Physics & Writing Center Credit
I'm usually not one to put things off but lately it's something I am very good at. I didn't even post a blog last week. I'm getting hit with new assignments all over the place. And it's not like the new assignments are replacing old ones; they are just being added on to my regular work load. For example I am trying to get started on my bibliographic essay but I still need to do my blogs and responses. If it sounds like I'm complaining, it's because I am. I don't want to say that I have it harder than anyone else in our class; I obviously don't. There are those of you who are in the education program and from what I hear it is pretty rigorous. Props to ya'll!
IN response to last weeks prompt, let me say this. Just last Friday I was asked by a student to help him with a paper. It was an assignment for a physics class. Gulp. I asked him what the assignment was and he told me that he was supposed to explain in layman terms what his favorite physics activity was. I wasn't quite sure what layman meant so I asked him to explain it in terms I would understand. Boy did I feel dumb after that. Anyway, he wanted to know how he could do the assignment because he only understood physics by its technical jargon. I said, "Don't ask me how to do it. I don't know jack crap about physics. Why don't you try writing it and then when you're done, I'll read it and let you know if I understand." So he started writing but unfortunately my shift ended before he did. Hopefully I was of some help.
Now that that's out of the way, I would like to talk a little about what I am thinking about for my bibliographic essay. Maybe by writing it down in this blog I can sort out a few things in my mind.
The majority of the research I have been doing is on what types of writing centers are out there. I've read up on typical writing centers and college writing centers that go a little against the norms; I've read about the uses of online centers, and even writing centers that colleges have set up in high school and elementary schools. It's been interesting to see the goals and the tactics that these writing centers have to accomplish them. It was interesting to see that not only do most of them focus on improving the student's writing ability, but that they are focused on changing students' perception of writing and the writing center. They don't just want to help "remedial" writers, but they want to be an audience for more advanced writers as well. Many of them are focused on being an outlet to writing classes. What I mean by this is that students, to get full credit for their writing class, are required to spend an hour a week in the writing center. This opens up the ability of the writing professor to focus on more global issues during class time. There is one school I read about that, in any of six writing classes, the student pays for 4 credit hours in a 3 credit hour course. The fourth hour of the class is spent in the writing center. Though the students only receive 3 credit hours, 1/4 of the grade comes from assignments given and completed in the writing center. The writing teachers in this school are very pleased with the progress students in these classes are making. I don't know how many students receive our services per week but at this particular school, the writing center had 1500 clients a week! Pretty impressive numbers.
IN response to last weeks prompt, let me say this. Just last Friday I was asked by a student to help him with a paper. It was an assignment for a physics class. Gulp. I asked him what the assignment was and he told me that he was supposed to explain in layman terms what his favorite physics activity was. I wasn't quite sure what layman meant so I asked him to explain it in terms I would understand. Boy did I feel dumb after that. Anyway, he wanted to know how he could do the assignment because he only understood physics by its technical jargon. I said, "Don't ask me how to do it. I don't know jack crap about physics. Why don't you try writing it and then when you're done, I'll read it and let you know if I understand." So he started writing but unfortunately my shift ended before he did. Hopefully I was of some help.
Now that that's out of the way, I would like to talk a little about what I am thinking about for my bibliographic essay. Maybe by writing it down in this blog I can sort out a few things in my mind.
The majority of the research I have been doing is on what types of writing centers are out there. I've read up on typical writing centers and college writing centers that go a little against the norms; I've read about the uses of online centers, and even writing centers that colleges have set up in high school and elementary schools. It's been interesting to see the goals and the tactics that these writing centers have to accomplish them. It was interesting to see that not only do most of them focus on improving the student's writing ability, but that they are focused on changing students' perception of writing and the writing center. They don't just want to help "remedial" writers, but they want to be an audience for more advanced writers as well. Many of them are focused on being an outlet to writing classes. What I mean by this is that students, to get full credit for their writing class, are required to spend an hour a week in the writing center. This opens up the ability of the writing professor to focus on more global issues during class time. There is one school I read about that, in any of six writing classes, the student pays for 4 credit hours in a 3 credit hour course. The fourth hour of the class is spent in the writing center. Though the students only receive 3 credit hours, 1/4 of the grade comes from assignments given and completed in the writing center. The writing teachers in this school are very pleased with the progress students in these classes are making. I don't know how many students receive our services per week but at this particular school, the writing center had 1500 clients a week! Pretty impressive numbers.
posted by Anonymous at 8:52 PM
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