Writing Centers

Before I begin writing about the chapters I read and there significance in the Writing Center, I would just like to apologize to mt peers for submitting this post so late.  This is my first experience using a blog and it seems that all work I did creating the blog in Tuesday's class seemed to not have worked. I had to set everything up again without the assistance of my savy techno peers.  But I did! Hooray for me! Now let me talk about the chapters an the impact they had on my knowledge of writing centers.

Writing like any other form of communication is something that is internal.  We as social creators have a need to express ourselves and writing is just an outlet for our opinions, desires, frustrations etc.  This is demonstrated clearly through the Social Constructionist Theory.  "language is social"(pg1).  It is a gathering of ideas that are meshed together to form connections with everyday occurrences.  For this reason, it is vital to make the writer comfortable with their writing.  The Reader Response Theory allows this to take place.

In this theory, the reader is asked to step back before giving judgement on a writing sample.  Only the composer of this writing sample actually knows what he or she is trying to say.  As a Writing Consultant, sometimes less is better than more in feedback.  As a teacher, I have found this to be one of the most difficult things to do.  I have learned to guide instead of leading.  One of the things that sticks in my mind from our first class is a comment made by Angela, "we help the reader take ownership of their writing" and this is the definition of Reader Response in a nut shell.  The others theories in chapter 1 are all an extension of these two main points in writing.  Of the three chapters, the most important one for me, was the Do's and Don't of tutoring in the Writing Center.

Before entering any new environment where a give and take of ideas is expected, the ground rules should be noted and applied accordingly.  Humans are very sensitive individuals and the slightest negative response to a personal out pouring of ideas might set someone self-esteem tumbling down into an empty black whole.  Chapter 3 was very, very important.