Re: Promotions

[Latisha LaRue <kfischer@keller.clarke.edu>]

Todd,
	And a beauty of promo, I might add.  You've used humor well to 
advance the services of your w.l.  Nice work:)
		Katie Fischer

On Thu, 1 Feb 1996, Todd McCann wrote:

> WCenterians,
> 
> Last month, during a faculty in-service, I presented a series of 5 short 
> skits exaggerating some of the common myths about writing centers.  I 
> wrote the one-minute scripts, and sets of faculty volunteers from the 
> audience acted them out without rehearsing.  
> 
> I got the idea and picked many of the "myths" after reading Michael 
> Pemberton's series on writing center ethics in _The Writing Lab 
> Newsletter_.  Thank you, Michael.  
> 
> Example: the first skit was titled, "Writing Center Tutors Write 
> Students' Papers for Them," and it started out like this:
> 
> Janet, a WC tutor, and Michelle, a student writing a research paper for a 
> political science class, are sitting together in the WC discussing 
> Michelle's paper.
> 
> M:  I just can't think of anything to write.
> J:  (Grabs the pencil from Michelle's hand.)  Well, how about starting off 
> with, "The Reagan administration is solely responsible for America's huge 
> international debt"?
> M:  But I don't know that.  How can I...
> J:  Take my word, Reagan messed us up bad.  You want your first sentence 
> to really grab the reader and shake him.
> M:  But I liked Reagan; I voted for him twice.
> J:  (Continues writing.)  Don't let it bother you.  Let's see, how about, 
> "Reagan ignored the rising debt while increasing unnecessary defense 
> spending."  Sound good?
> M:  But my instructor wants us to write our own thoughts and back them up 
> with outside sources.
> J:  Hey, take it from me.  I know your instructor.  She's a real left-
> winger--Birkenstocks, public radio, Green Peace--the whole bit.  You 
> better believe she hated Reagan.  You write a paper praising him and 
> she'll drill you.
> 
> And so on for another half-minute or so.
> 
> The faculty group loved the skits, and between each one I stepped in and 
> told them "the truth" about our writing center.  My message was delivered 
> in a very enjoyable way.  I even got requests to do the skits in classes. 
> We do the first one today, with our tutors playing the parts.
> 
> Just another promo-info tool to put into your bags of tricks.
> 
> Todd McCann
> mccannt@baydenoc.cc.mi.us
>