syllabus

Course Description and Goals
ENGL 390A prepares students to work as first year composition writing tutors in the Writing Lab at Purdue.  You will review writing processes and rhetorical approaches for traditional print-based writing projects as well as multimedia-based projects which students in ENGL 106 and 108 will be producing.  The course also covers tutoring strategies and tutoring theory and provides hands-on experience in the Writing Lab. ENGL 390A can be taken for two or three credit hours, either for a grade or with a pass/no pass option.

Course Meeting Time
The course meets on Monday 11:30-12:20 in HEAV 227.  In addition to this regularly scheduled time, you must also complete additional scheduled hours of observation, mock tutorials, and activities per week in the Writing Lab. 

Office Hours
Monday 10:30-11:30 and by appointment.

Textbooks

• Gillespie, Paula and Neal Lerner.  The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring, Second Edition.  This text is available only from Von’s.

   

• Course e-book, available in TK3 format on CD-Rom.  A downloadable copy of TK3 Reader, used to access the e-book, will be packaged with the CD-Rom, and you can install this on your home computer.

   

Additional Assistance
You are expected to keep up with the reading and writing requirements of this course, and I encourage you to take advantage of any assistance available to you at Purdue. This includes making an appointment with a Writing Lab tutor for help with any 390A assignments. You may also visit me during my office hours, or you can schedule an appointment with me.

If you have a documented disability and need accommodations for this course, please notify me by the second week of classes. For more information about accommodations and disabilities, please see Adaptive Programs in the Dean of Students Office and visit http://www.purdue.edu/odos/adpro/index.htm.

Class Resources
A number of books and journals about writing center theory and practice are available in the Writing Lab, which you may use for any of your assignments. I encourage you to browse through these resources during your in-Lab hours, and feel free to ask me or any tutor for information about articles on specific topics. The UTAs and GTAs are especially good about suggesting articles and Tutor’s Columns in the Writing Lab Newsletter.

If you’d like to check out a book in the resource library, please see Hsiao-Ming.

course policies

Attendance
Because there are so few times when the class will meet as an entire group, it is important that you attend every class meeting, unless there is a major emergency.  If you are absent because of a university requirement, please notify me in advance and provide some documentation for the absence. You will be responsible for making up any work missed due to absences.

You are required to set two additional hours in the Writing Lab to complete in-Lab assignments, such as observations or mock-tutorials.  These hours should be set times each week, and we will establish this schedule by the second week of classes.  Please be sure to wear your name tag when you are in the Writing Lab and introduce yourself to any tutor or staff member while you’re there. 

Grading


Short Assignments	15% (5% each)
Proposal	25%
Final Paper/Presentation	30%
Participation	30% (for class and in-Lab participation and Drupal posts)

 

• If you decide to take the course for 3 hours, you will be required to write a longer, more substantial research paper than currently described as the final paper. 

 

• I will not accept late assignments, except in cases of excused absences.  In addition, no student can expect to pass this course unless all assignments have been submitted.

 

Assignment Format
All assignments should be word processed, unless indicated otherwise.  Please use 1 inch margins and 10-12 point fonts.  Fonts should be standard types, rather than difficult-to-read scripts or “fun” fonts.  Examples of appropriate fonts include Times, Times New Roman, Arial, and Courier.

Please do not use cover sheets, report covers, or decorated papers.  Follow either MLA or APA formats when using sources, and include a heading on the first page of each assignment with the following:  your name, the date, ENGL 390A, and the title of the assignment.

Mentors
Undergraduate Teaching Assistants (UTAs) who are working in the Writing Lab serve as mentors for 390A students.  In addition, Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs), or graduate tutors, will be happy to answer questions and offer advice.  For your Tutor Interview assignment, you may choose to interview either a UTA or a GTA.

course schedule

Aug 22

 “Why We Tutor,” Gillespie & Lerner

                       
Aug 29

• “The Writing Process” & “The Tutoring Process,” Gillespie & Lerner
• “Early Writing Centers:  Toward a History,” Carino
• “The Idea of a Writing Center,” North         

 Drupal Post; In-Lab:  Treasure Hunt

 
Sept 5

Labor Day holiday, no class      

Drupal Post; In-Lab:  Observation #1

 
Sept 12           

• Examining Expectations” & “Observing in the Writing Center,” Gillespie & Lerner
• “Collaborative Learning and the ‘Conversation of Mankind’,” Bruffee

 Drupal Post; In-Lab:  Interview

Sept 19

• “Tutoring Practice,” Gillespie & Lerner
• “Minimalist Tutoring:  Making the Student Do All the Work,” Brooks
• “Strategies for Tutoring the Passive Student,” Crowe           

 Short Assignment #1; Drupal Post; In-Lab:  Paper Evaluation #1

 
Sept 26

• “Reflecting on the First Session,” Gillespie & Lerner
• “The First Five Minutes:  Setting the Agenda in a Writing Conference,” Newkirk      

Drupal Post; In-Lab:  Exploring ICaP

 
Oct 3

• “Reading in the Writing Center,” Gillespie & Lerner
• Read a section on Visual Rhetoric from a 106 textbook
• “Graphic Design Do’s and Don’t’s,” Cohen 

 Drupal Post; In-Lab:  Visual Rhetoric in textbooks

 
Oct 10

Fall Break, no class

 Your tutorial should be completed any time before the break.

 
Oct 17

• “The Rhetoric of Visual Arguments,” Blair
• “Rhetorical Devices and Tight Integration,” Horn
• “Visual Rhetoric:  A Reader-Oriented Approach to Graphics and Designs, “Kostelnick           

 Drupal Post; In-Lab:  Observation #2

Oct 24
• “Building Visual Communication Theory by Borrowing from Rhetoric,” Kenney
• “Writing Center Research” & “Writing Centers:  Historical and Theoretical Contexts,” Gillespie & Lerner      

 Short Assignment #2; Drupal Post; In-Lab:  Mock Tutorial #1

 
Oct 31

• “Paying Attention to Learning Styles in Writing Center Epistemology, Tutor Training, and Writing Tutorials,” Macauley
• “Multi-sensory Tutoring for Multi-sensory Learners,” Konstant
• “Learning Disabilities and the Writing Center,” Neff 

 Topic idea for final paper; Drupal Post; In-Lab:  Paper Evaluation #2

 
Nov 7

• “Working with ESL Writers,” Gillespie & Lerner
• “Tutoring ESL Students:  Issues and Options,” Harris & Silva
• “Tutoring ESL Students and Overcoming Frustration,” Willis
• “Plagiarism as a Cross-Cultural Phenomenon,” Russikoff, et al          

 Short Assignment #3; Drupal Post; In-Lab:  Observe workshop or conversation group

 
Nov 14

• “Understanding Cultural Differences in the Rhetoric and Composition Classroom:  Contrastive Rhetoric as Answer to ESL Dilemmas,” Panetta
• International Student Writers:  Turning Cultural Stress into Synergy,” Wang
• Suggested reading:  ESL Writers, Bruce & Rafoth (available in the Writing Lab)       

 Proposal; Drupal Post; In-Lab:  Mock Tutorial #2

 
Nov 21

• “Interdisciplinary and On-Line Tutoring,” Gillespie & Lerner
• “Computers in the Writing Center:  A Cautionary History,” Carino
• “Information Literacy and the Writing Center,” Clark           

 Drupal Post; In-Lab:  Writing Lab technology

 
Nov 28

• “What If…,” Gillespie & Lerner
• Your choice readings        

Drupal Post; In-Lab:  Self-Evaluation

 
Dec 5

“Revisiting “The Idea of a Writing Center,” North

Final Paper and Presentation

in-lab activities

Tutorial Observations
You should constantly be observing tutorials during your time in the Writing Lab each week.  However, I will ask you to complete formal observations and fill out a Tutorial Observation Form twice this semester.  The forms will be available outside my office door.

 
Tutor Interview
For this assignment, you will develop a set of questions and interview an experienced tutor—either a UTA or a GTA.  The questions can focus on writing center experience, tutoring styles and strategies, areas of expertise, past tutoring experiences, etc; consider questions that help you expand your knowledge of both practice and theory in the Writing Lab.  Interviews should not last longer than an hour, and you should work around the schedule of the tutor you are interviewing.  You may choose a tutor whom you’ve observed, and you may consider tutoring styles and strategies when selecting your interviewee. 

 
Student Paper Evaluation
In order to better prepare you to tutor students face to face, it is important to look at student writing and practice strategies that you may use in tutorial sessions.  You will first begin with evaluating sample student papers.  For each paper, you will have a Student Paper Evaluation Form to complete, which includes a set of questions that you will answer in response to the paper.

 

Your Tutorial
Before fall midterm, you must schedule an appointment with a Writing Lab tutor to work on a paper you are writing this semester (not a previously written and graded assignment).  You may use a paper from any course, including 390A, and this tutorial should take place before Fall Break.

 
Mock Tutorials
During the course of the semester, you will be completing mock tutorials with currently employed UTAs.  This will give you the opportunity to practice your tutoring skills and get feedback from experienced tutors.  Schedules for mock tutorials will be posted in advance, and you will be required to sign up.

 
Exploring ICaP
Visit the ICaP website and read about the various syllabus approaches.  You may choose to examine several course websites. Now choose a single approach and write a 1-page paper on the approach and how you would students with assignments from that approach.  Include the approach’s basic principles and goals, but the primary point of this assignment is to look at the syllabus approach from a tutor’s viewpoint. Think about what makes this approach unique and about how the assignments fulfill the approach. Also, consider what a future tutor may need to know about this approach in order to help students who come into the Writing Lab for help with their assignments. Are there areas of particular concern? Which assignments will students have difficulty with and why? What areas and assignments would you have trouble tutoring and why? What assignments and areas would you feel confident about tutoring and why?

 
Writing Lab Technologies
Choose a Writing Lab technology—a particular software program, student-use computers, computers for tutorials, PowerPoint presentation, OWLs, TutorTrac, Kurzweil, etc.—and write a 1 page review of the technology.  You may spend time describing the technology and its use in the Writing Lab.  Consider the implications of using this technology in the Writing Lab.  How does it impact the Lab and its tutorials?  What are the benefits and challenges of using the technology?  What should tutors consider with regard to this technology?

written

Drupal Discussion Posts
We will use the Drupal environment to generate and archive thoughtful discussion to course readings and in-Lab activities.  I will provide weekly prompts and questions for the purpose of generating discussion, but you are encouraged to go beyond the prompts to consider important issues and topics that pertain to tutoring and writing center work. 

 
Short Assignment 1:  Initial Impressions
In this 2-3 page assignment, you are asked to write about your impressions about the Writing Lab so far.  At this point in the semester, you should have observed at least one tutorial.  Include your tutorial observations and observations about any other Writing Lab service (i.e. conversation groups, workshops, etc) and how they relate to any of the readings we’ve covered in class thus far.  For example, consider how the tutorials you observed fit with writing center theory and practice, as discussed in class readings.  Also, think about the kinds of tutoring strategies that you saw in action.  What worked well and why?  While this paper is fairly short, be sure to include examples and detailed information.

 
Short Assignment 2: Visual Rhetoric in Practice
This assignment contains two parts:  a visual piece and a 1-page description of it.  You will be using visual rhetoric to present and support an argument in any way you choose—by using computer graphics, photography, or through any other digital means.  You may incorporate some text, but the primary mode of your argument will be visual.

 
Next, write a 1-2 page description of your visual piece, but avoid spending too much time simply describing the piece.  Discuss, instead, your design process and the choices you made when constructing your piece.   Look at your piece critically and anticipate the kinds of questions that your audience, a fellow 390A student, or anyone else would have about your piece.

 
Short Assignment 3:  Mock Tutorial Reflection
By this point in the semester, you will have completed at least one mock tutorial with a currently employed UTA.  Take a moment to reflect upon this experience and describe it in a 2-3 page paper.  What strategies did you employ in the mock tutorial?   What did you learn from this experience?  You may also discuss your thoughts and feelings as you went through the process of critiquing a paper with a “student.”

 
Proposal
Choose a research topic for your final paper and write a 2-3 page proposal.  In this proposal, you will present your overall research question that you will address in your paper and the significance of the question.  In other words, what do you hope to learn in your research and why is it important to the field of writing center work?  In your final paper, you will present a specific, well-thought argument, and your proposal should provide some indication of your argument and how you plan to support it.  Include a plan for additional research you plan to conduct (i.e. consult more sources, writing lab observations, interviews, etc.)

 
In addition to the description of your research question and argument, include an annotated bibliography.  The annotated bibliography is list of sources you have already consulted, along with a summary and critique of those sources.  List your sources alphabetically and in either MLA or APA citation format.  Below each citation, include a 1-paragraph summary of the source’s argument and main points.  Include a second paragraph that critiques the source and describes how it fits in with your research.

 
Final Paper
In this 4-6 page research paper, you will present an argument on some aspect of writing center scholarship—either related to theory or practice.  You may use any of your short papers as a basis for this assignment.  Consider where your interests lie in writing center work:  tutoring strategies, roles of tutors and writing centers, meeting students’ needs, Composition and writing centers, writing center technology, etc.  You may discuss your topic choice with me at any point during the semester.

 
You are required to use at least 3 secondary sources to support your argument.  Consider using additional sources such as interviews or surveys, depending upon your research topic.  Your research paper should follow MLA or APA guidelines. 

 
Presentation
On the last day of class, you will spend 3-5 minutes discussing your research project with the class.  This does not have to be a formal presentation, but it may be helpful to have a visual aid or handout for the class.  This presentation is part of the final paper grade.