Re: How much is too much?

[elizabeth a ahl <eahl@unlgrad1.unl.edu>]

We're currently doing midterm "observations," in which writing center 
teachers closely observe one another (at least once) and respond to 
certain questions (mostly observational, not evaluative) on a two-page 
form.  I encourage teachers to do as much actual transcribing as they 
can, and in that way, they can see (in a sort of informal way) how much 
time is being taken up by talk, and who's doing the talking.  
Transcription is hard, but to just sit down and do it for a half-hour 
isn't so bad.  Next week in our staff meeting, we'll discuss observations 
as a means of continuing our ongoing (semester-long) conversation about 
who we are and what we do and why.  These observations are, I must 
repeat, not particularly evaluative; teachers are asked to write down 
what they _see_, not so much what they _infer_.  In the staff meeting, or 
when teachers meet one-on-one with one another to discuss their 
observations, THEN we might do a little more inferring.  I want the 
observations to be helpful, and to serve pedagogy, to keep the 
conversation going -- not to shut the conversation down.  

Another thing, I guess, with regard to talking too much, is to review the 
different kinds of questions writing center teachers can ask their 
students -- to avoid the yes/no/agree/disagree questions in favor of more 
open-ended questions like "What would happen if..." or "What are some 
ways you could..."

--Liz Ahl
University of Nebraska-Lincoln