Writing Center Timeline
A timeline of Writing Center History
1900-03-03 00:51:00
Writing Lab not seen as a place but a method
"the key characteristic of which appears to have been that all work was to be done during class time, enabling the instructor 'to eliminate errors or other weaknesses at their source and not allow their use at all, thus precluding the possibility of their becoming habitual through thoughtless repetition'."
1904-04-01 00:00:00
Philo Buck described a laboratory classroom
Buck, a St. Louis high school teacher, "had his students write together on topics of their own choosing while he himself spent time with each individually before having them read and critique one another's papers."
1913-01-03 06:17:06
Robert Moore born
Moore was born in St. Matthew's, Kentucky
1917-04-01 00:00:00
Francis Ingold Walker publishes an article
"describing a classroom at New Trier High School. . . with two days a week set aside for laboratory work
1920-03-03 00:51:00
The Writing Lab drifted from a method of instruction to a site
Tension emerged between the institutional space and the pedagogies enacted within that space
1921-03-03 00:51:00
The terms "remediation" and "Basic Writing" emerged
"becoming a popular designation in education journals. . . in response to an ever-increasing number of under-prepared lower class and immigrant students who began to enter the educational system at the turn of the century."
1929-04-01 00:00:00
Warren Horner publishes a Master's Thesis on the laboratory method
The thesis was an empirical study of West Virginia high schools which "found that students in the experimental group made small gains in rhetorical and grammatical proficiency but did so in half the instruction time dedicated to a control group of students taught in a recitational format."
1930-01-01 00:51:00
Colleges and Universities were beginning mass education initiatives
"Although the masses, despite much egalitarian rhetoric, were still largely defined as white males, children of immigrants and first-generation students began attending state institutions in large numbers. As a result, public institutions in 1922-34 equaled private schools in enrollment for the first time and surpassed them by the end of the decade."
1931-01-01 00:51:00
John Dewey became popular in education
Dewey emphasized "pragmatic education designed for the individual student"
1934-04-01 00:00:00
The University of Minnesota and the State University of Iowa established separate facilities for laboratory instruction
1934-05-03 06:17:06
Robert Moore Graduated with a B.A.
Moore graduated from Indiana University, after which he worked as a newspaper reporter in Louisville, Kentucky.
1937-09-03 06:17:06
Robert Moore returned to Indiana for his M.A.
His thesis was entitled Anthony Trollope's Treatment of the Novel
1938-09-03 06:17:06
Robert Moore came to Urban-Champaign for his Ph.D. in English
His dissertation entitled Victorian Religious Liberalism Revlected in Autobiography was finished in 1948.
1939-03-03 00:51:00
World War II
1940-04-01 00:00:00
The University of Illinois investigates
"the problem of improving students' use of English"
1940-04-01 00:00:00
W.G. Johnson publishes an article in the Illinois English Bulletin
saying that "the clinic does not supervise writing or provide tutoring." Instead, it diagnoses student writing.
1941-01-01 06:17:06
University of Illinois Survey Published
The survey "described the writing laboratory concept as 'one of the more popular methods' of teaching writing and that 'sometimes it is provided outside the composition course as a convenient place where students may write, under guidance, for any course'."
1942-01-01 00:51:00
Free-standing writing labs were a recognizable part of higher education
"The number of labs increased with the advent of Armed Forces English, on-campus programs for preparing officers for World War II."
1943-09-03 01:30:09
Robert Moore was an Instructor of English
Enter story info here
1944-01-01 00:51:00
Three articles are published in College English
describing "the Armed Forces' ambitious program to provide young officers with the equivalent of two years of training in English in just two semesters." This put a strain on English Departments.
1948-01-01 06:17:06
Robert Moore published in Illinois English Bulletin
Moore "described the Illinois Writing Clinic as student-centered," writing that "the counselling in the Writing Clinic attempts to be invariably friendly and sympathetic. To allow the student to feel stupid or unwelcome or badgered is fatal to the securing of the voluntary and persistent effort" (10).
1948-04-01 00:00:00
The Writing Clinic is revitalized
after being "allowed to lapse during the confusion of post-war expansion." Moore ran the Clinic as "a one-person operation open 10 hours per week."
1948-04-01 00:00:00
Charles Roberts announces in CCCC
that by Fall 1960 the University would discontinue offering Basic English
1948-09-03 01:30:09
Robert Moore was named Director of the Illinois Writing Clinic
Enter story info here
1949-09-03 01:30:09
Robert Moore was Chairman of Composition at George Washington University
Enter story info here
1949-09-03 01:30:09
Robert Moore was hired at George Washington University as Associate Professor
1950-01-01 00:00:00
Robert Moore's College English article
Robert Moore publishes an article in College English declaring that writing clincs are becoming increasingly popular as remedial agencies
1950-01-01 00:00:00
Robert Moore wrote Plan Before You Write
1950-01-01 00:51:00
Writing Centers were establishing themselves
as part of writing programs. There is much discussion of these writing labs up until 1955, when it drops off.
1950-01-01 00:51:00
Writing Labs start to be stigmatized as remedial
1950-03-03 00:51:00
The Rise of Linguistics
"providing a mechanism through which readers could go in search of a stable, independent meaning in each text," marking a return to scientific teachign
1954-03-03 00:51:00
Civil Rights Movement
1955-01-01 00:00:00
Moore wrote Effective Writing
Enter story info here
1964-03-03 00:51:00
Desegregation begins
Civil Rights Act of 1964
1968-04-01 00:00:00
A Writing Laboratory was created
to supplement the Writing Clinic by focusing on working with disadvantaged students admitted through the University's Student Educational Opportunities Program
1970-03-03 00:51:00
G.I Bill and Open Admissions begin
Enter story info here
1973-03-03 00:51:00
Bruffee supports Peer Tutoring
Because those who needed help saw tutoring by a professor as an extension of the work they already had to do
1978-03-03 00:51:00
Articles on writing labs focus on staff selection and training
1980-03-03 00:51:00
"Post Open-Admissions"
"National forums for writing centers have emerged, and influential figures--like Bruffee, Harris, and North--have appeared on the national scene, publicly hashing out, not merely reporting, issues of interest to a growing writing center community"
1980-04-01 00:00:00
The Writing Center Journal formed
Enter story info here
1982-03-03 00:51:00
James Lomuscio publishes an article in the Fairfield Fairpress
The article recounts a tale of a student who went to the writing center and got an idea for a paper. (Otherwise, the article emphasizes that WCs are for everyone and that students work WITH consultants)
1982-03-03 00:51:00
James Collins publishes an article in CCC
laying out the "rationale for a teacher traingin program set up to run through his writing lab"
1983-03-03 00:51:00
Harvey Kail publishes an article in College English
"More than either of North's pieces, it suggests the radical/dialogic/liberatory shift which marks much recent WC work. . . insist[ing] that peer tutoring be done 'right,' in a manner which by design complicates the teacher-student-director relationship."
1984-01-01 00:00:00
Steven North publishes "The Idea of a Writing Center"
North defines Moore's College English article as a "limited conception of what such places can do--the fix-it shop image
1984-12-31 00:00:00
Robert Moore died of cardiac arrest
1995-10-07 00:51:00
Christina Murphy and Joe Law publish Landmark Essays on Writing Centers
Murphy and Law say that Moore "typifies [a] conservative attitude, which views the writing center exclusively as a site for diagnosing and removing language deficiencies."
1997-03-03 00:51:00
Chirstina Murphy presents at the National Writing Centers Association
referring to a "bankruptcy of writing center scholarship."
2001-01-01 00:51:00
Robert Barnett and Jacob Blumner publish the Allyn and Bacon Guide to Writing Center Theory and Practice
Barnett and Blumner reiterate that Moore still "reverberate[s] in our field today"