Writing Centers And Learning Commons

Writing Centers and Learning Commons presents program administrators, directors, staff, and tutors with theoretical rationales, experiential journeys, and go-to practical designs and strategies for the many questions involved when writing centers find themselves operating in shared environments. The chapters comprehensively examine the ways writing centers make the most of sharing common ground. Directors, coordinators, administrators, and stakeholders draw on past and present attention to writing center studies to help shape the future of the learning commons and narrate their substantial collective experience with collaborative efforts to stay centered while empowering colleagues and student writers at their institutions. The contributors explore what is gained and lost by affiliating writing centers with learning commons, how to create sound pedagogical foundations that include writing center philosophies, how writing center practices evolved or have been altered by learning center affiliations, and more. Writing Centers and Learning Commons is for all stakeholders of writing in and across campuses collaborating on (by choice or edict), or wishing to explore the possibilities of, a learning commons enterprise. Contributors: Alice Batt, Cassandra Book, Charles A. Braman, Elizabeth Busekrus Blackmon, Virginia Crank, Celeste Del Russo, Patricia Egbert, Christopher Giroux, Alexis Hart, Suzanne Julian, Kristen Miller, Robby Nadler, Michele Ostrow, Helen Raica-Klotz, Kathleen Richards, Robyn Rohde, Nathalie Singh-Corcoran, David Stock

Writing Centers at the Center of Change looks at how eleven centers, internationally, adapted to change at their institutions, during a decade when their very success has become a valued commodity in a larger struggle for resources on many campuses. Bringing together both US and international perspectives, this volume offers solutions for adapting to change in the world of writing centers, ranging from the logistical to the pedagogical, and even to the existential. Each author discusses the origins, appropriate responses, and partners to seek when change comes from within a school or outside it. Chapters document new programs being formed under changing circumstances, and suggest ways to navigate professional or pedagogical changes that may undermine the hard work of more than four decades of writing-center professionals. The book’s audience includes writing center and learning-commons administrators, university librarians, deans, department chairs affiliated with writing centers. It will also be useful for graduate students in composition, rhetoric, and academic writing.

This collection examines the potential inherent in partnerships between libraries and writing centers and suggests that such partnerships might respond more effectively to student needs than separate efforts. The essays consist primarily of case studies of collaborations in institutions throughout the US. The concluding chapter reflects on the impl

This book profiles 12 writing centers that function effectively on their college and university campuses. Following an introduction that provides an overview and suggests ways the book can be used, the centers are examined in detail in the following chapters: (1) "A Multiservice Writing Lab in a Multiversity: The Purdue University Writing Lab" (Muriel Harris); (2) "The Writing Center at Medgar Evers College: Responding to the Winds of Change" (Brenda M. Greene); (3) "The Writing Centers at the University of Toledo: An Experiment in Collaboration" (Joan A Mullin and Luanne Momenee); (4) "The Lehigh University Writing Center: Creating a Community of Writers" (Edward Lotto); (5) "The Writing Center at the University of Southern California: Couches, Carrels, Computers, and Conversation" (Irene L. Clark); (6) "The Writing Center at Harvard University: A Student Centered Resource" (Linda Simon); (7) "The Writing Center at the University of Puget Sound: The Center of Academic Life" (Julie Neff); (8) "Establishing a Writing Center for the Community: Johnson County Community College" (Ellen Mohr); (9) "Redefining Authority: Multicultural Students and Tutors at the Educational Opportunity Program Writing Center at the University of Washington" (Gail Y. Okawa); (10) "The Land-Grant Context: Utah State University's Writing Center" (Joyce A. Kinkead); (11) "Taking Tutoring on the Road: Utah State University's Rhetoric Associates Program" (Joyce A. Kinkead); and (12) "Moving toward an Electronic Writing Center at Colorado State University" (Dawn Rodrigues and Kathleen Kiefer). The book concludes with two items by Joyce A. Kinkead, an epilogue and an additional article, "The Scholarly Context: A Look at Themes," which offers information on some of the uses of writing labs. (NKA)

From the Back Cover: Creative Approaches to Writing Center Work is the first book-length attempt to address the role creativity plays in writing centers. Beginning with the premise that creativity has the potential to make work and learning environments more productive-and possibly more dangerous-the ideas in this collection will complicate visions of what writing centers can and should be. Striking a balance between theory and practice, readers will learn about creative tutor training and staff meeting activities, how to use toys to tutor and how to tutor creative writers, and, finally, how to implement creative outreach programs such as Stanford's poetry slams and fiction readings, Sonoma State's writing playshops, Iowa's invitations and Voices, and Lansing Community College's Portfolio Pandemonium Midnight Madness. Those who are in search of ways to infuse their centers with creativity and fun will find Creative Approaches to Writing Center Work to be an invaluable, inspirational resource.

No less than other divisions of the college or university, contemporary writing centers find themselves within a galaxy of competing questions and demands that relate to assessment—questions and demands that usually embed priorities from outside the purview of the writing center itself. Writing centers are used to certain kinds of assessment, both quantitative and qualitative, but are often unprepared to address larger institutional or societal issues. In Building Writing Center Assessments that Matter, Schendel and Macauley start from the kinds of assessment strengths already in place in writing centers, and they build a framework that can help writing centers satisfy local needs and put them in useful dialogue with the larger needs of their institutions, while staying rooted in writing assessment theory. The authors begin from the position that tutoring writers is already an assessment activity, and that good assessment practice (rooted in the work of Adler-Kassner, O'Neill, Moore, and Huot) already reflects the values of writing center theory and practice. They offer examples of assessments developed in local contexts, and of how assessment data built within those contexts can powerfully inform decisions and shape the futures of local writing centers. With additional contributions by Neal Lerner, Brian Huot and Nicole Caswell, and with a strong commitment to honoring on-site local needs, the volume does not advocate a one-size-fits-all answer. But, like the modeling often used in a writing consultation, examples here illustrate how important assessment principles have been applied in a range of local contexts. Ultimately, Building Writing Assessments that Matter describes a theory stance toward assessment for writing centers that honors the uniqueness of the writing center context, and examples of assessment in action that are concrete, manageable, portable, and adaptable.

In a landmark collaboration, five co-authors develop a theme of ordinary disruptions ("the everyday") as a source of provocative learning moments that can liberate both student writers and writing center staff. At the same time, the authors parlay Etienne Wenger’s concept of "community of practice" into an ethos of a dynamic, learner-centered pedagogy that is especially well-suited to the peculiar teaching situation of the writing center. They push themselves and their field toward deeper, more significant research, more self-conscious teaching.

Colleges typically have writing centers to which students can bring their writing assignments to a peer tutor for assistance, but most high schools and middle schools do not. This book advocates for the creation of writing centers in 7–12 schools and explains why the school library is the best place for the writing center. There is a glaring absence of writing centers in today's K–12 schools. More and more students are being asked in college entrance testing to submit samples of their writing, and employers are expecting their workers to write correctly and clearly. This book addresses the critical lack of writing centers below the undergraduate level. It demonstrates how middle school and high school librarians can create writing centers in their school libraries, explains how to assist students through a one-on-one writing tutorial method, and gives students and teachers the tools for learning and understanding the complex art of writing. Author Timothy Horan—inventor of the School Library Writing Center—establishes why school libraries represent the best—and most logical—places to create writing centers, and why school librarians are the natural choice to direct writing center operations. He then takes readers through the process of creating a writing center from original conception up through opening day. Additional topics covered include how to publicize and "grow" your School Library Writing Center; maintaining your writing center for efficient operation on a daily basis as well as for years to come; how to become an effective writing center director and writing tutor; the most current technology that can be used to assist in the writing, composition, and research process; and working with English language learner (ELL) students within your writing center.

This collection helps students and researchers understand the foundations of writing center studies in order to make sound decisions about the types of methods and theoretical lenses that will help them formulate and answer their research questions. In the collection, accomplished writing center researchers discuss the theories and methods that have enabled their work, providing readers with a useful and accessible guide to developing research projects that interest them and make a positive contribution. It introduces an array of theories, including genre theory, second-language acquisition theory, transfer theory, and disability theory, and guides novice and experienced researchers through the finer points of methods such as ethnography, corpus analysis, and mixed-methods research. Ideal for courses on writing center studies and pedagogy, it is essential reading for researchers and administrators in writing centers and writing across the curriculum or writing in the disciplines programs.

“They're All Writers” will help teachers explore the power of writing centers. In elementary school classrooms across the country, writing instruction (not grammar worksheets or spelling drills) is still the neglected “R.” In this book, classroom teachers will find foundational information about the writing process with everything they need to begin and facilitate a peer tutoring writing center. Student-led writing centers harness the social and instructional power of students working and learning together, and this book includes specific lessons to teach students how to be effective peer tutors and how to be better writers. Book Features: A new, research-based approach to writing pedagogy that integrates both writing process theories and writing center pedagogies. Complete lesson plans to help teachers implement a writing center curriculum that meets Common Core and other quality standards. An approach that harnesses the power of social learning, develops students as leaders in their schools, and facilitates generative conversations around writing.