Moderator: Kara Lybarger-Monson, Moorpark College

David Reynolds from West Hills College in Coalinga, California, presented “Hidden Powers of Difficult Text.” He demonstrated a number of active reading activities that he completes with students, or on their own, so that students understand what they are reading. He provided this information in a Power point format with multiple examples. He also provided the attendees with handouts and ideas to take back to the classroom.

Elisa Hedrick, Andrew Rempt, and Susan Yonker from Southwestern College presented “Scenes from a Writing Center: Student-Centered Tutoring in Practice.” Peer tutoring is an art and this group provided an active demonstration of how to break down the principles of effective tutoring for students. Ineffective practices were demonstrated alongside more effective ones with the instructors and one additional attendee (an instructor’s daughter) as the “tutors” and “tutee” in a series of skits. This was very effective and, along with handouts, it allowed those in attendance to grasp the concepts this group was putting forth in a helpful and humorous way.