...FROM THE EDITOR...

If spring is quieter than fall in your writing center, you might want to use the time to consider expanding the scope of your services to include sug-gestions from articles in this month’s issue of the newsletter. Bryon Grigsby makes a convincing case for training tutors to work with reading skills too, thereby enhancing their tutoring to en-compass literacy in both reading and writing. Karen Sisk offers us another area of student need to work with—the visually impaired writers in our institu-tions.

And to return to first principles or basics of our theory and practice, Gre-gory Crutsinger reflects on his efforts to calm nervous students when they first appear at the tutoring table. Natalie Herdman considers—or recon-siders—basic tenets of collaboration theory as it pertains to guiding prin-ciples of tutoring.

And we also have more job notices in this month’s issue, useful both for those looking for positions and for those of us who are well settled where we are but curious to see where writing centers are springing up and how the positions are being defined in various contexts.

• Muriel Harris, editor

Incorporating literacy into a writing center

One of the first questions writing center tutors ask a tutee is “What is the assignment?” By examining both the teacher’s written assignment and the tutee’s verbal or written interpretation of it, the tutor can identify the tutee’s misinterpretation or misrepresentation of the assignment. When a tutor real-izes that the assignment has not been understood, he or she rephrases the as-signment for the student. But why do we as tutors stop there? If the student is having trouble understanding the as-signment, an assignment that is often written out, why do we assume that the student understands the reading or, for that matter, can read effectively? It may be time to add another level to the “inverted pyramid” of writing center pedagogy. We can no longer assume that our students who walk into the writing center read effectively enough to write about what they read. By train-ing tutors in reading, writing center di-rectors prepare tutors for the growing reading problems that already exist in college communities. Furthermore, by adding reading pedagogy, the center can serve more than college students; it can offer needed literacy help to the lo-cal community.

When I came to Eastern Connecticut State University two years ago as the Writing Specialist, I was introduced to a writing center completely different from those centers in my previous ex-perience. The Learning Center, which housed the Writing Center, hired two peer tutors whom I was to oversee. These two tutors were picked for their academic standing and work-study eli-gibility, not their proficiency in writ-ing. They were given no training, but were expected to tutor seven hours a week, focusing mainly on basic writing

The Writing Lab Newsletter, published in ten monthly issues from September to June by the Department of English, Purdue University, is a publication of the National Writing Centers Association, an NCTE Assembly, and is a member of the NCTE Information Exchange Agreement. ISSN 1040-3779. All Rights and Title reserved unless permission is granted by Purdue University. Material will not be reproduced in any form without express written permission.

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skills. As their supervisor, my main tasks were to make sure that they were performing adequately and to tutor the most difficult students myself. The program clearly needed revamping to satisfy both pedagogical lines and budgetary needs.

After approaching my supervisor about teaching the tutors the latest pedagogical methods for improving student’s writing, I was told that my main concern should be fixing the grammar of remedial students and that any work I did beyond that was to be on a strictly volunteer basis. My super-visor also told me that he was totally supportive of me, but because Eastern was a state university, there was no money to support new tutors and an expanded writing center. At this mo-ment I began to search for other fund-ing opportunities, such as through lit-eracy programs. Although I initially turned to literacy because I was inter-ested in finding a way to fund a writing center, after creating this program, I became a firm believer that literacy center components are worthwhile ad-ditions to any writing tutor’s training.

Literacy is a hot topic in government and charitable organizations. While I am not suggesting that you steal from worthy social programs to support dwindling writing center budgets, I am saying that if you are willing to expand the responsibilities of a writing center to include literacy, then the combined writing and literacy center may be a way to increase your budget. Further-more, you will find that most literacy agencies focus on reading and writing as a component; therefore, your tutors already have part of the training. You only need to train them in the other half, namely reading tutoring. At the end of this paper, I offer resources that effectively train writing tutors in lit-eracy and organizations you can con-tact for further help. In my mind, the combined writing and literacy center is a natural evolution of the present day writing center and of a college system that is increasingly called upon to support the community.

There are many social benefits to a combined writing and literacy center. To begin, the center provides a safe lo-cation for students to serve their com-munity. Volunteer work and service learning have become important as-pects on all campuses. Unfortunately, many of the locations where students can volunteer are unsafe. At Eastern, for example, one of the volunteer ser-vices is at a low-income housing project. This site has no security, no telephone, and no supervision. By hav-ing a combined writing and literacy center, the tutors remain on campus and the students come to them. Conse-quently, the students are protected by university security and staff while still serving their community. Further, the school does not have to provide trans-portation for these students to do vol-unteer work because the clients come to the school.

Through the construction of a com-bined writing and literacy center, the college fosters community relations. Last year, the Writing and Literacy Center at Eastern sponsored a reading day in which eighty-seven children came to University’s student center and had college students read stories to them. The program was designed around the idea that children need to listen to stories and then demonstrate their comprehension through enjoyable activities. Some of these activities in-cluded drawing pictures of the charac-ters or scene, acting out scenes, or con-tinuing the story. Last year, I also secured a local celebrity writer, Regina Barreca, to talk to both children and parents about her memories of reading. These reading days become wonderful ways to advertise literacy programs, because many parents who do not know that these types of programs ex-ist on college campuses will often come out to hear the speaker. I also convinced Shaw’s, a local supermarket chain, to donate children’s books so that every child who attended would receive a book. Finally, Literacy Vol-unteers of America provided goodie bags for each child.

Besides the social benefits to the col-lege and the community, the tutors also receive a lot out of the combined cen-ter. Many of Eastern’s students are studying to be teachers. This program allows the tutors to put their theoretical ideas into practice. Tutors learn ways to talk about readings, increase vo-cabulary, and check comprehension, all valuable tools for developing teach-ers in any field. Further, the combined literacy and writing center brings real world problems into the ivory tower of academia. Tutors have to face the fact that reading is part of a social system that excludes those who lack the means to understand the symbols and there-fore deprives them of information ac-cess. Tutors also realize that many of these illiterate adults have learned to function fairly well in a literate world by hiding their literacy problems. Many times, tutors need to break through these barriers in order to begin to help the student.

The pedagogical benefits of a com-bined literacy and writing center are also important. Part of my epiphany with literacy in a writing center came when I was tutoring a student who was having difficulty with a two-hundred level English course paper. Her paper used very large words and purple prose, but it lacked any significant meaning. Luckily the paper was on an article that I have taught numerous times, Robert Reich’s “Why the Rich are Getting Richer and the Poor Poorer.” After repeatedly trying to ask the student, “what is the one point you want the reader to walk away with?,” I finally started to question the student about the reading and discovered that she did not understand the reading or the question to begin with. I thought about what I would have done as a tu-tor who had not read the text. I most likely would have continued with typi-cal writing tutor questions and the tutee would have provided vague re-sponses until both of us would have settled on a plan of action. But deep in my heart, I would have felt that I did not help the tutee. I had felt that way before, both as a tutor and as a teacher; however I never realized that it could be a reading problem that was getting in the way of the student’s writing.

I took this experience to my Devel-opmental Writing class and had the students read aloud. I noticed that many of these students had difficulty reading average text, let alone text that would rank on a higher reading level. Too many of us as writing center tutors and directors assume that the reading has been completed and the student un-derstands the text and the assignment. By giving the tutors the means to evaluate and teach reading, we provide them with more tools to improve the written product. In the combined writ-ing and literacy center, when it be-comes clear that the student doesn’t understand the assignment of the teacher, the tutor makes sure that the student understands the text he or she was supposed to read.

As writing center tutors and direc-tors, we have to accept the fact that students who are entering college may not only have writing problems, but many may now have reading problems. While it is unfortunate that many col-leges are increasingly placing more burdens on writing centers to handle ESL, developmental writing, and even disabled or emotionally disturbed stu-dents, few colleges have realized that many of our students need help with reading. The writing center seems the logical place in which to tutor both subjects in a unified and cohesive manner.

Besides the social and pedagogical benefits to a combined literacy and writing center, there are also signifi-cant financial benefits. There are three types of funding available to most agencies interested in pursuing literacy tutoring. The first type is federal fund-ing through programs such as America Reads. Initiated by President Clinton, the set goal of America Reads is to have all third grade children reading adequately at the third grade level. The President supports college tutors who work with literacy issues by paying 100% of their work-study money. Nor-mally, the federal government pays 75% of a student’s work-study money, but if the student works with literacy problems, the federal government will pick up the entire check. Consequently, one could run all of the tutors’ ex-penses free of charge for the college. Also, as mandated by President Clinton, all colleges and universities are currently required to use at least 5% of their Federal Work-Study allo-cation for community service. Literacy tutoring counts as money dedicated to the community.

Beside federal grants, you may want to approach your State Board of Edu-cation. In Connecticut, the State Board of Education offers four different grants for literacy. These grant dead-lines are usually in April, and the ap-plication process is extensive. If you are planning to apply for these grants, you need to get an early jump on the proposal. Almost all states offer some type of grant for literacy. Literacy fields often include family literacy, which means that you will be training parents how to read to their children; child literacy; adult literacy; and wel-fare-to-work or prison-to-work literacy programs. These last two programs have become very popular in the past three years and require more tutor training as they are often moving be-yond strict literacy issues into areas of personal management, like budgeting time and meeting deadlines. Calling your State Board of Education is the easiest way to find out about the fund-ing available and its parameters.

The final source of funding for your program is through private grants. There are lists of agencies that support literacy on the Internet (although if you teach at a state-funded university, it has been my experience that few private agencies want to assist these programs since they feel that the state should be the main contributor). Internet sources like the Foundation Center and Yahoo’s Grant Page will give you names of companies and grants that receive hundreds of re-quests for funding. They are highly se-lective and often do not support new, experimental ventures. Easier grants to secure are local grants that support a specific geographic area. To find out about these grants, go to your college’s grant advisor to see what methods are available to search for literacy funding. If your college does not have a grant officer, look at private grants books in any library. Look for grants that sup-port groups in your geographic area and are willing to fund reading and higher education. Because you are part of higher level education, you are able to apply for grants that non-profit agencies, like Literacy Volunteers of America, are unable to apply for.

There are numerous resources to as-sist in the addition of literacy training to writing center training. The three major literacy training organizations that I have used are Literacy Volun-teers of America, Laubach Literacy, and the International Reading Associa-tion. I originally approached LVA to train the students; however, I found the training to be somewhat redundant when combined with typical writing center tutor training. While it is won-derful that LVA trains tutors on a whole language approach, meaning reading, writing, and speaking, almost all writing center tutors are already given significant training in writing and speaking to students. Since LVA has little experience with writing cen-ter training and since they would not let me integrate their training into my extended training program, we ran LVA’s program with little deviation. In the evaluations of the training course, the tutors clearly stated that they felt that they benefited more from the writing training and the connection I made to literacy than from the twenty-hour LVA training. LVA’s training is not without merit and they are a wonderful organization. Many of the tutors picked up good ideas for helping children and adults to learn to read; however, the tips and procedures given to the students could have been handled in four or five hours if effectively combined with traditional writing center training.

My experience with LVA led me to search for a new organization that would allow me to tailor the program so as to more effectively integrate the two programs. I found Laubach Literacy’s books to be better than LVA’s because they compartmentalize literacy. Because they focus on a spe-cific audience, either family or adult literacy, writing and literacy trainers can add those components to writing tutor training. Laubach offers a system by which tutors and students work on short stories, writing exercises, and pamphlets that are both interesting to adults and related to necessary real-life skills. The emphasis on real-life skills is important if you are considering do-ing welfare-to-work or prison-to-work programs. However, if you are inter-ested in training your writing center tu-tors to work with children, Laubach has little to offer because their focus is on adult literacy.

I have recently chosen two books published by the International Reading Association because I believe these two works compliment writing tutor training better than others that I have previewed do. Both books are avail-able through their web site. The first work, The Volunteer Tutor’s Toolbox (1994) edited by Beth Ann Herrmann, offers tutoring ideas for one-to-one and group tutoring for all ages. It also dem-onstrates how to let students struggle to do the work for themselves. The other work that I chose is The Reading Team: A Handbook for Volunteer Tu-tors K-3 (1997) by Lesley Mandel Morrow and Barbara J. Walker. De-signed for programs that are trying to meet the America Reads Challenge, this work is an appropriate choice for anyone who plans to tutor children.

When choosing a tutor training manual, you should first research the holes that have been left by the already established literacy agencies in your community. Eastern is located in the Windham area, and the local LVA agency deals with basic adult readers, ESL students, and family literacy is-sues. There is also an adult education program paid for by the state that fo-cuses on adult learners who do not have a high school degree or GED. To set up a similar organization would start a fight over the same clients. Af-ter analyzing what these programs had to offer, I realized that few local orga-nizations deal with adult learners who have a GED but lack a reading level high enough to enter college. I refer to these learners as those in need of “high-end adult literacy,” and it would seem that any college would be willing to support this endeavor because those students would probably choose the college that invested time, money and effort in their education even before they were paying tuition.

While we did not get as many high-end adults as we originally expected, we did work with some very interest-ing students at the Writing and Lit-eracy Center last semester. By spring semester last year, I had trained eight tutors who worked primarily with col-lege students on composition papers. By the end of the semester, we had worked with over 120 college students and performed nearly 250 hour tutor-ing sessions. Besides college students, the tutors worked with three public school children on reading and writing and read to eighty-seven children at “Windham Loves to Read.” I also had five volunteer tutors who just did the literacy training and worked at satellite locations with nearly twenty adults and children on reading and writing. I strongly believe that the literacy train-ing the tutors received helped them with their writing tutoring, particularly with non-traditional students.

As of the Spring ’99 semester, the Writing and Literacy Center moved into a new phase of development— Service Learning. Through a generous grant from Eastern, I taught a class as part of the English curriculum that trains students to tutor both reading to younger children and writing to college students. The students in this service learning course assisted the local li-brary and running writing workshops for college students. Our Literacy and Writing Tutors spent four hours per week outside class working on reading and writing. The service learning course gave them credit while gaining experience.

Universities and colleges have a responsibility to both students and the community. Writing centers have met the challenge to offer help to students who are struggling with writing. Once seen as marginal organizations, writing centers have become a mainstream part of nearly all supportive writing programs. Writing centers therefore have helped to make the previously invisible writing problems of our students vis-ible. There is a new problem develop-ing in our colleges, and, once again, the writing center can respond in order to make the presently invisible prob-lem of reading visible. By combining the services of a literacy and writing center, tutors can offer help to both the college and local community. If the writing center does not offer this type of service, who will?

Bryon Grigsby Eastern Connecticut State University Willimantic, CT

Resources Funding Sources: America Reads: http://www.ed.gov/ inits/americareads/index.html

I am convinced that no other experi-ence with any group of students has af-fected change in the methods of ad-ministration and teaching in the Augusta State University Writing Cen-ter more than the visually impaired. When our center opened in 1988, my style was fairly demanding of the other departments with whom I had to inter-act, from my own, to computer ser-vices, the physical plant, financial aid, personnel, and even the library. From my point of view, our center was re-quired to meet student needs; there-fore, these student support departments should be pleased to help. Whether it was a broken computer or a broken toi-let, student assistant funds or ancillary materials, I expected immediate action. Likewise, when our first visually im-paired student appeared, I needed even more cooperation to meet his special needs. As a teacher I also felt I had to assist him in more ways than I did other students. I felt I had a duty to fa-cilitate his efforts in both format and error since his ability to work in these particular areas was clearly impaired. This method was soon emulated by my student tutors who began to operate with all our tutees out of the “fix it” model I was demonstrating. Indeed, though I conducted “dynamic” tutor training workshops on collaborative methods, in practice we were all drift-ing back into the methodology by which we had been taught.

It wasn’t until 1990 when the ADA became law and we encountered more blind and visually impaired students that we began to learn how to make ac-commodations more appropriately. Yet we had not arrived at true collaboration with all students until the last five years when we worked with students who had lost their vision as adults, ei-ther through disease or injury.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law on July 26, 1990. Title II, Subtitle of the ADA pro-hibits discrimination and ensures equal opportunity on the basis of disability in employment, services, programs, and goods provided by state and local gov-ernments, which includes colleges and universities receiving federal funding. Title III establishes standards for en-suring accessibility when designing and constructing a new facility or alter-ing an existing facility. The ADA also requires effective communication with people with disabilities and reasonable modification of policies and practices that may be discriminatory.

Higher education has been relatively slow to provide both classes of accom-modations, largely because funding was not included in the act nor was time or information for course adapta-tion. Today, however, since individual students and organized groups for the disabled forced the issue, most col-leges and universities are trying to ad-here to the requirements. This began initially with physical accommoda-tions, or when buildings were reno-vated or built. Indeed, I was able to im-prove my relationship with the physical plant, public safety, procure-ment, and receiving during the eight-year renovation of the Writing Center to its current status as accessible and state-of-the art. When the first disabled student was enrolled, the more impor-tant academic accommodations were just as long in coming.

The first visually impaired student was fairly typical of those I encoun-tered until recently. Everett was an older student who had been sightless from early childhood, had thought little of proceeding with higher education, and had been “trained in a field appro-priate to his disability.” He had been and still is a piano tuner, but his desire to acquire a more formal education in music and piano performance brought him to our university. In his efforts to complete his core curriculum, he was faced with an overwhelming lack of understanding and ability by the uni-versity community to enable him to complete courses. Responding in writ-ing, testing, explaining visual and nu-merical concepts, converting texts and other materials were all beyond an in-dividual instructor’s abilities, and ad-ministrative assistance was minimal. Fortunately, the desire to help was of-ten there with individual instructors, and the advent of increased technology allowed him to make slow progress. Nearly ten years later, he is still a stu-dent.

The first technological adaptations were the work of the chair of math and computer science who adapted a Braille typewriter to a computer sys-tem, allowing Everett actually to com-pose and bring his work to the Writing Center. Later, Everett was also able to save his compositions to disk so that we were able to work with him in much the same way we continue to as-sist visually impaired students in the Writing Center. To save time we revise the paper on the computer screen by making requested changes as we read aloud to the student. The first software breakthrough came when the program Zoomtext was added to the network for Tom, an English major with a degen-erative eye condition. This program enlarged the text on the computer screen. A reader to enlarge written text in required readings was also made available in the library and media cen-ter. Unfortunately, Tom soon lost all vision and moved to a cane and then a guide dog before he was graduated.

Thus he, like other blind students, had to learn to use the special Jaws soft-ware that allows the computer to speak to them. Other equipment, such as a scanner which can translate materials into Braille or on tape, were also a ne-cessity. Close work with the media center and computer services, as well as the library, brought these to our campus. Additionally, specially equipped and reserved handicap com-puter stations are available in all labs on campus.

However, I was still the catalyst, the writer of memos to request these ac-commodations and others as they were developed. I contacted both IBM and Georgia Tech for the latest technologi-cal information on a regular basis. I got on the mailing list of a local handicap advocacy group for further informa-tion. Indeed, they helped me find the best “typing tutor” to work with our existing software and now provide training for sight-impaired students on campus, simply upon individual re-quest. They also have a used-computer program with local businesses and in-dividuals who wish to donate comput-ers to be refurbished for the use of the program and its clients. I finally dis-covered that the Department of Reha-bilitation Services provides the same technology, including computers, scan-ners and printers for the student’s home, as well as additional training in software programs such as the now popular Microsoft Office Suite.

DRS has always provided mobility instruction to allow students to find their way to and around the campus. It is very important that visually impaired students are introduced to the location of the Writing Center early in campus tours. Another way that many of the students find us is through their own grapevine. Tom, who had worked closely with us, brought many new stu-dents, as well as his mobility instruc-tor, to the Writing Center to meet us. Now we are a regular stop during their orientation. Because Augusta State University students must take English 101 before they have taken 30 hours and since 50% of class time is spent in the computer lab, we are often an early part of any student’s academic life. The Writing Center houses the 101 classroom, computer lab, and the writ-ing lab where tutorials take place; ad-ditional computers and a special projects workstation are available.

Initially the task of assisting disabled students was part of the duties of an al-ready overworked administrator, our Dean of Students. Often the instructor was unaware that a special needs stu-dent was enrolled until the first day of class. Therefore, unless the student had ordered the necessary materials, he or she often started at a disadvantage. The Writing Center Director and staff were often left to provide the interim assis-tance to obtain needed materials, pro-vide readers, or assist with tests.

The real transition occurred when our campus building plan and the posi-tion of Disabilities Services Coordina-tor were funded. Several sight-im-paired students expressed concern over constantly changing barriers and the public safety department public rela-tions liaison visited our tutor meeting for an update on the potential hazards in our part of the campus. I, unthink-ingly, sent out an e-mail message to all parties concerned, including the Dis-abilities Services Coordinator, in hopes of finding a solution. I was quickly made aware by the head of my depart-ment that I was treading in areas not my concern and to concentrate on the composition problems of these stu-dents. I apologized and have developed an excellent relationship with the per-son truly assigned the responsibility of assisting the visually impaired with their general needs.

Although we now have an informed and active Disabilities Services Coordinator, it is still up to the student to make contact and make needs known. Though the collaboration has begun, we have found issues that are unre-solved and habits that are difficult to break. We find ourselves just as tempted to “overdo” our assistance and to jump in before we make sure of all the facts surrounding an individual student’s particular request. To avoid overburdening the Writing Center staff and in order to document compliance with the law, we must be in constant contact with the Disabilities Services Coordinator and redirect both the stu-dent and the instructor to this member of the campus services community. This office is required to provide these special needs if requested. Accord-ingly, the Writing Center Director, in-structor, and student should be knowl-edgeable on the guidelines set up by the Disabilities Services Coordinator, especially the time and information re-quirements for things such as tests and ordering brailled or recorded materials. This keeps the Writing Center from be-ing caught in the middle of issues that develop between students, instructors, and the Disabilities Services Coordina-tor. This need for constant communica-tion became very apparent when a vi-sually impaired student told a different story to all three of those of us who were helping her during a particular as-signment. Inna, also an ESL student and former engineer, was masterful at manipulating not only faculty and staff, but also tutors and other students into providing more than the assistance clearly outlined in our Writing Center Contract.

In the Writing Lab, an individualized plan can be worked out with the stu-dent, instructor, and Disabilities Ser-vices Coordinator that is appropriate and allows the student to begin devel-oping the independence that is our goal for all students. We have found that setting up a schedule and working with a specific tutor is best, although all tu-tors are kept informed. It is also neces-sary for the Writing Center Director to monitor the student’s progress with the tutor, instructor, and Disabilities Ser-vices Coordinator and to make adjust-ments as needed. For example, if a vi-sually impaired student fails to show up for appointments or starts missing classes, it is important to find out the reason immediately. Like any students, the visually impaired may have per-sonal problems or may not feel com-fortable with the assigned tutor. If we are not vigilant, many of our visually impaired students drop a class or take an incomplete without ever seeking as-sistance. This was the case with Brian, our most recent blind student, whose assigned tutor turned out to be unreli-able. He never told me she failed to show up for appointments and did not have materials recorded on time; how-ever, my daily informal checks with the tutor and Brian soon revealed the true situation. I immediately replaced the student tutor.

Like all students, the disabled react in different ways to the demands they encounter, helping us remember that all of our students have special needs. During his next quarter, Brian was greatly discouraged about an adminis-tration decision regarding the handling of his special needs during his first quarter and lost focus, failing to com-plete his course work or keep up with his technology lessons. On the other hand, Dianne, who lost her sight through diabetes, was able to work with the system quite well until a small blister led to a toe amputation. Her deep religious faith and sense of humor have made a huge difference in the way she faces the challenge of her dis-ability. She had to drop out last quar-ter, but is using the time to work with a church youth group and improve her technology skills. Current students, both visually impaired and others who have become her friends, have been checking with us at the Writing Center on Dianne’s progress.

Hence the Writing Center staff plays a variety of roles for the visually impaired students. Recently we met with three visually impaired students in or-der to ascertain how we could better serve them. Tom is a graduate, Willie has left school, and Brian is a new stu-dent. Many of our more recent stu-dents, including two of these students, have lost their sight as adults. We have found that they are less likely to be trained in the technology and, conse-quently, have a harder time than those who have been blind since birth. All three students felt that they should have been better prepared before they entered college rather than having to learn new skills at the same time they were dealing with academic chal-lenges. As the result of this input, our Freshman English Committee will be recommending that computer training be completed before the student enters English 101.

These students felt the Writing Cen-ter staff played an important role in their college career. We were charac-terized as serving as their “eyes” as we described things to them or assisted them around the lab; as their academic assistants as we provided feedback on their written work; as their morale builders when they were feeling down or overwhelmed; as advocates when misunderstandings occurred with in-structors or other campus services; as translators of requirements and assign-ments and course descriptions; as counselors on both personal and aca-demic needs; and finally, as sources of information about events and activities on campus and in the community. Like all of us, the thing they appreciate the most is a good sense of humor.

We have also taken on the task of serving as role models for how to inter-act with the visually impaired. Even my student tutors have expressed fear that they might fail to be “politically correct.” Simple things like saying “See you later!” worried the tutors un-til one of the blind students said “See you after class!” one day and com-mented that we really shouldn’t worry about those expressions referring to sight. We have learned through trial and error and simply asking. Otherwise common courtesy applies: open doors since the blind are usually encumbered by not only their book bag but also a cane or a dog. Make sure you do not interfere by petting or talking to the dog when it is working. Keep others in the writing center from interfering with the dog unless it is at rest and the stu-dent gives permission. On the aca-demic level, remember that what you are saying as you work with the stu-dent is not being written down; thus a tape recording of your general discus-sion of their work is very valuable to them. This oral method should be em-ployed when you meet them in other locations on campus: say hello and tell them who you are (though they often recognize your voice).

Now that I have been with various blind or visually impaired students on campus, at community events, and simply out in public, I am amazed at how some people react to them. The public seems to fall into two catego-ries: those who ignore the blind person and those who are overzealous. Either kind can harm the visually impaired emotionally and/or physically. When in doubt if your help is needed, ask the person if he or she needs assistance. If you see a visually impaired person in imminent danger, please take action but make sure you let him or her know verbally of the danger and/or what you are doing to prevent it. As Brian is fond of saying, “I’m just like anyone else; I just can’t see.”

Those of us in writing centers must remember, most of all, that the dis-abled are usually living fairly isolated lives and are looking for relationships. Though a certain level of professional-ism must be maintained, I find that when a student introduces me or one of the student tutors to someone else, the word “friend” is always included. I am pleased with my new role as a collabo-rator. This experience has helped me realize that I truly get far more than I give as the Writing Center Director.

Karin Sisk Augusta State University Augusta, GA

Pamphlets and brochures available:

The Americans with Disabilities Act: Questions and Answers. National Institute on Disability and Reha-bilitation Research.

National Alliance of Blind Students. American Council of the Blind. 1155 15th Street, NW, Suite 720, Washington DC 20005. (800) 4248666

National Federation of the Blind. 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, MD 21230.

Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic.

20 Roszel Road, Princeton, NJ

08540. (800) 2214792.

Resource Guide for Persons with Vision Impairments. IBM National Support Center for Persons with Disabilities. P.O. Box 2150, Atlanta, GA 30301-2150. (800) 426-2133.

The following list contains telephone number of federal agencies that are responsible for providing information on the ADA:

Architectural and Transportation
Barriers Compliance Board:

(800) 872-2253.

Equal Opportunity Commission (questions and documents): (800) 669-3362.

Federal Communications Commission (ADA documents):

(202) 632-7260.

Settling the uneasy tutee

Collaboration in the Bakhtinian

writing center

Quotable Tutor Quote:

“ By telling clients, ‘Feel free to come back any time, at any stage of the paper, for any class,’ we open the door when they leave instead of closing it.”

Freshman English News

Composition Studies, first published as Freshman English News in 1972, is the oldest independent scholarly journal in rhetoric and composition. CS/FEN publishes essays on theories of composition and rhetoric, the teaching and administra-tion of writing and rhetoric at all post-secondary levels, and disciplinary/institutional issues of interest to the field’s teacher-scholars. Each issue includes Course Designs, an innovative feature on curricular development in writing and rhetoric of interest to teachers at all post-secondary levels. CS/FEN also includes lengthy review essays, written by rheto-ric and composition’s leading authors, of current scholarly books in the field.

Submissions

See the journal web site for all submission guidelines. Those wishing to submit to Course Designs are strongly urged to see the full project statement, also available from the web site. Those interested in writing review essays should forward a letter and vita to the editor. All unsolicited manuscripts are reviewed blind by two external readers.

Subscriptions

Composition Studies is published twice each year (April/May and October/November). Subscription rates are: Individu-als $15 (Domestic) and $20 (International); Institutions $25 (Domestic) and $30 (International); Graduate Students $12. Back issues are available at $8.

Peter Vandenberg, Editor

Composition Studies

DePaul University

Department of English

802 W. Belden Avenue

Chicago, IL 60614

composition_studies@wppost.depaul.edu

Writing Center Director Texas A&M University

We seek a senior specialist in Rhetoric and Composition Given the nature of the position, the Writing Center to be Director of the newly-established University Under-Director should possess superior communication graduate Writing Center. The appointment will be for 12-skills, flexibility, and vision regarding the teaching of months, with tenure as a member of the faculty in the De-literacy in the university. partment of English. Texas A&M University is currently implementing required writing-intensive courses, preferably We will begin reviewing applications after March to be taken in the student’s major. An important function of 31, and hope to complete our search in time for the the new writing center is to help faculty develop and en-new Director of the Writing Center to assume his/her hance writing instruction in these writing courses. In addi-duties by 15 August, 2001. However, the search will tion, the Director will supervise a walk-in consultation cen-remain open until a suitable candidate is found. ter and an on-line writing center which serves all undergraduates at Texas A&M working on writing projects. Procedure: Applicants should submit a letter of ap-

plication describing academic and administrative

Qualifications: The Director of the Writing Center background and the applicant’s vision for a university should have tenure and/or be tenurable in the Department of writing center, a curriculum vitae, and the names of English with the rank of Associate Professor or Professor. three references to: We seek a scholar with credentials in Rhetoric and Compo-Drs. Richard L. Carlson and Valerie M. Balester sition and a distinguished record of publication, teaching, Office of the Associate Provost for Undergraduate and service at the national level, as well as with experience Programs and Academic Services in the administration of a writing center or writing program. 203 Jack K. Williams Administration Building Credentials in technical writing, writing-across-the-curricu-1125 TAMU lum, and computers and writing are desirable; experience College Station, TX 77843-1125 with English as a Second Language would be helpful.

Writing Center Associate Ohio State University at Newark

Job description: The Writing Center Associate is respon-Salary: $31,500 - 34,000/11 months, depending on sible for assisting the Writing Program Director in recruiting, qualifications and experience. hiring, scheduling, and mentoring peer writing consultants and Center staff; offering instructional support to faculty; tutoring Procedures: Screening will begin on March 12 and students; developing and managing materials, resources, activi-will continue until an appointment is made. Please send

ties, and outreach programs; and supervising the English letter of application, vita, and names, postal and e-mail Placement Testing process. The Associate teaches three basic addresses, and phone numbers of three professional ref-and/or first-year composition courses each academic year. erences, including present immediate supervisor, to: Human Resources Office Qualifications: Masters Degree in English (PhD preferred) The Ohio State University - Newark with emphasis in rhetoric/composition, particularly basic writ-1179 University Drive ing; accomplished in the teaching of college composition; ad-Newark, OH 43055 ministrative experience/research in a college writing center. Desired: Ability to teach composition in computer-supported The Ohio State University at Newark is an EO/AA environment, proficiency in computer record keeping, acquain-employer. tance with testing and assessment.

Student Success Center Director Community College of Baltimore County—Dundalk Campus

The Writing Area is anchor for the Center, and the and computer hardware. Integrate technology into instruc-director would be involved in teaching a composition tional services offered by Center. Teach at least one compo-class and working directly with composition students. sition class each semester. This is a 12-month administrative position and a great opportunity for someone who welcomes the opportu-Requirements: Masters degree in English, Composition nity to innovate and to play a large role in a small lib-and Rhetoric, or Master of Arts in Teaching with a concen-eral arts campus. tration in English. Minimum (3) years community college

composition teaching, and demonstrated experience in com-

Responsibilities: The Director will oversee the op-puter-assisted instruction. Experience in teaching or admin-erations of the Writing, Reading, and Math areas, the istering in writing center or tutorial programs is preferred. language lab, tutoring services and the networked Application deadline: Open until filled. classroom(s) to support an integrated approach to stu-dent learning. Hire, train, and supervise the paraprofes-Procedures: Send resume and cover letter to: sional, work-study, and co-op student support staff of The Community College of Baltimore County Writing area, networked classroom(s) and tutors who Human Resources offer coach classes and one-on-one tutorials. Imple-800 South Rolling Road ment individualized program of instruction in gram-Baltimore, Maryland 21228 mar, mechanics and usage (an integral part of instruc-Fax: 410-869-7149 tion for English 052 and 101 classes). Maintain TTY: 410-869-7151 adequate facilities, including furnishings, equipment EEO/AA Employer

THEW RITING LAB

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