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The Writer/Text Connection 183 that as a comment about her—that she is disorganized. This makes an objective interpretation even more difficult. Sometimes, in tutorials, that kind of interpretation results in a student’s sitting down, putting the paper between us, and desperately intoning the verdict: “He doesn’t like my writing.” (Sometimes, the phrasing is a bit more colorful.) Or students know they need to work on abstract concepts, as when the teacher notes the paper lacks transitions or needs a tighter organizational structure or should have a more specific thesis or lacks convincing arguments. The student knows what those concepts mean, but can’t use them in any strategic way to revise their own words. Constructive suggestions too often are expressed as broad concepts not tied to any particular part of the text. It requires conversation to learn that student writers often lack the ability to see where and how to incorporate general rhetorical qualities in text-specific ways. Such conversation can happen in any setting where the student and text are present—in tutorials, workshops, and teacher conferences. But when tutors and teachers meet individually with writers, there are, of course, differences. The teacher knows the student and the assignment; knows what she, as the instructor, wants to talk about; has other evidence of the student’s writing; is placed by the student in a position of authority because of the power of being the grader and editor; and may have more restrictive time constraints than a tutor has. The tutor usually has an hour or half hour to work with the student, works in a nonevaluative setting, exerts no authority over the student, and can continue to meet on a weekly basis. But, like the tutor, the instructor must learn what the student needs to know. In the workshop, however, the context is closer to that of the tutorial. As Joseph Harris points out in his essay in this collection, the focus in the workshop is similarly on the individual writer, on how to help that writer revise. Like the tutorial, a small-group workshop can be, as Harris puts it, “warm, supportive, empathetic, collaborative , and student-centered” (153). “The power of a workshop,” Harris continues, “stems in large part from its intimacy and immediacy” (147). Like tutors and workshop respondents, teachers can also listen, ask questions, and offer feedback in conferences with student writers. Thus, because the strategies tutors are familiar with can serve in multiple settings, I offer the following suggestions for effective ways to interact with students and their texts, to get a sense of the connection of the writer to his or her text. The student may have a draft in hand, but most of these questions and conversation starters also work well for students 184 T EAC H In G WI T H ST U D EnT T ExT S in the earliest planning stages. If the conference is the setting for the discussion, rather than the tutorial or workshop classroom, a word first about the seating arrangements. Sitting next to a student, rather than across a desk, sends the unspoken message that we wish to help, not be the authority who will control the conversation or the paper. aSK T he wri T er whaT She T hi n KS T he aSSi gnM en T i S Of course the instructor and responders in a workshop know what the assignment is (though the tutor usually does not), but this step is a necessary check on whether the writer really understands the assignment in detail and knows the purpose, audience, and type of paper that meets the assignment’s requirements. Reading assignments correctly is an analytical —and necessary—skill to start off papers successfully. But some students haven’t learned this difficult part of a writing task—how to find out what kind of text they are asked to produce. The draft may seem inadequate , but it may also have been written to meet another assignment the writer had envisioned internally. Thus, it helps greatly to listen closely to the student’s summary of the assignment to see if the student has a clear grasp of its essentials and the requirements that have been spelled out. Sometimes, however, assignments can themselves be the cause of lessthan -acceptable texts. (For a discussion on how to compose effective assignments, see my forthcoming “Assignments from Hell: The View from the Writing Center.”) When the assignment is clearly written, but the student does...

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