Truman State University - Echo Yearbook (Kirksville, MO)

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The Writing Skills Lab tutors give assistance Up Close and personal p-Marsha Keck T hree little words you often see AreArticles-A, An, and The. A Noun is the name ofanythz'ng, As School or Garden, Hoop or Swe m . Adgy'ectives tell the kind of Noun, As Great, Small, Pretty, White or Brown. Instead of Nouns the Pronouns stand-- Her head, His face, Your arm, My hand. Verbs tell something being donee To Read, Count, Laugh, Sing, jump i i or Run. innovation .eir writing and visu grove their in the Ad ilding. How things are done the adverbs tell, As Slowly, Quickly, III or Well. Conjunctions join the words together, As men and women, wind or weather. The Preposition stands before A Noun, as In or Through a door. The Interjection shows surprise, As, Oh! Howpretty! Ah! How wise! The whole are called m'ne Parts of Speech, Which reading, writing, speaking teach. eAnonymous Learning the fundamentals of writing is part of 21 students educa- tion, whether in primary or secon- dary school or in college. To help students improve their writing skills, the Division of Language and Literature established the Writing Skills Lab in 1976. It was staffed by volunteer graduate and undergraduate student tutors. Now the lab is staffed by 20 paid student tutors and is funded by a special services federal grant. The goal of a student tutor is peer tutoring, and a learner and master T learner relationship, writing specialist Ruth Bradshaw said. iiThe tutors learn as the students learn and it is valuable for the students to see the tutors are still learning? Also, it is a less pressure situation and the student feels com- fortable on a one-to-one basis. Senior Jeff Thompson, a student tutor, said. uWe have a lot of students who have difficulty with writing skills, and weire the only service on campus that can work with them individually? Each student has a program designed by his tutor to fit his needs. Then, the tutor and student will set goals to work towards. Thompson said there is no way a student can accomplish his goals without the help of a tutor. iiWe try to work on specific things and help the student find and evaluate his mistakes and work on them. Ti Jocelyn Daniel, freshman, said the tutor has a lot of confidence in his student. iiWhen someone has con- fidence in me, it makes me work harder to achieve my goals. i, Daniel said she first attended the lab when she was just writing. Now she can look back at her papers and see the mistakes she could not see before. hi1 know I have improvedfi Thompson said, iilt is pretty easy to see improvement in someones writing when you work with a specific problem. It is easy to com- pare the first essay with the last essayfi Larry Wagner, freshman, was receiving a D in his English Com- position 100 Class before he went to the Writing Skills Lab. He raised his grade to a B. He said the lab is beneficial for the student, but the student has to want to be helped. Bradshaw said students who use the Writing Skills Lab have an American College Testing Program score below 15, are instructor or block referrals, walk-ins and interna- tional students. iiAbout 40 percent of the students who use the lab are international students. T, Roberto Norton, senior, said in Mexico he learned basic English grammar. ihHere I have learned how to connect two sentences, make a paragraph meaningful and organize my writing. ii Senior Cheryl Henderson, a stu- dent tutor, said the tutors help students individually who would not get the attention in a Classroom situation or have not been taught the fundamentals of writing. To help the student with his writing fundamentals, tutors use ad- ditional sources such as grammar ex- ercises, Visual aids and a computer. Thompson believes the most impor- tant source available to a student is the tutor. o ECHO Epmw suua i Cheryl Hender- son, senior, B.S.E. in English TI think the most valuable thing that live gained from the language and literature division is writing skills. I feel thatis the most valuable thing because I can always show my writing skills. No matter what I do, Iim going to be writing, and I can use that skill. The faculty isnit limited to NMSU graduates, so there are dif- ferent ap- proaches to literature, to writing, to teaching. I think that we have a helpful faculty. PVC? found that any time Iive needed anything from a faculty member, the door is always open? Language 8: Literature2 5'

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' ' ' U hihurwi-T-Wi , , . .. ,, , , e - ; tmmmumu:aumuyu-m-r-caranpsnnmm- voq- . I Edwin Carpenter, head, Division of Language and Literature iiEverything in the division really is con- cerned With human communica- tionAlanguag- e, theater, literature and speech. From our stand- point, thats what makes man uniquethis ability to corn- municate. We see ourselves as the keystone in the educa- tional process because the material Were teaching is the base of all other educa- tion. We see ourselves as the bottom of the pyramid. Most of our effort is trying to provide students With skills so that they can sue- ceed in other majors? ---h ?iy;i hAA-'47;hv-h -- t . : , t zMarsha Ki Three little ' A re Artz'clese A Noun is the; As School or 1'2ng Adjectives tel: ' 4.145 Great, Sn Brown. Instead Of A , stand-e VI Her bead, H2 ,band. t ., Verbs tell son To Read, COL 0r Run. How things , I? tell, A5 Slowly, Q1 Conjunction together, As men an weather. The Prepositz A Noun, as 17 The I nterject. As, ObX HowA The whole a Speech, Which readz teach. Learning writing is pa tion, wheth Clary school t To help writing ski Language an COMPUTER WRITING is an innovatior in helping students with their writins skills. Grammar exercises and visuz aids also help students improve theiI writing in the Skills Lab in the Ad ministration i Humanities Building. THAT PERSONAL TOUCH is achieved by individual tutoring, a valuable method of instruction. Gregory Hawkins, junior, is assisted by junior Sharon Mar- ;inl; student tutor, in the Writing Skills 21 . hZ 2 Writing skills lab

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George Hattie, head, Division of Libraries and Museums iiWe have a pretty good library collec- tion, so library science students can be exposed to good material while theyire learning. This is a great ad- vantage to the student because in library science you not only need to know the literature of library science, but you need to know how students use the library and how to build a good collectionfi c -uu-uul--1 uvtn-unrriv-manoonw ' H '0'- Pickler Memorial Library IS 3 p1 ace of sjenni Meeks Like all facets of the University, Pickler Memorial Library has also suffered from decreased funding through budget cuts. The Changes in budget did Wiot significantlyil affect the library, ac- cording to George Hartje, head of the library and museums division. Library hours were shortened, in- hibiting operations to some extent, Hartje said. iiOne area that suffered was that we had two professional vacancies that were not filledf, he said. Pickler has eight professional librarians. All of them have faculty status, although they clonit all teach. iiWe are very different from other divisions in the fact that in most divisions, all the instructors do is teachfi Hartje said. ilOur primary responsibility is to provide library service. Teaching is just part of that responsibility The main class of the division is Library Resources, 21 course required for four-year-degree students. Hartje said much time is spent improving the course. A test has been designed to test out of the class. iiWe offer several upper-Class- level coursesf Hartje said. The seven other library Classes serve two purposesscertification for a school librarian if combined with an educa- A LAMP SHADE of human skin is the most notorious of the collection. Helen Rieger, museum curator, said it was sup- posedly made' in Germany during World War II from the skin of a dead American soldier. ,2 4Violette Museum Texts DIDJNOH Kama tion degree, and undergraduate prerequisites if students should transfer to another college for a degree in library science. Although the library staff and classes educate many, Pickler possesses a few rare and valuable collections. Most of the private col- lections that are located in Pickler have been donated by alumni. The Schwengel collection has Abraham Lincoln material, including books and artifacts. There is also a collection of Glenn Frank, a famous alumni who was a literary figure. He twas editor of Century Magazine, and became the youngest president the University of Wisconsin ever had. The Harry Laughlin collection is also that of a famous alumni. As a na- tional figure, Laughlin did studies in genetics, and was instrumental in writing immigration laws. There is a conglomeration of in- teresting artifacts located in the and treasures museum below Kirk Memorial. T museum is open to students by a pointment. Although there are ma war relics and uniforms, 1 museum concentrates on pione history. Among the items enshrin are the first football and footb helmet of the first game played the University in 1901. ilMost things are mostly curiosi itemsjl Hartje said. Perhaps t most curious item, and the mo widely talked about, is the lam shade made out of human skin th is among the German artifacts World War II. Pickler is more than just a library, Along with improvements for thi future, it is also preserving thi past. oECHO 1 THE OLD SWITCHBOARD, the first 1 three, sits next to Gen. William He. Harrisonis war chest in the east room I the museum. The names of Universi offices are still visible on the board patch panel.