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/

The Writing Center Is Officially Open!

After some delay in construction, the PCCC Writing Center has officially opened!

Writing Center work began in Fall of 2008, with consultations occurring in various places around campus, including in the library and Hamilton Hall.

The new Writing Center in located in PCCC's Learning Resource Center on the main campus. On the Wanaque campus, sessions are available on a limited basis in the testing room. Students are encouraged to make appointments for writing consultations, but may also do so on a walk-in basis.

The Writing Center currently employs 5 writing consultants to help students in Writing Intensive courses with their assignments. In addition, the Center offers sessions to students who are preparing to take the College Writing Exam and general writing workshops open to all PCCC students.

For more information about the Writing Center or to make an appointment, go to our website at http://pccc.libguides.com/writingcenter or email writingcenter@pccc.edu.

Two-Day Faculty Seminar For New WI Faculty

We have split our 4-day Faculty Institute into two 2-day sessions this year in an effort to reach more faculty and make the experience more of a seminar-style event.

During the January break, we will hold a seminar with faculty who are piloting courses in spring or fall 2009. The second 2-day session will be held in May.

Both sessions will focus on the goals and methodologies of the Initiative, and hands-on creation sessions for faculty developing a writing-intensive course.

January 14 -  8:30 - 3:30

• An Introduction to the Writing Initiative Goals
• The role of the PCCC Writing Center
• What is a writing-intensive course?
• Best Practices from Fall 2008 with faculty fellows Randy Jenkins, Alan Mitnick, Petar Drakulich and Anita Kumar.
• Creating WI assignments
• Incorporating critical thinking in writing

January 15 - 8:30 - 3:30

• The requirements for teaching a writing-intensive course as part of the Writing Initiative grant.
• An overview of the technologies & tools being used in WI courses to help generate writing and support students: WCOnline, LibGuides, Blackboard and the PCCC portal, ePortfolios, streaming media and eTutoring.
• Working with the design template to create a WI assignment.
• An introduction to the standard writing rubric and using it for assignments and assessment.