Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Peer Tutor Appreciation Days

Come join us in The Writing Center this week for Peer Tutor Appreciation Days.
Tuesday-Friday, 5/4-5/7, daytime hours.

Monday, May 3, 2010

TWO SENSE POEMS

TURQUOISE ph

Turquoise looks like the ocean waves.
Turquoise smells like salt water.
Turquoise feels like velvet.
Turquoise tastes like salt waves in my mouth.
Turquoise sounds like crashing waves on my head.

BRICKS tm

Bricks feel like rough hands on my face.
Bricks sound like balls clinking together.
Bricks look like burning skin.
Bricks taste like tree bark.
Bricks smell like fire.

-by Morgan Siracusa

Monday, April 5, 2010

News from The Writing Center



On Friday, March 19, Ms. Christina Walling and Mr. Matthew Cavalier presented a paper at the College Learning and Reading Association's NJ-PA chapter conference on the campus of Rutgers University. Under the direction of Dr. Christine E. Kephart who runs OCC’s Writing Center, Walling and Cavalier developed the paper with Ms. Denise Marando, all three of whom are Kean University Junior and Senior English Majors working as Peer Tutors in the center. Mrs. Marando could not attend the conference due to an academic obligation.

The paper – entitled "Differentiating Instructional Strategies: Accommodating Diversity in a Community College Writing Center" – examines the methods used in The Writing Center to differentiate, or tailor, writing instruction to the diverse learning needs of OCC's student population. The enthusiastically delivered paper engendered lively discussion among the participants who were professionals from other New Jersey and Pennsylvania college writing and tutoring centers. Some attendees from Passaic Community College were particularly interested in the techniques and tutoring structure of The Writing Center and stayed behind to find out more.

Ms. Lorett Cramer and Ms. Diane DeFilippo from the CAE contributed as well by underscoring the issue of student advocacy and connectedness that OCC's tutoring model emphasizes.