First Draft

As part of the reopening of the Hofstra writing centers. Some scholars were asked to come speak about the importance of the writing center. This included North, Brooks, and Lunsford. On January 16th, 2010, just one day before their scheduled speeches, the three found themselves getting a preview of the new writing center. While in the center, Brooks noticed a copy of Brufee's, "Collaborative Learning and the 'Conversation of Mankind. All three were familiar with the text and each eager to share their opinions with each other just one day before the conference:

Brooks:

-Minimalist Tutoring

-The tutor should take more of a secondary role so the student doesn't get the idea that the tutor is taking control of the paper.

-We also have to keep in mind that when a tutor is working with the student he/she cannot just be editting the paper, looking for spelling or syntax errors. Instead the student needs to focus on the dieas in order to make the student a better writer. Remember practice makes perfect.

North:

-We need to remember the most important responsibility a tutor has is that he/she is there to make the writer better, not the text. (Agrees with Brooks)

-We also need to remind the students that why shouldn't be coming to the writing center if they simply want an A on one of their papers, of if they want the tutors to help them with grammar. Instead we should teach our students that if they want to become better writers they need to come regularly to the writing center to improve their writing.

-This is where collaboration plays a big role; the tutor and tutee can converse about the ideas a students can put on paper and how to expand on those ideas.

Lunsford:

-The idea of collaborative learning bothers Lunsford.

-Important to remember the difference between collaborative learning and plagirism. If students collaborate too much may in fact be plagirism.