About
CWLA sessions
What
CWLA sessions cannot provide
About
Ongoing Sessions
About
CWLA Associates
About
CWLA sessions
Cooper Union students,
staff and faculty members may schedule sessions at the Center to work
on any aspect of any project or concern (for academic work of all types,
extra-curricular activities, personal work, grant applications or professional
concerns) in the arenas of written and spoken communication. Sessions
may be scheduled by individuals or by groups.
Session participants
determine the subject matter and focus of the session, in consultation
with a CWLA Associate. It is helpful for participants to indicate the
subject matter of the session at sign-up, so that the Associate may
be appropriately prepared.
Each session lasts
up to one hour. Participants may sign up for a single session or for
a series of sessions at one time. Participants may sign up by:
-entering their name and contact information and
the
subject of the session in the Schedule Book in the
Center, under the appropriate time and date,
or
-calling (212) 353-4218 and scheduling an appointment
by telephone, or
-during Center hours, depending on
Associate availability.
Sessions at the
Center address a wide range of issues for participants of all types;
remedial work is not the central focus here.
Participants, for
instance, may find that, like most writers, they want a
second set of eyes to
read their work--or that they are interested in learning
how to create an essay without last-minute panic--or
that they are stumped
on a particular
aspect of a paper or presentation and are in need of a sounding
board.
Associates can,
for example, read
resumes and grant proposals;
they can
comment on arguments, outlines, and drafts;
they can
help with writer's block;
they can listen
to presentations;
they can argue
through ideas with participants; they can offer direction on research
projects.
Participants
may bring projects at any stage of development to a session at the CWLA.
It is helpful to bring anything related to the project that you have
on hand: rough notes, brainstorming, outlines, arguments, drafts, research
lists, questions, etc etc. Think about the issues and questions that
most concern you, and bring these to the attention of the Associate.
It may help (both in the session and in your working process) to create
a list of questions and issues before the session.
About
Ongoing Sessions
Intensive ongoing
sessions are also available to all Center participants, at instructor
recommendation or requirement or as requested by students on a voluntary
basis. Participants bring an instructor referral form to the Center,
or self-refer by dropping in or emailing Prof. Hyman at hyman@cooper.edu.
Ongoing sessions are scheduled on a weekly basis for the duration of
the term. Each participant is assigned to a particular Associate, with
whom he or she will work on a continuing basis.
Sessions may focus
on class work, and/or on particular issues or areas identified by the
referring instructor, by the participant and/or by the Associate. In
the first session, the participant will be asked to complete a diagnostic
exercise, to help the Associate and the participant to focus their attention
on relevant areas of writing and speech. Sessions might focus, for example,
on reading strategies; on grammar and syntax; on ESL issues; or on structure
and logic. Associates may assign homework for participants to aid in
session work.
Instructors who
refer students for ongoing sessions will be notified periodically about
student progress; they will also be notified if students miss scheduled
ongoing sessions. Associates are always available to referring professors
via email, and are happy to discuss student work at any time. Associates
do not evaluate students for grading purposes.
What
CWLA Sessions Cannot Provide
Associates are happy
to work on any aspect of written or spoken communication with any member
of the Cooper community, but they cannot "fix," "edit," or rewrite arguments, explication, grammar, syntax, or structure of any written or spoken project, nor can they assign grades or weighted evaluations of any kind to any student's work.
Please remember that Associates can only help you to work with what
you've got. If your paper is due in twenty-four hours, Associates can
help as you create an argument, fashion an outline or write a draft,
but they cannot make up for a lack of timely attention to your work.
About
CWLA Associates
Center Associates
are available to work with students and faculty at the Cooper Union
on any aspect of written and spoken communication work. The 2005-06 pool
of Associates includes:
-graduate students from top area universities
-experienced instructors of writing-intensive courses
-working writers and professional tutors
-advanced students and graduates from the Schools
of
Art, Architecture and Engineering who have
demonstrated outstanding
skills in writing and speech
pedagogy, including two Alpert Fellows from the
from the School of Engineering.
All Center Associates
take part in a training program that addresses many aspects of writing
and speech pedagogy, including ESL issues, writing-in-the-disciplines
concerns, and strategies for working with writing and speech projects
in stages and via collaborative methodologies. They are familiar with
assigned course readings for humanities core courses, and are experienced
in working with course requirements across the Schools.
A participant may
schedule sessions with any Associate, depending on timing and availability.
Participants need not work with the same Associates during each visit
(except for ongoing session participants), though it may be helpful
to develop a relationship with a particular Associate.