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.