exwr481-assignments

note to Sarah:

this will probably eventually be door page with links to separate pages with each assignment or at least anchors at the top to each assignment

EXWR 481 ASSIGNMENTS

Fall 1997

AVF discussions

These discussions will primarily be a place where you can share your tutoring experiences with each other. I imagine that eventually those discussions with start to blend with our discussions of readings in class, but I want you to primarily think of these writings as a place to tell others about the problems, triumphs, surprises, etc. that you encounter in your teaching.

In the first AVF discussion (due by midnight on Friday, Sept. 5) I'd like you to tell us about your tutoring assignment. In this discussion you'll need to tell us exactly what the circumstances of your tutoring are--i.e. are you a class tutor or working in Mudd? If you're working for a class, who are you working with? What plans have you made with the instructor? What do you think of the class so far? If you're working in Mudd, what times are you working? Who, with what kinds of problems, do you expect to encounter at that hour?

In later discussions feel free to share with us whatever experiences, thoughts, emotions, etc. you've had with tutoring (or even with not tutoring because you haven't happened to have had requests for it that week). Furthermore, in all the discussions I'd like for you reply to at least two of your classmates' postings.

The due dates for the AVF discussions are:

Friday, Sept. 5, midnight--AVF 1

Sunday, Sept. 21, midnight--AVF 2

Sunday, Oct. 12, midnight--AVF 3

Sunday, Nov. 9, midnight--AVF 4

Sunday, Nov. 23, midnight--AVF

Paper 1: Signing On

Just to get you used to depositing papers in AVF, I'd like for you to write a brief paper (1-2 pages) telling us what you think of this means of sharing student writing. Tell us how you're feeling about sharing your writing with your classmates in general, if you'd like. If you have any questions about this rhetorical situation or how to use the technology, this paper would also be a good place to express that, so that we can answer them in class on Tuesday. I look forward to reading your responses.

Please deposit this paper by noon on Monday, Sept. 8

Paper 2: Your Literacy History

For this paper I'd like for you to recount the story of how you learned to write college level papers. Start as far back as you'd like in your writing and reading learning history, as far back as your memory takes you. Tell us what the most important experiences were, be they pleasant or unpleasant, useful or not. Sketch the characters for us--the teachers, relatives, friends, foes who played a role in how you came to be the writer you are today at Oberlin College. Do you see any patterns in your experience? Any special wisdom you have draw on when you start tutoring others?

When starting to teach something, it always helps to reflect on how we first learned to do it. I'd like for you to use this paper as an opportunity to sort out what advantages and disadvantages in your learning past you'll bring to your tutoring.

I expect this paper will be approximately 5 pages long, and should be deposited by midnight Sunday, Sept. 14. Please add an epilogue at the end of this draft telling us what you think you've accomplished in it and what you'd like us to comment on.

Paper 2 Revision

Please post your revision of Paper 2 here. I'd also like you to post an epilogue at the end of the paper, telling us what you think you accomplished in this draft and what you'd especially like to hear our feedback on. Please deposit this paper by midnight on Sunday, Sept. 28.

Paper 3: A Language Tutoring Issue

For this paper I'd like you to focus on one issue in language that's come up in your tutoring. It would probably b best to pick a problem that was especially puzzling or surprising or disturbing for you. Describe how it came up and how you handled it (feel free to reproduce the dialogue you had with the person you tutored). Then research the problem, finding at least two outside sources to help you gain a larger sense of what was going on and further analyze it for us.

This paper should be 5-10 pages long and deposited by midnight, Sunday, Oct. 5. Please post an epilogue at the end of the paper, telling us what you think you accomplished in this draft and what you'd especially like to hear our feedback on.

Paper 3 Revision

Please deposit your revision (the final draft) of Paper 3 by midnight, Friday, October 17. I'd appreciate it if you'd also post an epilogue at the end of the paper, telling us what you think you accomplished in this draft and what you'd especially like to hear our feedback on.

Paper 4: An Issue in the Teaching of Writing

This paper is meant to give you an opportunity to thoroughly explore an issue in the teaching of writing that particularly interests you. It might be

a problem in your own writing
a problem in the writing of someone close to you, like a sibling or a friend
an issue in the teaching of writing in public education
an issue in writing for Oberlin students in a particular subject area
a problem that's come up in your tutoring

I would like for you to research your topic by looking at what current composition research can tell you about it. If some other form of research (e.g. surveying, interviewing) seems more appropriate to your topic, we can discuss how best to pursue it in our individual appointments.

The paper will be due in five stages:

stage one: Give us a one page proposal, explaining what topic you've chosen, why you chose it, how you plan to research it, and what difficulties, if any, you expect to have with it. Please deposit this stage by midnight Sunday, Nov. 2.

stage two: Give us an in-depth progress report (3-5 pages), recounting what you've learned about your subject so far. Tell us what you're learning from your sources, what revisions encountering them has suggested for your thinking about the topic. Tell us what questions, if any, still remain for you and what you'd like us to help you think through. Please deposit your progress report by midnight on Sunday., Nov. 16.

stage three: Give us the first draft of your paper, with an epilogue at the end telling us where you are in the composing process in this draft and what you'd especially like us to respond to in the paper. This draft is due in the AVF drop off by noon on Monday,Dec. 1.

stage four: Give us the second draft of your paper, with another epilogue telling us what you've accomplished and what you'd like comment on. This draft is due in the AVF drop off by midnight on Sunday, Dec. 7.

stage five: The final draft of the paper is due in the drop off by 6 pm on Sunday, Dec. 14. I'd like to print out two hard copies of everyone's paper. On one copy I'll make comments and leave in a box outside my office door for you to pick up by Thurs., Dec. 18; the other I'd like to leave in the yellow box in the tutoring room in Mudd 212 (please email me if you'd prefer that I not post your paper in Mudd 212).

last updated 24 August 1997

send questions or comments to jan.cooper@oberlin.edu

http://www.oberlin.edu/~jcooper/tutors/assignments.html