Mentoring Faculty in Writing

Professor Kelly Bender of the PCCC English department has been selected by the Initiative team to serve as our mentor to WI teaching fellows for writing for the academic year 09-10.

Kelly has developed the Writing Intensive section of  EN 212 and will be teaching a WI section of EN 205 next year.

She will present at the January Faculty Institute on creating writing assignments in other disciplines.

ECHO 360 for Capturing WI Moments

This past summer, Passaic County Community College, in collaboration with the Title V Writing Initiative, purchased an ECHO360 system. Traditionally known as a “lecture capture” system, ECHO 360 consists of a camera, computer podium and overhead projector. It allows presenters to capture voice, projection onto the screen, and views of the classroom, or any combination thereof.

Multiple units were purchased for the main campus, including a portable unit and one for the Writing Center Annex. In addition, each satellite campus has one classroom equipped with the technology.

The college has great plans for the use of the technology. While some instructors plan to “capture” their classes and make them available to students, others plan to make videos or podcasts to supplement their in-class lectures. In addition, the Center for Student Success and Admissions departments have plans for instructional videos on everything from registering for classes to logging into Blackboard.

The Writing Center intends to use this technology to help support distance students and others who may have difficulty coming to the on-campus Center. There are plans to capture writing workshops as well as create instructional videos for using the different technological supports available to students in the Writing Initiative. ECHO 360 videos and podcasts can be made by faculty and staff at PCCC by contacting Tom Tierney at ttierney@pccc.edu. WI faculty can contact writingcenter@pccc.edu to schedule use of the system in the Writing Center.

Summer Workshops For Students

Though the Writing Center is closed for the summer, there will still be workshops open to all PCCC students.

These workshops are designed to help students become better writers in a variety of situations. Some workshops may focus on the CWE, but all are designed to provide information that applies to writing in other scenarios, including in class.

All workshops are FREE for PCCC students. You do not need to register and can just show up at the beginning of a workshop.

CHECK THE WEB SITE FOR CURRENT WORKSHOP TIMES

Preparing for the CWE

This workshop will focus on helping students manage their time when taking a timed essay exam. It offers strategies for planning the essay and writing within a time constraint so that you maximize abilities and chances of passing the exam. This is especially helpful for students who have never taken the CWE or who have problems with running out of time or going off topic. Materials needed: pen and paper.


Attacking the Question

Ever get an essay assignment from an instructor that seems to make no sense whatsoever? Ever sit down to write a paper only to realize you don't even know where to start? The place to begin an essay is with the question. What is being asked of you? What is required in the answer? This workshop will teach you how to attack an essay starting with the question. You'll learn to decode "professor speak" and figure out what's really being asked of you. From there, you'll learn how to formulate and organize an answer. This workshop will help students taking the CWE to figure out exactly what a question is asking and how to go about answering it.

If you have a paper that you're struggling with, feel free to bring the topic to the workshop to get some examples of how to get started. Materials needed: pen and paper.


Proofreading Strategies for the CWE

This workshop will help students overcome some of the problems with editing of writing an essay in a timed setting. Because students taking the CWE don’t have the luxury of having others read the essay or putting it aside for a while and looking at it later with “fresh” eyes, students must use other strategies to edit their work and recognize their mistakes. This workshop will give you some strategies geared specifically toward timed exams and allow you to notice more of your errors before you turn in the test! It will be especially helpful for students who are not confident in their writing abilities, haven’t written in a while, or have problems with grammar and editing. Materials needed: pen and paper.

Nine Writing Intensive Courses Being Offered in Fall 2009

Four WI courses were offered during the spring 09 semester.

1. EN 205 Introduction to Literature (Mitnick - Paterson)
2. PS 101 Introduction to Psychology (Murphy-Wanaque)
3. HI 101 Western Civilization I (Jenkins-Online)
4. HI 102 Western Civilization II (Drakulich-Paterson)

In addition to those courses, an additional five writing intensive courses will be offered in fall 2009.

5. Introduction to Music (Ayala-Online)
6. Introduction to Philosophy (Fruncillo-Paterson)
7. Introduction to Political Science (Getso-Paterson)
8. Critical Thinking (Hillringhouse)
9. Cultural Anthropology (Burkhardt-Paterson)

Hybrid Tutoring

On Friday I gave a presentation called "The Hybrid Tutoring Experience: The Path to Better Writers" at the NJEDge.net Faculty Best Practices Showcase.

The presentation was about the advantages of combining online tutoring and face-to-face consulting for a single assignment.

PCCC uses eTutoring.org to provide online writing (and other) tutoring to our students. Through the Title V grant, Writing Intensive students are required to use eTutoring for help with their writing at least twice during the semester. In addition, WI students are strongly encouraged to bring writing assignments to the Writing Center for assistance.

We have found that a good way to tackle difficult assignments is for students to go to eTutoring for a first draft of their essay and then bring those comments into the Writing Center and go over them with a face-to-face writing consultant. The student can go through the paper and make changes with a consultant present to answer questions, offer opinions, and make additional suggestions.

This approach has several benefits. First, it expands the number of times students can work on a draft of a paper. (eTutoring limits it to three drafts.) Additionally, it gives students the opportunity of knowing what problems they may be having before coming into a live session with a tutor. They can give the tutor information about their problems when making the appointment, and by bringing the eTutor's comments, they give the writing consultant a starting place. This saves time, as consultants usually start a session cold (not receiving the paper in advance). Finally, it removes some of the limitations of both face-to-face and online sessions by allowing students to ask questions about the eTutor's response and providing writing consultants with an immediate second opinion on the essay being discussed.

The PCCC Writing Center will continue to encourage hybrid writing tutorials with students to provide a well-rounded writing experience.

You can view my PowerPoint presentation below. More information about the PCCC Writing Center can be found at http://pccc.libguides.com/writingcenter.

The Hybrid Tutoring Experience

View more presentations from Elizabeth Nesius.

Mark Hillringhouse Donates Photo to the Writing Center

Mark Hillringhouse with his photo in the Writing Center

Professor Mark Hillringhouse is an instructor in the PCCC English department. He will be developing a WI course section for CT 101 Introduction to Critical Thinking this year.

Mark is also a talented poet whose work has been published in The American Poetry Review, The Literary Review, The New York Times, The New Jersey Monthly, The Paris Review, and in many other journals, books, anthologies and magazines. He was the founding editor of the American Book Review, and a contributing editor for The New York Arts Journal. He has won three fellowships for poetry from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

This multi-talented professor is also known for his photography. Mark has been kind enough to donate a large print to the new PCCC Writing Center. The photography is of poet Gerald Stern's writing desk which he felt was an appropriate addition to the Center.

He recently published a series of his black and white portraits of the New York School poets along with an accompanying essay, and he has recently published a photographic essay on the Passaic River. His recent photography exhibitions include shows at the Paterson Museum, the Main Street Gallery’s "Juried Competition" and the Salmagundi Art Club's Juried Graphics and Photography Competition, and a one-man show titled “Parts of a World” at the Hamilton Club Art Gallery, and at the Ben Shahn Gallery at William Paterson University.

View of the Paterson Great Falls by Mark Hillringhouse

View some Hillringhouse photos at http://mhillringhouse.zenfolio.com/