce that Diana George, Nancy Grimm, andEd Lotto will be their successors as editors of TheWriting Center Jotter ad. The trio will begin as guesteditors for the Spring 1991 issue of the journal withthe official 3-year term (which is renewable)beginning Fall 1991 with Volume 12. The Spring1991 issue will still be produced at Utah StateUniversity.

Manuscripts in the hands of the current editorswill be forwarded to the new editors. Please send fourcopies of new manuscripts to Nancy Grimm and DianaGeorge at the Department of Humanities, MichiganTech University, Houghton, MI 49931 (phone: 906-487-2066; BITNET: DGEORGE©MTUSYS5).Inquiries about book reviews should be addressed toEd Lotto, Learning Center, Lehigh University,Bethlehem, PA 18015 (phone: 215-758-3097;BITNET: EEL2@LEHIGH). Subscriptions andmemberships will be accepted as usual by JoyceKinkead at Utah State University (Logan, UT 84322-3200) until spring, 1991, when her term as executivesecretary expires.

Job Opening

Wright State University, a commuterinstitution of 17,000 students, is seeking a WritingAcross the Curriculum specialist to serve asDirector of the university's newly-establishedCenter for Writing. This is a 12-month, non-tenuretrack, renewable position. The starting date isnegotiable.

The Center, an independent unit under theOffice of the Vice President for Academic Affairs,will provide support for a developing writing acrossthe curriculum program as well as house theUniversity Writing Center. The Director will overseethe writing across the curriculum program, developwriting-related opportunities for faculty support anddevelopment, conduct workshops for faculty, consultwith individual faculty and academic units, publicizewriting across the curriculum within the universitycommunity, and teach 1-2 courses each year, TheDirector will also

oversee the activities of the Associate Director of theUniversity Writing Center and will haveresponsibility for the budget of both Centers.

Candidates must have a Ph.D in anappropriate field, a strong background in compositionstudies, and substantial experience in writing acrossthe curriculum. Some teaching experience andresearch in rhetoric, composition, and discipline-specific writing are also required. Preference will begiven to candidates with administrative experience.

We will begin reviewing applications onOctober 10, 1990, Please submit application andresume by that date to: Randy Moore, Chairperson,University Center for Writing Search Committee,Department of Biological Sciences, Wright StateUniversity, Dayton, Ohio 45435. This position Iscontingent upon funding. AA/EOE

Call For Proposals

We announce plans for a volumeentitled Writing Ourselves into the Story: UnheardVoices from Composition Studies, a collection ofessays to be edited by Sheryl I. Fontaine and SusanHunter. This volume will provide an occasion forteachers and researchers who do not feel included inthe story of our evolving discipline to voice unheardperspectives. Contributors might address thefollowing broad questions: Are there ways that thepedagogics and research methodologies we find intextbooks, hear about at professional meetings, orread in the journals don't apply to our teaching, ourresearch, or the political situations we're involved in?What problems rho we think are most worth writingabout that should be included in discussions ofcomposition studies? Please send 1-3 page proposalsfor essays, stories, and research by November 15,1990 to Professor Susan Hunter, Humanities andSocial Sciences Department, Harvey Mudd College,Claremont, CA 91711-5990. For further information,call Sheryl I. Fontaine (71l) 773-3163 or SusanHunter (714) 621-8022.

Tutors' Column

Tutoring Teaches Tutors Too

Was it an insult or a compliment? There Iwas, a brilliant student who'd always received A's onher compositions, and my instructor was telling methat I ought to try working in the Writing Centerbecause it would improve my writing. What did hemean by that? I was already an expert in punctuation,grammar, and spelling, wasn't I? His remark piquedmy curiosity, and I decided to put his advice to thetest. I was confident all the while that the WritingCenter was about to get lucky.

"How do you know when to use parenthesesand when to use brackets?" "My teacher said I had aproblem with comma splices. What are they?" "Dotwo adjectives before a noun always need a commabetween them?" These were just a few of thequestions I was bombarded with in the Center, and tomy horror I wasn't at all certain of the answers. Likemany avid readers, I had an instinct for grammaticalusage, but little knowledge regard-ing the whys andwherefores. So, I learned to reach for the handbook.This is perhaps one of the most valuable lessonstutoring has taught me: No one person knows all theanswers, but there are a number of handbooks that do.

Helping students with their papers at the idea-generating and organizational stages was the mostfrightening thing confronting me when I first begantutoring. Like most beginning tutors, I felt moreconfident with small editorial details, such ascorrecting grammar and punctuation. But looking atthe whole paper and suggesting organizationalchanges was intimidating indeed. As my work in theWriting Center continued, I've become comfort-ablewith this type of tutoring, and learning to look atpapers this way, searching for the larger picture, hasenabled me to view my own work with a new, morecritical eye.

Of course, in everyone's writing experi-ence there comes a time when the ideas just

will not flow, when the block is big, or when, as anauthor, one just cannot see the forest for the trees,When these moments of panic hit, I remember thewriting strategies that, as a tutor, I have been aimedwith. In the same manner as I would work with astudent who is blocked, I sit myself down andencourage myself to brainstorm and later useclustering or issue trees to organize my ideas.

When my attempts at self-tutoring fail, assometimes they must, I take advantage of myassociation with my fellow tutors. They have beentrained to have a compassionate, yet discriminatingeye, and they are familiar with me, my style, and mywork. From them I can receive gentle yet criticalreview. They know when to coddle and when to prodas they help to pull my best work out of me. Being atutor provides me with my own personalized editorialand encouragement service.

That former instructor certainly was right.What I took at first to be an insult or maybe a left-handed compliment turned out to be the truth.Working in the Writing Center has improved mywriting by showing me where to go for answers toquestions, by teaching me how to teach myself, and byproviding me with an informed and skilled writingsupport system in the form of my fellow tutors. Sincetaking that astute advice, I've found out more aboutwhat I know and don't know, and how to fix ray ownworse messes. Like my fellow tutors, I have made themarvelous discovery that in the Writing Centersetting, it is the tutor who benefits most.

Marina HallPeer TutorWeber State CollegeOgden, UT

Scheduler, RecordKeeper, Teacher:The Computer in the WritingProgram At Dickinson College

The computer has been crucial to the successof our Writing-Across-the-Curriculum Program atDickinson College. This program includes a writingcomponent in the freshman seminars, a number ofWriting Enriched courses throughout the disciplines,and it will soon include a Writing Certificate (similarto a minor in writing). In this program the computerhas been used both administratively andpedagogically to promote collaboration andcommunication among our various constituents:students. faculty, Writing Center consult-ants and theadministration. Specifically, we depend on thecomputer for scheduling, for record keeping, and forpedagogical assistance.

I . T h e C o m p u t e r f o rS c h e d u l i n g

To encourage good writing habits and a moreproductive composing process, students in the WritingEnriched courses are given evaluative feedback onrough drafts of two essays. The feedback may comefrom the instructor, consultants in the Writing Center,or peers. Not surprisingly, most instructors rely on theconsultants in the Writing Center to provide thefeedback, and initially this posed lots of schedulingproblems for us. Last semester, we offered 18 WEcourses involving a total of 500 students- at a 1900-student campus. We had another 534 appointmentswith students who came in on their own or were re-ferred to us. Demand for our services was so great thatduring some weeks our 20 peer consultants werebooked for all of their 120 hour-long appointments

Without our computerized Writing CenterAppointment Scheduler we would have had frequentappointment conflicts. Developed by one of ourstudent programmers (and obtainable from us on ashareware basis f o r $35). it has a number ofsophisticated, work-saving features. The program.which provides us with up-to-the-minute appointmentinformation, runs on our VAX-8600 minicomputer (VMS V4.7 computer system) which connects about80 terminals around campus. Terminals are located instudent computer rooms, dormi-

tortes and many faculty and department offices. Asstudents call the Writing Center to makeappointments, their names are entered into theScheduler on the VAX terminal in the WritingCenter. Printouts can be made as needed.

At the beginning of every semester, afterconsultants have chosen the six to eight hours perweek they will work in the Writing Center, I use theprogram to make up "prototype" schedules for each ofour working days. These prototypes have only theconsultants' names onthem and their working hours. They will be used overand over again every week. automatically turned into"working" schedules and given a specific date by thecalendar function of the program. Studentappointments are entered on the working schedulesonly.

The main advantage to having the schedule onthe computer as opposed to photo-copied forms, forexample, is that it can be quickly sent out to facultyusing our electronic mail system. Faculty print it outfor distribution in class. Students then sign-up for ap-pointments. and the schedule is returned to the WritingCenter where the names are entered again bycomputer. If you aren't likely to send out a scheduleover electronic mail, another reason to computerizeyour schedule might be if your individual tutorsfrequently change their work hours. As we all know,revising essays, or schedules, on the computer isinfinitely easier than retyping and re-photocopyingthem. You could easily devise a schedule using atypical word processor or templates available indatabase programs such as Lotus or Quatro.

II. The Computer for Record Keeping

As in most writing centers, our consult-antskeep track of a great deal of information about everytutoring session. This information is first recorded byhand on 3" 5" cards. Later it is entered intoDatatrieve, a database reporting program also on ourVAX minicomputer. The entering-on-screentemplate looks much like the 3" X 5" card. (Again,one could use any number of database programs forthis purpose.) The Datatrieve program can provideprintout totals at any time for the information entered:total number of student visits; student visits by class,date, professor, consultant or department: time andlength of visits; the kind of help that was provided,etc. This

program gives us rapid access to much usefulinformation when we need it for budgetary,programmatic or staffing requests and decisions.

III. The Computer for Teaching Writing

Last, but most definitely not least, are themany pedagogical uses we have for our computers.Actually, word processing with spelling checking isthe biggest single use we have for the computer. Sincewe teach writing as a process which involves revision,and revision is so much easier on the computer,students are encouraged to begin using the computerfor writing early in their Freshman Seminars. This ispossible since we have 100 micro-computers oncampus- an assortment of Zenith and Leading EdgeIBM compatibles and Macintosh SE's. Additionally, ofcourse, some students own their own computers.

In the Writing Center we have two VAXterminals and three micros, and we offer three typesof writing software for student use: inventionprograms, style checkers, and drill and practiceexercises. These programs are advertised to faculty ,and many are beginning to encourage their students totake advantage of them. As a pre-writing activity,students may come in to the Writing Center to useldealog (on loan from the U. of Texas Computer Lab),or Access (developed by Donald Ross at the U. ofMinnesota). These programs are quite typical of theirgenre in that they ask students questions based onBurke's pentad, the tagmemic grid, the journalist's W-questions. Aristotle's topic, etc. Students can getprintouts of their answers for launching first drafts.Neither faculty nor student interest in these programshas been particularly strong, how-ever. This isunfortunate because invention programs can be quitehelpful in generating pre-draft content. It seems thatwhen students are required to use the programs, theydo admit their usefulness. But I have yet to hear of astudent coming back to the Writing Center for anunrequired stint with one.

We also have programs known as stylecheckers in the Writing Center. As we are a two-system campus and have students and faculty on bothMacintosh SE's and Zenith IBM compatibles, we useboth MacProof and parts of writer's Helper softwarefor this purpose. Both programs allow students toperform a number of analytical tasks on drafts writtenin

WordPerfect, our most popular word processor.Students obtain the Flesch readability scores for theiressays, and have instances of "to be" verbs, "thereis/are" constructions, nomlnalizatlons, sexist language,and other "weak" constructions pointed out, Problemsarise when these are used effectively; students must beable to distinguish these instances.

We have made our own drill and practiceexercises in the Writing Center using an authoringsystem called Teach write, also by Donald Ross at theU, of Minnesota. We have units on our most commongrammar and stylistic problems: pronoun agreement,parallelism, sentence fragments, wordiness, transi-tions, etc. The units consist of a few textual screensexplaining the particular problem, followed byinteractive exercises which students can do at theirown pace. Students usually do these at the request offaculty or peer consultants who notice that they areweak in certain areas. Of course, if students have aparticular aversion to working on the computer, theycan be directed to the same type of exercises in arhetoric or handbook.

A small group of faculty are comfortable withon-screen editing of student essays. Some havestudents send essays to them over the VAX, addbetween-line or bracketed comments and suggestionsfor redrafting, and then send the essays back to thestudents over the VAX. Other faculty whose studentsare using micro-computers have the students exchangefloppy disks with each other for the same kind ofinner-draft commentary and evaluation. Commentsand suggestions are inserted into these texts in variousways: between brackets, in all caps, in boldface orusing the t e x t In" feature of WordPerfect. Manystudents and faculty, however, remain unconvincedthat on-screen evaluating is any more practical,efficient or time-saving than the same procedure witha pen on hard copy. Perhaps our experimental use ofMacProof will convince them that it is. One advantageMacProof has over the computer and manualprocesses is its capacity for easy grammaticalcommentary. Usage rules for common punctuationand grammar errors are stored in the program. Whenan editor finds one of these errors in a text, he/she hasonly to mark the spot by pushing a certain key. Whenthe writer reviews the edited version and sees thisnotation, he/she pushes a key to discover the error andhave the appropriate grammar rule or explanationappear on screen.

A final way we have used the computer inwriting classes is with "Electronic Chain Journals."Students are sent a question on the VAX, and theysend the question and their response to anotherstudent who does the same, chaining the process on totwo or three more students. The responses finallymake their way back to the instructor who may bringthem to class for discussion. Students seem to findthis activity interesting and, like other writing-to-leantactivities, it seems to deepen their engagement wi ththe subject matter.

These are the main ways we have begun touse the computer in our Writing-Across-theCurriculum program at Dickinson. Some uses havebeen more successful than others, but there is nodisputing the fact that the computer has taken on a lotof the administrative and pedagogical drudgery ofrunning our Writing Center, I believe that it willcontinue to do so in more ways than we can evenimagine today.

Karyn Hollis DickinsonCollege Carlisle.Perulsylvania

New from NCTE

Encountering Student Texts: Interpretive Issues in ReadingStudent Writing E d s . Bruce Lawson, Susan SteerRyan, and W. Ross Winterowd, Urbana, IL: NOTE,1990. 244 pages, paper-bound. Price: $ 14.95; NCTEmembers: $10.95. (LC 89-49574).

This collection of fourteen essays examines a varietyof issues involved in responding to student texts.While the emphasis is on the teacher's role asresponder, tutors wi l l find some useful reading herefor considering the similarities and differencesbetween the ways they respond and the way teachersrespond. Discussions of traditional teacher responseand student interpretation of that response will alsohelp tutors define their role in this complexrelationship set up when tutors add their voices to theteacher/student dialogue. In addition, several articlesexamining effects of teacher comments on studentswill also help tutors gain a better diagnosticperspective on the attitudes and perceptions thatstudents bring to the tutorial.

"Help! How Do I Tutorthe International Student?

Tutors in a writing center often have specialproblems when confronted with the task of tutoringinternational students. To identify these problems andconsider what can be done to help alleviate theseconcerns, I distributed a questionnaire to the tutors atClarion University of Pennsylvania with theinstructions that they were to answer as truth-fully aspossible with answers reflecting their own beliefs, notwhat they think they are supposed to believe. Toencourage truthfulness, respondents were asked notto identify themselves in any way. Fourteen tutors re-sponded..

The first two questions asked the tutors toidentify the major problems they face when tutoringinternational students and to decide which problem ismost menacing. As expected, the major problem wasidentified as the language barrier. It is not surprisingthat each tutor listed this as a problem, but what wasnot expected was that several responses revealed thattutors often take more than their share of the blamefor the problem. Tutors said that they have to learn tospeak slowly and distinctly, not to use slang, idiomaticexpressions, and fragmented sentences. Since thetutors are aware that all of these factors mustconscionsly attended to, it is not surprising that thesight of an international student approaching them fortutoring would cause them to panic.

Another area identified as a problem wasone of expectations. Often international studentsexpect rules for everything and be-come upsetwith the tutor who cannot give a simple answer tothe quirks of the English language. One studentsaid that the tutor is expected to be an all-knowingcreature. capable of solving any problem." Othersfelt that often the international student simplywants an editor. Both of these expectations causeproblems for the tutor because rule-giving andmere editing do not solve long-term problems.

Related to the problem of the expectations ofinternational tutees, tutors expressed a feeling ofinadequacy in regard to the help that

they give. For example, tutors expressed concern overnot knowing where to begin when they are presentedwith a paper riddled with errors. Even when errors aredealt with, the tutors fear that the tutees will beoverwhelmed and discouraged and indicated that theyfeel unsure about how to make the internationalstudent more relaxed and comfortable during thetutoring session. A desire for training in interpersonalrelationships was expressed by several respondents.

Adding to the feeling of inadequacy, tutorsalso sense that international students do not have asmuch confidence in them as they do in theirprofessors. This was given as a reason why manyinternational students hesitate to take the advice of thetutors, and as a reason why the international studentbe-comes upset when the tutor cannot give a rule thatsolves every grammatical problem. One studentresponded that he had been asked the followingquestions: "How many books do you have published?"and "How many classes do you teach?" Theseresponses indicate that credentials are often importantto the international student and may be responsiblefor some of the tutors' feelings of inadequacy.

Even though the tutors felt somewhatinadequate in their international tutoring sessions, thenext question which asked the tutors to indicate howthey know if the tutee is understanding what is beingsaid reveals that the tutors do have good techniquesthat they use to insure understanding. For example,body language was cited as a way to judgecomprehension. One student said, "I make or takemore time to judge by the student's facial expressionswhether he/she knows what I'm talking about. 1 don'tlet them just nod their way through a conference."Others said that they ask the student to repeat theadvice or whatever has just been discussed. From therepetition, the tutor then decides if the tutee hasunderstood. Another method that was suggested wasto immediately have the student apply the techniqueor suggestion, thereby allowing the tutor to determineif understand-ing has taken place, From theseresponses, the

tutors seem to have effective techniques al-ready Inplace for determining their effectiveness, and Isuspect that these methods are used in all tutoringsessions, no matter whether the student isinternational or American.

When asked if they tutor the internationalstudent differently from other students. all but threeof the fourteen answered yes. Tutors Indicated thatthey ask for more feed-back from internationalstudents, repeat themselves more frequently, and takemore time. Conscious attention is given to usingbetter English, to eliminating slang and idiomaticexpressions, and to making the tutees feel at ease.One tutor said that he was more apt to "engage inconversation which involves topics other than thoseof the paper in order to get the student more at ease."

With all the problems associated withtutoring the international student, it was assumed thattutors might simply avoid the task if possible. Thetutors honestly answered that they do avoid this typeof tutoring because it is tedious and frustrating.Another one said that he did avoid a session at oneparticular time with one particular student:, Overall,other respondents said that these tutoring sessions dotake more time and require more patience, but onereferred to it as a "wonderful experience."

I suspected that the time required for tutoringinternational students would be greater than the timefor American students. All but two of the fourteenresponded that more time was needed. The tworesponding negatively said that the time factor is notworthy of notice; instead, the emphasis should be onthe needs of the student. Others responded that usuallythese sessions last at least an hour or more whenattention is given to making sure that the student reallyunderstands the advice and suggestions that are given.

Although tutors indicated that they wereoften at a loss in knowing where to begin whentutoring the international, the answer to the questionof what to do with an essay that has good content butis full of surface errors indicates that all but one saidthat they would focus on only a few errors at a time,One indicated that surface errors are often the onlyfactor the international students want to

discuss; for them, "content is often secondary." Onestudent said that the attention given to surface errorsdepends upon the class for which the paper has beenwritten. (The student did not identify which classes aregiven the most attention.) Others suggested that theydefinitely stress content and then worry about surfaceerrors. The general consensus of opinion was that towork with every error can become overwhelming anddepressing for the tutee. The responses indicate thatClarion's tutors are sensitive to the needs and feelingsof the students they are working with.

The final questions asked the students to offerfuture tutors advice on tutoring inter-national studentsand to suggest topics that should be covered in atraining session. One tutor summed up what severalothers said by offering this advice: "Be patient: don'tbe intimidated- you will learn much from thisexperience as well." Others suggested that tutorsshould be instructed on what to do with students whosimply want a "quick fix" for their papers, and one wasconcerned about what to do with the tutee who wantsto become "an English scholar in one sitting." Onestudent pointed out that tutors should be encouragednot to take the easy way out and simply correct all theerrors; instead, the tutor should try to help the tuteeunderstand why the errors are errors. One sensitive tothe frustration that is often a part of this type oftutoring advised future tutors to simply do their bestand not to worry about not knowing everything.

The responses to questions in thisquestionnaire could be used to develop a trainingsession specific to the needs of Writing Center tutorsat any school because the tutors identify the problemsthat they feel exist. In conjunction with the specificneeds they identify, the training should definitelyinclude a discussion of how tutoring internationals issimilar to the tutoring of any student as well as adiscussion of the differences that can be expected.Patience is a part of any tutoring experience, but morepatience may be required when the language barrierexists. The conscious effort that has to be made inspeaking slowly and distinctly can be tedious andresult in frazzled nerves. Perhaps an open discussionof what to expect with contributions from experiencedtutors would help to prepare the new tutors for theexperience. One student suggested that making aneffort to put one's

self in the international student's place willencourage the new tutor to be more sympatheticand patient.

To prepare the new tutors for this tutoringexperience, several papers written by internationalstudents could be provided to them, permitting them tosee the typical kinds of errors that are made. Bydiscussing the papers with other tutors, as a group theycan decide on approaches to take in dealing witherrors. Together they should be able to decide onwhich errors they feel are most detrimental tocommunication of ideas and from this decide uponwhich errors need to be focussed on first. Since wecan't make "English scholars" out of the internationalstudents in one sitting, tutors should be advised toencourage these tutees to set up regular visits to theWriting Center. Doing this will help the tutor to limitthe length of the visits; thereby often avoidingfrustration that comes with long, tedious sessions.

Another issue that should be addressed is thattutors should not expect too much from themselves.One tutor suggested that tutors

should be "encouraged to believe that they arecompetent people and that they are expected to dotheir best, that is, a good job, not a perfect job." Tutorsshould be advised to expect some internationalstudents to be intimidating and demanding their desireto have everything perfect in their writing, and tutorsshould be encouraged to maintain the position ofhelper, not simply editor because the tedium of justediting a paper with many errors can be veryunrewarding. If tutors can focus on only a few areasand do this over a period of time, they can feel a senseof accomplishment rather than failure.

Overall, the training of tutors for work withinternational students is not vastly different fromtraining for work with any student, but preparing thetutor for the differences should help to eliminate someof the frustration that is a part of this type of tutoring.

Darlynn Fink ClarionUniversity Clarion,PA