Academics Writer's Block Schedule : Spring 2012

 Students are encouraged to sign up in advance for tutoring by using the sign-up sheet located on the bulletin board just outside the door of the Writer's Block. Students choosing to "drop in" must defer to those who may already have signed up for a given session. A session is limited to single half-hour slots although a session may run longer if no other student arrives for tutoring. For more information regarding the Writer's Block, scroll down to just below the schedule.

Current Writer's Block tutors: Jory S., Adam H., and Isaac D. See their profiles below!

THE WRITER'S BLOCK: General Information

WHAT: The Writer’s Block at Marlboro College is a student-staffed writing center in which students can receive individualized peer tutoring for their written work. Writing tutors are trained to provide support at all stages of the writing process: from initial brainstorming for a topic or thesis/claim, outlining and organizing the overall structure of a piece, to constructive feedback for final revisions and editing. Tutors are also an excellent resource for developing a firmer grasp on formal written grammar.

WHERE: The Writer’s Block is located in the Learning Center on the first floor of the Rice-Aron Library, just by the entrance that faces Dalrymple. The Learning Center also houses the office of the Director of Academic Support Services.

HOW: Tutors are available during regularly scheduled blocks of time as indicated on the Writer’s Block Schedule posted at various places around campus. To receive tutorial support for writing, students may either drop by the Writer’s Block during available hours or sign up for a specific slot of time with a specific tutor. The sign-up sheet is posted on the bulletin board just outside the Writer’s Block. Signing up ahead of time is encouraged as the tutors frequently become very busy. On the other hand, dropping in has its advantages.

HOW OFTEN: As a general rule, students may sign up/drop in for one half-hour session a day.. Of course, if a tutor is not busy during the remaining block of scheduled time, a session may be extended into that time. Currently, students may sign up or drop in for as many sessions a week as desired; however, in times of high demand, limits may be set and will be posted on the Writer's Block bulletin board.

WHO: Any enrolled student may make use of the tutoring available in the Writer’s Block.

TUTORS: Writer’s Block tutors are selected by the Writing faculty and the Director of Academic Support Services. In order to qualify for consideration, a student must have taken and completed two prerequisite courses: "Element of Style" and "Writing and the Teaching of Writing."

CLEAR WRITING REQUIREMENT:

The Writer’s Block is an excellent place to get help with your writing as you work toward developing your Clear Writing portfolio. Generally, it is much more useful to get regular and consistent feedback on your writing than to seek such support at the last minute. So see a tutor early in the process and make follow-up appointments as necessary. And keep in mind that Writer’s Block tutors have been through all this themselves.

For more information regarding the Writer’s Block and the writing tutoring available in it, please feel free to contact the Director of Academic Support Services or track down one of the tutors.

If you are concerned that difficulties encountered in the writing process are or may be related to a learning disability or other learning differences, don’t hesitate to contact the Director of Academic Support Services to discuss your concern and pursue reasonable support for writing strategies and skills development.

Writing Tutors | Spring 2012

Isaac Dupree
Senior 1

Academic Interests: EVERYTHING!    But I'm really interested in how we communicate -- the full spectrum: Respecting and honoring each other as whole beings even when we don't understand each other at all.  Also, creating knowledge through alternating creativity and logic.  The latter describes the writing process AND the scientific method. Besides Writing and Everything, I've done a lot of Computer Science, Anthropology, and Dance.

Thoughts on the role of writing tutors at Marlboro: We're here to listen to you!  Sure, we often have an idea you might not have heard of yet.  Mostly we're here because doing writing is like talking to yourself, and ideas do better when they're shared. At least, that's my favorite view of it.

Favorite Marlboro class: Perhaps Community-Based Performance and Dance As Social Action.  We got off campus and created intergenerational connections.

Community Involvement: I'm friends with Pride!  I've been on the Library Committee frequently.  

Title of Favorite Paper: "How the Grinch Stole Ruritania: a satire." That was my Clear Writing portfolio: one long paper.

Adam Halwitz
Sophomore 2

Academic Interests: I'm interested in literature, but it's spilling over to other fields in the humanities. Right now I'm thinking about animal themes in mythology and poetry – humans' encounters with "animality" in the wild, in their religion, or in themselves.

Thoughts on the role of writing tutors at Marlboro: I'm lucky to be tutoring in a place where people are sincere about improving the quality of their writing – not just for the sake of grades, but because it feels great to have an idea and to communicate it well.

The writing process can feel so solitary that your head gets cloudy: you have too many thoughts, you can't figure out an order, you can't find words for things. I think tutoring provides a very neat solution for that. Tutoring provides an audience and a response – an ideal reader, who talks back to you but who's not grading you.

Going to see a tutor isn't scary. Often it's comforting. People leave happier and less scared. It seems to be a relief to people to be able to talk about their work; talking is a lot easier than writing, and ideas tend to flow a lot more easily when you've worked them out in speech.

Favorite Marlboro class: "Favorite" is tricky. I tend to think about it in terms of favorite semesters, or favorite pairs of classes, even. I like thinking about how classes interact with one another. I guess I'd say Religion, Literature and Philosophy (RLP); it interacted beautifully with most of the other stuff I was studying and thinking about. Also, everybody in it was funny.

Community Involvement: I try to take advantage of the Marlboro trail system several times a week, even in snowy or otherwise gross conditions. The woods here are so lovely and so close. I drink a lot of tea and have a lot of good conversations; I'm not sure that counts as an "activity," but it makes me happy.

Advice for Students: Try reading out loud (your own work, or others') as often as you can bring yourself to. I decided to start doing this last semester, and it's incredibly useful.

Jory Shareff
Senior 2 

Academic Interests: I'm working with Kate Ratcliff and Martina Lantin, studying the visual culture of women's magazines since the late nineteenth century and making a ceramic quilt (those things are related, I promise).

Thoughts on the role of writing tutors at Marlboro: It can be a vulnerable thing to have another person, especially a peer, read your writing. I admire the folks that use the Writer's Block because it means they're willing to set aside the nervousness of having somebody else read your work. I've noticed that at Marlboro we tend to slip in to panic about writing since there's such a pressure to produce Great Papers and Great Ideas.  But everybody has different writing barriers. I think on some level, one of the goals of the Writer's Block is to help figure out what those barriers might be and find ways to push through them. I've seen everybody from first semester freshman to seniors about to mail drop in to just talk things over with us. That's great, we're all for that, too. So come visit - bring your papers, don't bring your papers - and maybe you'll feel a little less stressed when you leave.

Favorite Marlboro Class: I took this Altered Forms class with Martina. I'd probably be stuck making traditional cups and bowls all day if I hadn't gone out of my element a little. Also, a couple semesters ago I took an art history class with Erin Benay (who's no longer at Marlboro). She very much changed the way I write and think about images.

Advice for Students: The nature of Marlboro is that at any point, in any number of ways, we've all been "struggling students." But we figure out how to pull through. I guess the only piece of advice I have is to just try lots of things. I know we're told that a lot here, but it's really the only way to find out what we like, what we're good at. Sometimes those things aren't related at all, which is the best part.