In honor of Tutor Appreciation Week, get to know our tutors:

1.  Tell us a little about yourself...

My name is Morgan Zepp. I'm  from Catonsville and I'm a junior studying English Literature, Global Studies, Writing, and Spanish.   

2.  Tell us about how you are involved on campus.

Since I was a freshman living on the Shriver Living Learning Community, I've been deeply involved in doing service through UMBC's center for Civic Engagement, the Shriver Center. In particular, I've tutored at Arbutus Middle School for 2 years and now I help to coordinate the service site. I've also helped coordinate a program called the Reach Initiative, which brings high school girls from Baltimore who have an interest in STEM to UMBC to be mentored by female UMBC students. It has a specific focus on gender empowerment. As a result of this, I've gotten involved with SGA and am now an Assistant Director for Community and Service Outreach.

3.  How and why did you get involved in being a Writing Center tutor?

I started my training to be a tutor last fall.

I decided to get involved with the Writing Center because I've always had a deep interest in academic writing. In high school, people told me that the comments I left on their papers were helpful, so I figured that I could use that skill to be even more helpful to people. I've also had a lot of experience with one-on-one tutoring, and I think that it's a very productive forum for learning. 

4.  What is your favorite thing about being a Writing Center tutor?

I enjoy having great conversations with people about their writing, especially when people are still in the "ideas" stage and they'd like someone to discuss preliminary arguments with-- that's such a dynamic stage in the writing process and a very interesting place to start a conversation.

5.  Why should students utilize the Writing Center?

I think people underestimate how helpful it might be to talk through the structure of a paper and discuss the impact of its arguments. Even something as little as being asked to read a paper aloud could be very helpful in terms of getting an understanding of how it sounds and flows.

6.  What advice would you give students about how to prepare for a Writing Center tutoring session?

Honestly, I don't really think that people need to prepare. Even if someone comes in with a prompt and a very general idea of what they'd like to do, we can still have a productive session, so I think that coming in to the Writing Center is all about the stage that the individual is at in the process.

7.  When and where can someone work with you through the Writing Center?

I work on Mondays from 11-3:30! 

Sign up for an appointment

Jeremiah 29:11 - “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Once, on a risky jump down a ski slope, I ruptured major ligaments that connect the bones in the knee. I needed emergency surgery. Afterward, the doctor explained that scar tissue had developed from my initial trauma and then the further trauma of surgery. As my body attempted to heal itself, protective fibers grew around the injured ligaments. My range of motion, circulation, and even sensation in that leg were affected. Unless those protective fibers of scar tissue were broken down, I would never regain full range of motion; I might even have to wear a leg brace the rest of my life. The only way to break down the scar tissue would be an ongoing process of rehabilitation and an unrelenting commitment on my part.

The scar tissue in my knee is no different from the scar tissue that had closed off my heart. Years of haunting memories after abuse or an attack of any kind can last longer than the actual events. So many things can injure us, break our hearts and spirits and wound our souls, leaving our hearts overlaid with fibers of mistrust, bitterness, self-condemnation, guilt, and fear-all the things that keep us from stepping out, risking, moving ahead…We want God to fix us and heal us quickly and without pain. But the healing of our hearts takes time, hard work, and a strong commitment, just as physical healing does.

God promises us in Jeremiah 29 that all his plans for us are good. It is through his kindness, compassion and grace that we have a future and a hope. God has a great plan for your future no matter what you have been through or are going through.
(Taken with edits from Christine Caine’s devotional, No Quick Fixes.)

Today, let us turn to Jesus again, and acknowledge him and his loving relationship with us. Let us receive his costly comfort that gives us hope and a future, that breaks up scar tissues as we come to him because he has drawn near to us. Let’s pray for those who are hurting in our churches and outside of churches for God’s healing and definitive comfort in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVgPQm06g2c

-AP

An emergency evacuation of the Albin O. Kuhn Library has left many UMBC students without critical university resources for a minimum of 24 hours. At approximately 2:20 p.m. on Oct. 2, library security began evacuating the building due to a water pipe burst in the Retriever Learning Center and the subsequent threat of an electrical fire.

According to Vivien Barrett, a library technician, a “pipe burst in the men’s bathroom of the RLC forced the evacuation” as water sprayed horizontally across the computer-stocked learning center.

A different source working to control the water flow stated that someone pulled a valve off of a fixture in the men’s restroom, causing the leak to begin. Video of the incident shows mass amounts of water seeping through the ceiling of the library’s basement: Click for video

“I was just sitting at the computer and I saw some law enforcement on the opposite end and then the person behind the desk was like there is flooding [because] of a water main break or something,” said Megha Pandya, a junior biochemistry major who was in the library at the time of the evacuation.

Amanuel Molla, a senior psychology major who was in the basement of the library at the time of the event said, “I went down to the basement to get some studying done. I had my headphones in so I didn’t notice anything out of place until a few minutes later. At first, I thought someone had left the sink running in the bathroom so I went to check. The lights in the bathroom had water raining down out of them and the surround ceiling tiles.”

“When I stepped out of the bathroom, I noticed there was more severe leakage spots above two or three rows of shelves. There was heavy damage to the ceiling tiles and carpeting. I called the desk with the emergency landline and a few minutes later they announced an evacuation due to a water main break somewhere in the RLC,” Molla continued.

However, Albin O. Kuhn was not the only building affected by the water main break. Erickson Hall, the residence building closest to the library, began experiencing water issues as residents reported malfunctioning sinks and toilets. 

The RLC is one of only two 24-hour study spaces within the library.

There has been no mass alert issued to the UMBC community other than an alert posted on the library website informing visitors that it will be closed all of today, Oct. 2, and tomorrow, Oct. 3.

The post Water main break floods RLC, prompts library evacuation appeared first on The Retriever.

After conducting in-depth interviews and observations of students in a teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) graduate program, Sarah Shin, professor of education and special assistant to the provost for academic initiatives, has published a new book that examines TESOL as a second career.

The book, titled English Language Teaching as a Second Career (Multilingual Matters 2016), explores the challenges and successes that professionals ages 45-73 go through as they develop as teachers and launch their second careers.

In the book, Shin explains that many adults are transitioning into new professions and working later into what has traditionally been retirement age. She explains how the students she interviewed think of TESOL as it relates to their overall life goals and achievements and how they want to improve the quality of life in their communities through education.

“A welcome addition to the growing literature on teacher development, this book will be an important resource for teacher trainers and anyone working in TESOL,” the publisher states on the book’s back cover.

The text has received many favorable reviews for its ethnographic approach to reflecting on teacher experiences as they begin second careers in the context of growing demand for K-12 English language teachers in the United States.

“Sarah Shin makes a compelling case for the demographic changes in education and the accompanying challenges and opportunities for training a new breed of ESL teachers who bring profound real world experiences to their classrooms. A ‘must read’ for teacher trainers and for baby boomers contemplating how the next chapter in their life story will be written,” shared G. Richard Tucker, Carnegie Mellon University, in a review.

Shin is an expert in bilingualism, heritage language education, and TESOL teacher training. She is the author of two previous books Bilingualism in Schools and Society(Routledge) and Developing in Two Languages(Multilingual Matters). Earlier this year, Shin was selected for inaugural class of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) emerging leaders program. Read more about her work and research on theeducation department website.

Image: Sarah Shin. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.  

This story, by Max Cole, originally appeared here.