Eastern Oregon University
College of Arts and Sciences

Course Syllabus

WR 220

Methods of Tutoring

Catalog Description:

Students prepare to become effective writing tutors and also improve their own writing skills by studying writing center theory, writing process theory, and learning theories. Students will then apply these theories to practice, learning tutoring strategies and tools for responding to others' writing, while also gaining insight into their own writing.

Credit Hours: 3
Course Time and Place: Online, 10 Term Weeks

Instructor: Susan Whitelock
Office: LH 152
Phone: 962-3853
Email: swhitelo@eou.edu
Office Hours: MW 2-3 and by appointment

Prerequisite: WR 121

Required Texts:

Irene Clark, Writing in the Center, 4th ed.

Christina Murpy and Steve Sherwood, The St. Martin's Sourcebook for Writing Tutors. 2nd or 3rd. ed.

Diane Hacker, A Writer’s Reference 6th ed. (an earlier ed. is acceptable but is lacking current information on using electronic sources)

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the term, Writing Tutors should be able to help student-writers:

• Develop ways of coping with writing anxiety or writing blocks
• Learn how to manage their writing time more effectively
• Choose or clarify an assignment, and to understand the purpose, audience, and occasion of a piece of writing
• Brainstorm or plan a response to an assignment (introduce Invention Techniques)
• Understand the conventions and expectations of different academic disciplines
• Focus, develop, clarify, refine and organize ideas, helping them to pay attention to, analyze, and improve their writing process to create effective writing
• Discover spelling, punctuation, grammar, usage, and style error patterns, and learn how to correct their own errors
• Find and use available writing resources such as handbooks and online resources
• Develop the organizational and time-management skills needed to complete essays, or projects involving extensive research or other forms of investigation
• Discuss appropriate methods of summarizing, paraphrasing, and documenting outside reading and research
• Work with ESL writers and become aware of multicultural issues in writing
• Work with students with Learning Disabilities

Course Requirements:

Assignments

• Essays (3)  

• Study Guides (10)

• Reflections: on Being Tutored, on Peer Response, on

           VARK and Personality Assessment Reflection, Final Reflection

• Participation

Attendance

Online students must submit work by deadlines and participate in Discussion Board each week.  This is not a self-paced course.  Assignments and participation must take place each week according to the course schedule.

Means of Assessment:

• 10 points Essay 1-2 First Drafts (2 @ 5 points each)
• 30 points Essays 1-3 Final Drafts (3 @ 10 points each) 

• 100 points Study Guides 1-10 (10 @ 10 points each)
• 5 points Reflection: On Being Tutored

• 5 points Reflection: Peer Response

• 5 points Reflection: VARK and Personality Assessment Reflection
• 5 points Final Reflection  

• 20 points Discussion Board (10 x .5 points each/ 2 points per week)

Total 180 points

Grading Policy:  See percentages below:  A = 90=100%  B = 80-89%  C = 70- 79%  D = 60-69%  F = below 60

Brief Outline of Course:

To prepare to work with students as writing tutors, we will explore our own writing histories and attitudes. We will then study Writing Center history and philosophy, as well as learning theory and writing process theory. After a learning style assessment, studying interpersonal communication skills, and practicing various invention and tutoring techniques, we will begin tutoring 1 hour a week (two 30-minute sessions) in the Writing Lab, working toward applying process and student-oriented teaching and tutoring methods that we have studied in the classroom.

We will prepare for tutoring through readings, Study Guides, observing tutoring sessions, writing, peer responding, workshops, and guest presentations. To prepare to be effective writing tutors, we will take a close look at the following areas: Invention techniques, Strategies for working from Global concerns (focus) to Local concerns (editing), Strategies for Revision, ESL, Multiculturalism, Research and Documentation, Writing Across the Disciplines, Learning Disabilities, WPE, and Online Responding.

Class will be held as a seminar/discussion workshop.

Tutor Observations and Reflection of individual tutoring sessions will provide a record of personal growth and reflection.

Week 1

Learning about Writing Center History

& Theories of Writing and Learning

Week 2

Who Comes to the Writing Center?  A Diverse Student Body

Week 3

Preparing for Tutoring

Week 4

Interpreting Assignments:  Developing Ideas

Week 5

Helping Students to Focus Their Writing and Clarify Purpose and Audience

Week 6

Revising Texts:  Global and Surface Level (Local) Revision

Week 7

Issues for Non-Native and Dialect Speakers

Week 8

Writing in the Disciplines

Week 9

Learning Disabilities and the Writing Center

Week 10

Tutoring in Cyberspace

Meeting Deadlines

This is not a self-paced course.  You must turn in assignments weekly and post to the Discussion Board by the dates assigned, as designated in the “Readings and Assignments” document. Since many of the course tasks will involve responding to the weekly readings and to each other’s writing, it is essential that all assignments be completed on time. If work is turned in late, it will be of no use to the class and of little use to the student.

Also, remembering that many of the class sessions will involve responding to each other’s writing, it is essential that all assignments be completed on time with the appropriate copies for distribution. If students are absent or the work is turned in late, it will be of no use to the class and of little use to the student; consequently, it will not be accepted. If you miss a class, see the instructor or another member of the class to see if anything has been added to the assignment.

Computer Literacy and Online Writing Lab (OWL)

Because you will sometimes help students revise on-screen, and because typed portfolios ensure your ideas and writing will not be under-rated due to penmanship, all papers (except some prewriting and in-class work) must be word-processed. Students also need to know how to do some basic research on the Internet.

In order to help students to use online resources, you must become familiar with Eastern Oregon University’s Online Writing Lab (http://www.eou.edu/writelab).

UWR Requirement

This is a University Writing Requirement (UWR) writing-intensive course. Students must complete all UWR writing-intensive courses with a C- or better.

Outcomes for lower-division UWR writing-intensive courses:

* Students will produce at least 3,000 words (including drafts, in-class writing, informal papers, and polished papers); 1,000 words of this total should be in polished papers which students have revised after receiving feedback and criticism.
* Students will be introduced to the discourse forms appropriate to the discipline the course represents.
* Students will write at least one paper integrating information from at least one source, employing the appropriate documentation style for the discipline represented by the course.
* Students will draft, revise, and edit their formal written work.
* Students will seek assistance from a Writing Tutor in the Writing Lab when needed and when referred by the instructor.

Statement on Academic Integrity:

Eastern Oregon University places a high value upon the integrity of its student scholars. Any student found guilty of an act of academic misconduct (including, but not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, or theft of an examination or supplies) may be subject to having his or her grade reduced in the course in question, being placed on probation or suspended from the University, or being expelled from the University –or a combination of these. Please see Student Handbook at:  http://www.eou.edu/saffairs/handbook/honest.html

Learning Disabilities:

If you have a documented disability or suspect that you have a learning problem and need reasonable accommodations, please contact the Disability Services Program in Loso Hall 234. Telephone: 962-3081.