Essay 1

Symposium: Bruffee’s Concepts

On January thirteenth, 2010, Hofstra held a “meeting of the minds” in order to determine how to run their newly refurbished writing center. Members of the conversation included Stephen M. North, Andrea Lunsford, and Jeff Brooks. The Administration suggested that the current and future writing tutors attend the meeting in order to learn more about their duty as tutors from the speakers. I was one of these lucky students.

North: I would like to start off by saying that I think this meeting is extremely necessary, not only for Hofstra University, but all colleges and universities across the country. So many schools are opening up writing centers that do not at all help their students.

Lunsford: In what way do you mean, Stephen?

North: In my experience, most writing centers are being run like fix-it shops (North, 435). They give off the impression that their tutors are to papers and mechanics are to cars. I was reading Kevin A. Bruffee’s, “Collaborative Learning and the Conversation of Mankind” and it made me think about where the education in our country is heading. Students come into writing centers expecting someone else to do all of their work for them and that is simply unacceptable.

Brooks: I agree completely, it is not a tutor’s job to do students work for them; the writer needs to take responsibility for his or her work. The student, not the tutor, should “own” the paper and take full responsibility for it (Brooks, 169). A tutor should be more of an active listener than an editor.

North: I have to disagree with your comment on tutors being active listeners. I believe that tutors should be hands-on with the piece of work that the student brings. Both members of the conversation should be discussing how to help. I am, however, with you on that editing point. Our job, as tutors, is to produce better writers, not writing (North, 438). Reaching for the grade should not be the goal of a session.

Brooks: Yes, so many students are so concerned with the letter at the top of the paper that they never actually grow as writers, they only learn how to please their professors. When you “improve” a student’s paper, you haven’t been a tutor at all; you’ve been an editor (Brooks, 169). Collaborative learning strategies such as writing centers are the key solution to this problem.

Lunsford: Both of you need to slow down and come back to reality. All of this hype about collaborative learning could, eventually, be destructive to education in this country.

North: How can you say that? There are so many studies that show just how productive and helpful it is! Any other type of learning is oppressive and not conducive to a proper education.

Lunsford: There may be many instances where collaborative learning has been a success, but there are also many examples of how it can fail. Even Bruffee agrees that it is not a fool proof system when he says, “Many are concerned also that when they try to use collaborative learning in what seem to be effective and appropriate ways, it sometimes quite simply fails” (Bruffee, 636).Whether it be within a classroom where group-work becomes busy-work, or in the long term sense of the decreasing expectations for our students, collaborative learning poses a threat as well as a challenge to the status quo in higher education (Lunsford, 54).

North: You are out of your mind! If you are so set against collaboration, then how do you propose to set-up a writing center? You can’t seriously suggest setting it up like a normal classroom, that would be pointless!

Lunsford: I never said that I completely oppose collaborative learning, I just think that it needs to be handled the correct way in order for it to be useful and productive. Bruffee says, “Understanding both the history and the complex ideas that underlie collaborative learning can improve its practice and demonstrate its educational value.” By following his advice and studying the concept of writing centers, I believe we can come up with a situation that truly works.

Brooks: How would you propose to do that?

Lunsford: As stated in my essay, “Collaboration, Control, and the Idea of a Writing Center,” I have found many faults in different models of writing centers. For example, what I call the “Storehouse Model” is a set-up in which the tutor takes complete authority over the situation. This is way too similar to a normal classroom setting and is not beneficial to the student. My disagreement with this type of center goes along with Bruffee’s belief that writing centers should not be an extension of, but an alternative to traditional classroom teaching (Bruffee, 637). Then there is the “Garret Model,” in which the power is all held in the student. This is supposed to make the writer feel in control of their work, but in turn it only makes the tutor useless. If the student has control of the learning situation, then what is the point of having the tutor there? A tutor's knowledge and expertise is the reason why said student would attend a peer tutoring session. No, I would never set up a center like that. The only way to create a thriving and helpful writing center is to form a completely equal playing field between writer and tutor. In this center, control of the collaboration is placed in the "negotiating group." This gives the student power over his or her work, but also allows the tutor to use their skills and fulfill their purpose. (Lunsford, 48-49).

WORKS CITED

Brooks, Jeff. “Minimalist Tutoring: Making the Student Do All the Work”

Brooks criticizes writing centers for concentrating on getting the students better grades. His concept for a perfect writing center is one in which tutors are silent partners and the writers are in complete control of the writing process.

Bruffee, Kenneth A. “Collaborative Learning and the Conversation of Mankind.”

Bruffee gives a somewhat philosophical view of collaborative learning and writing centers. He believes in the necessity for collaboration, but also understands how it can fail. He describes the concept of thought and knowledge as a way to understand the inner-workings of learning, and in turn, collaborative learning.

Lunsford, Andrea. “Collaboration, Control, and the Idea of a Writing Center”

Lunsford is extremely cautious of the collaborative learning craze. She appreciates the many of its’ successes, but also brings up the many detrimental ways in which it can fail. She describes her three models of writing centers, out of which, her third is was she considers to be the formula for an effective tool.

North, Stephen M. “The Idea of a Writing Center”

North is mainly concerned with the fact that too many writing centers work as “fix-it shops”, concentrating on the paper and the grade rather than the student and their process. His theme is that the job of tutors is to create better writers, not better writing.