I was doing some research on writing center websites and I decided to go back to FIU's website. It was upgraded. Now it has more pictures, set dates for workshops. They are evidently trying to improve their writing center publication.
Anyway, I am in the process of producing some questions for an (hopeful) interview with the directors of different writing centers. I would like to observe their sessions. Once I finish up the draft of questions, I will post them in hopes that you will provide feedback.
So far I have been researching ESOL tutoring techniques. I have not found any information regarding using Spanish in sessions that are for writing in English. I want to continue to research methodology in ESOL so I can see if and how incorporating Spanish into the session will change the technique on a deeper level.
Interview
My interview with QWERTYUIOP began with a conversation about QWERTYUIOP’s activity prior to getting to the interview. QWERTYUIOP explained the fact that QWERTYUIOP teaches children. After speaking to QWERTYUIOP for a few minutes, the interview really began.
QWERTYUIOP explained QWERTYUIOP’s childhood. QWERTYUIOP grew up in a Mexican Rancho. However this was no ordinary Rancho. The particular Rancho had the population of about a high school. There is no running water. Any mere wind can blow out the power. There were no jobs other than plowing your own field. Schooling is only until elementary and it is not mandated. Basically, QWERTYUIOP grew up in a place that is completely different to what QWERTYUIOP experiences now, living in Miami.
Due to QWERTYUIOP’s upbringing, QWERTYUIOP has a different, more elevated, character. Far from materialistic, QWERTYUIOP has a humble, nature oriented outlook on life. Superseding the average person from the small town, QWERTYUIOP is inspirational. Having overcome so many obstacles: poverty, immigration, and acclimating to a new country are some of the many things QWERTYUIOP has overcome. “I do not consider my town as being poor. It is all that they are used to.” Different morals were instilled upon QWERTYUIOP because of the place QWERTYUIOP grew up and QWERTYUIOP’s trials getting away from that birthplace. QWERTYUIOP visited the birthplace at the age of 18 after being in America for 14 years, for a while of mountain climbing, horseback riding, etc.
Throughout the conversation, QWERTYUIOP’s passion and appreciation for life is made evident. QWERTYUIOP taught me about (him/her) self and helped me to appreciate a humility that is often lost in the daily turmoil of life.
QWERTYUIOP explained QWERTYUIOP’s childhood. QWERTYUIOP grew up in a Mexican Rancho. However this was no ordinary Rancho. The particular Rancho had the population of about a high school. There is no running water. Any mere wind can blow out the power. There were no jobs other than plowing your own field. Schooling is only until elementary and it is not mandated. Basically, QWERTYUIOP grew up in a place that is completely different to what QWERTYUIOP experiences now, living in Miami.
Due to QWERTYUIOP’s upbringing, QWERTYUIOP has a different, more elevated, character. Far from materialistic, QWERTYUIOP has a humble, nature oriented outlook on life. Superseding the average person from the small town, QWERTYUIOP is inspirational. Having overcome so many obstacles: poverty, immigration, and acclimating to a new country are some of the many things QWERTYUIOP has overcome. “I do not consider my town as being poor. It is all that they are used to.” Different morals were instilled upon QWERTYUIOP because of the place QWERTYUIOP grew up and QWERTYUIOP’s trials getting away from that birthplace. QWERTYUIOP visited the birthplace at the age of 18 after being in America for 14 years, for a while of mountain climbing, horseback riding, etc.
Throughout the conversation, QWERTYUIOP’s passion and appreciation for life is made evident. QWERTYUIOP taught me about (him/her) self and helped me to appreciate a humility that is often lost in the daily turmoil of life.
Clairity
I found that STU has a retention rate of 68% for full time students and 50% for part time students. I searched other universities in Miami for comparison. FIU rates of retention are at 83.5%. University of Miami has a retention rate of 89.2%. I plan on analyzing the methodology of tutoring in university writing centers. Does the use of Spanish in the university writing center aid in retention in Hispanic serving institutions?
The Beginning of My Odyssey
I am finally posting my researching progress so this post will be a compilation of everything that happened until today! I was indecisive when it came to actually choosing an issue. All I knew was that I wanted to do something Writing Center based. I originally decided on the comparison of STU's UWC teaching methods and other UWCs. I wanted to find out if effective teaching, or should I say tutoring methods, would change and/or vary according to situation. STU has a lot of ESOL students. I wanted to compare UWCs that do not have a large percentage of ESOL students to STU.
However, this topic was too large. I kept on brainstorming and came up with the question: do UWCs affect retention? Once again, this topic was too broad and I had to narrow it down. Now I am in this state of brain stagnancy. I have many ideas that lead to no particular direction. I thought researching retention would help me find a more specific area to focus my multi-genre research paper on.
I went to a few websites and used the search engine for retention. I found a few books that might be of use. I have to get them from the library. One of the sites I went to explain the key factors influencing retention: academic assistance, mentoring, developing friendships and other peer relationships. The UWC would fall under the category of academic assistance but maybe under mentoring, and friendships as well. I want to get information on what the freshman think. The UNI students and ENG 100s would be good to interview. Also, I want to get the STU retention rates. Maybe compare it to other schools? I think if I compare STU UWC with a non UWC containing school and look at the retention rates, it would give some information. Maybe look into FIU and their new UWC. Why did they build it? Is it helping? Interview some students to see if they go, if they find it beneficial, etc. ENG 101 people would be good too. Maybe they had ENG 100 last year.
http://www.sjsu.edu/writingcenter/abstracts/
http://writinglabnewsletter.org/archives/v22/22-2.htm
I have to check out these books:
Griswold, G. (2003, December 22). Writing centers: The student retention connection. Academic
Exchange Quarterly, pp. 1-8.
Poziwilko, L. (1997, October). Writing centers, retention, and the institution: A fortuitous nexus.The Writing Lab Newsletter, 22(2), 1-4.
Simpson, J. (1991). The role of writing centers in student retention programs. In R. Wallace & J. Simpson (Eds.), The writing center: New directions (pp. 102-109). New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.
However, this topic was too large. I kept on brainstorming and came up with the question: do UWCs affect retention? Once again, this topic was too broad and I had to narrow it down. Now I am in this state of brain stagnancy. I have many ideas that lead to no particular direction. I thought researching retention would help me find a more specific area to focus my multi-genre research paper on.
I went to a few websites and used the search engine for retention. I found a few books that might be of use. I have to get them from the library. One of the sites I went to explain the key factors influencing retention: academic assistance, mentoring, developing friendships and other peer relationships. The UWC would fall under the category of academic assistance but maybe under mentoring, and friendships as well. I want to get information on what the freshman think. The UNI students and ENG 100s would be good to interview. Also, I want to get the STU retention rates. Maybe compare it to other schools? I think if I compare STU UWC with a non UWC containing school and look at the retention rates, it would give some information. Maybe look into FIU and their new UWC. Why did they build it? Is it helping? Interview some students to see if they go, if they find it beneficial, etc. ENG 101 people would be good too. Maybe they had ENG 100 last year.
http://www.sjsu.edu/writingcenter/abstracts/
http://writinglabnewsletter.org/archives/v22/22-2.htm
I have to check out these books:
Griswold, G. (2003, December 22). Writing centers: The student retention connection. Academic
Exchange Quarterly, pp. 1-8.
Poziwilko, L. (1997, October). Writing centers, retention, and the institution: A fortuitous nexus.The Writing Lab Newsletter, 22(2), 1-4.
Simpson, J. (1991). The role of writing centers in student retention programs. In R. Wallace & J. Simpson (Eds.), The writing center: New directions (pp. 102-109). New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.
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