Cadet Writing Fellows Present Poster

Four Senior Cadet Writing Fellows and Dr. Jason Hoppe presented a poster at the National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing (hosted by Hofstra University). Their poster responded to the conference theme, “Reaching Out,” by outlining specific consulting practices and research projects subsequently developed at the Mounger Writing Center. Each section of the poster in some way linked the Academy’s emphasis on character development to pedagogical commitments to metacognition and reflexivity. In intersecting projects—Empathetic Outlining, Prompting Transfer, Intellectual Freedom, and Stretching, Discomfort, Ethics—the presenters responded synthetically to a number of current questions in writing center studies: how can we consult more effectively with students of diverse backgrounds, on a wide range of hot-button interests? how do we design progressive curricula that empower them to enlist their distinct strengths, from one course to the next? how do we reconcile writing center missions with larger institutional missions, for example in relating writing to ethical development? USMA representatives also attended panels and workshops populated with students and faculty from across the nation.