Re: Need Feedback:NWCA

[cph@wiley.csusb.edu (Carol Haviland)]

Joan--Do you mean that we would DO something instead of talking about how we
do it, that we would engage people in an act rather than tell them about how
other people they will never see have engaged in it--what a
theoretically-consistent idea.  I  would like very much to be a part of it.
Carol
>NWCA needs some community input so an informed decision can be made. Please
>e-mail your response to the following to the list or to me:
>
>Proposal: Next year, at NCTE, we would like to show the professional
>community what it is we DO in writing centers. Therefore, we would like to
>propose that we establish a working writing center at the conference. The
>Conference Writing Center would be located in a booth among the textbook
>vendors and would be staffed by two tutors (that's two of us folks): one
>would be a tutor, the other would be there to field questions about what we
>do (are doing) and to talk about writing center publications which would
>also be featured at the booth. The tutor would work with colleagues on
>anything they are writing or on conference proposals for next year's NCTE. 
>
>Rationale: Every year NWCA is guaranteed a workshop or session at NCTE.
>These are not always well attended for many reasons--not the least of which
>is that those sessions do not always meet the needs of the high school AND
>college populations at the same time. Sessions proposed by individual
>writing center people seem to have better attendance because they are
>clearly high school or college focused, or because they are clearly tackling
>specific problems in an hour. Also, the writing center workshop competes
>with workshops on proficiency exams, multi cultural literature, and computer
>technology. Yet CLEARLY there are a lot of people at the conference that
>want to know about writing centers (in one session, 53 people signed up for
>more information about NWCA).
>
>We thought we would PILOT this Conference Writing Center this next year in
>Detroit. NCTE is excited about this and willing to promote it in their
>advertising materials. If it doesn't work, we'll go back to a session or
>workshop.
>
>Problem to be solved: We will need volunteers to staff the booth. Therefore,
>we would need firm commitments ahead of time (to the conference, of course!).
>
>RESPONSE????
>
>joan
>
>Dr. Joan Mullin
>Writing Center
>University of Toledo
>Toledo, Ohio 43606-3390
>419-530-4913
>419-530-4752 (fax)
>jmullin@uoft02.utoledo.edu
>
>
>
>