Key concepts that proved helpful

I feel as though I have had an interesting array of students so far, so each session was different than the last. However, I found that I was not working with many freshman students as proposed at the start of class. In this way, the key concepts that we've learned in class that have been most helpful to me were ones that didn't have to do with the transferring and remixing of old ideas. Many of the students that I worked with had a good grasp on collegiate level writing. I found that I was revising more paper than I was brainstorming. I believe that I enjoyed this more because it allowed the student and I to go further in depth with their paper. With that being said, perhaps the key concept/s that I found the most helpful were the ones that talked about looking at the bigger picture of the paper rather than the little things.
What I found myself doing with a couple of my students was starting broadly and then narrowing it in as the session went on. What I mean by this is that we would first read the paper in its entirety and discuss what was being said, and in some cases what was not being said. We would then go through the paper and see where the message was clear and where it was not so clear. Then we would work on ways to strengthen the message. Once we got all the main things done, then we would narrow it in a little. We would look at sentence arrangement, fluidity, and overall structure. Finally, if we had time, then we would look at word choice and grammar.
This key concept of focusing on the general bigger picture first is something that I utilized in every one of my sessions. I also noticed that the session was the most productive when we tackled the bigger issues first because it then allows for an easier transition and a clear view on the smaller issues.

“What key concepts in the course have, thus far, been most helpful for your tutoring in the writing center?”

There is a few concepts that have been helpful to me when tutoring in the reading and writing center. I wanted to go off of what happened in my appointment two weeks ago—I worked with an ESL student for the first time. Doing those readings and discussing the topic in class definitely helped me work through the appointment, but it was still hard. She spoke good English; however, I had a hard time with her accent. What was funny was she told me she wanted to learn how to speak like a native speaker—she wants to learn English slang. This was partly my fault because I speak so carelessly sometimes, compared to how I write. I had to use words she would understand. But the ESL book had mentioned that ESL students would say that!! I couldn’t believe it actually happened. What I had a hard time with (something I don’t think the book really went over) was her not being open to what I had to say. For example, she used the word “methods” when she meant to say “beliefs.” I told her that I knew what she meant, but “beliefs” may work better here. But she didn’t want to change the word. And this being my first ESL appointment, I didn’t know what to say. I tried to explain “context” to her, but I was having a hard time with that. Do you have any suggestions we can go over in class?

Another strategy I have used a lot is revising and not changing a student’s work. That has been a HUGE thing to me. It’s so hard to not change things because I’m in the Advanced Writing & Editing class and we’re supposed to copyedit and do endnotes about what to change or add for one student in the class. In the writing center, it’s all like DO LESS. So working with students and what they already have to offer has been difficult, but rewarding. The student always feels good when they leave the appointment because they are more confident with the essay they have written. That’s the best feeling to me. 

Tutoring Observations

This past Friday, I had no-shows for both of my students. This was actually the first time I've had a student stand me up, let alone two students, so needless to say I was a bit surprised. I used the time to reflect on my research topic for project 3, the effect of gender on tutor-to-student communication. For two weeks, I've had only girls as students; this past Friday would've been the first time in quite a while that I had a male student. This causes me to question whether or not these female students consciously choose their same gender when they are signing up for tutoring, perhaps because they feel more comfortable conversing one-on-one with another female. Particularly in collegiate settings, women are often made to feel academically inferior to men; this might contribute to why girls could be more likely to choose a fellow female as their tutor. I actually spoke with one of the male tutors and asked his permission to observe him on a few sessions for my research, but I have yet to ask a female tutor.
I also used my empty hour and a half to explore the idea of teaching as a traditionally feminine act; because women are considered more nurturing and approachable than men, it's possible that people might be more inclined to choose female tutors, as they feel more comfortable being taught by females in such a close setting. However, on the other hand, as men are viewed by society as more intelligent and capable than women, there's a chance that some people might be more privy to male tutors. These are all concepts I'll be exploring in my final research paper.

Key Concepts

Some of the key concepts that have been the most helpful over the course of this entire tutoring process has definitely been the concepts brought along by Bitzer. The whole idea of exigence is an important factor to consider when working with students in the RWC because it helps you to identify what the student is trying to do with their writing.  By identifying the exigence  behind a piece of writing, you can better help the student tailor that piece to match their intended final product. Most of the time in the RWC,  the student brings in a piece of writing that they are able to 'make their own' so to speak. By identifying what need they are trying to satisfy you can help tailor their writing to make it the best it can be.

Another Bitzer concept that has been helpful is being able to identify the constraints associated with each session and trying to get through them the best way you can. Many times, the student will bring me a piece of writing that is much too long to read and edit over the course of 30 minutes. Time is consistently a constraint within the RWC and I think that being able to recognize it as a constraint is helpful. When I get a long paper that I don't feel I will be able to get through, I ask the student what they specifically want me to look at. The student will then identify parts of the paper that need more attention than others which helps cut down on wasted time and effort.

Lastly, I think that the 'Hands-off' approach is a helpful concept when tutoring in the RWC. This approach helps the student feel more comfortable and not overwhelmed once they come into the RWC. The 'hands-off' approach allows students to work for themselves and catch errors while reading outloud instead of the tutor just telling them. This concept helps students think for themselves which is why I feel as if it's such a valuable concept.

I only had one appointment today, with a boy named Steve. It was my first hour-long appointment so I had a little apprehension walking into Johnston but I found that it wasn't any more difficult than half hour appointments. In some ways, I found it was even easier. 

My one concern was that I wouldn't have enough to talk about and we would get through the appointment rather quickly. I wanted the appointment to last the full hour so that the student would be able to get the most out of the appointment that he could. What made it very easy for me to help Steven was his good listening skills. I've found that I feel encouraged to talk more during appointments when the student is friendly and shows me that they are eager to hear what I have to say. I was grateful that this was the case with Steven.

He came in with only a prompt for his LIT2020 class, which was topics in English involving short stories. He had to write a topical analysis about four stories in particular. He didn't have a draft, nor had he read the stories very thoroughly, so I decided it would be a good idea to go through each story individually to start with, in order to find common themes between them. We read through the sparknote summary in order to get a better understanding of the stories, although he had a general idea what the plots involved. Doing this, we were both on the same page and were able to brainstorm ideas for his essay. 

It was nice not being as limited on time as with shorter appointments and I felt less pressure to come up with ideas on the spot. Without this added pressure it was easier to relax and let ideas flow between us. By the end, he had a paper full of notes and an outline with the potential to be a great paper. Time seemed to fly and I felt like we had accomplished all that needed to be accomplished in the meeting. 

Response 11/13

            The most important key concepts that we have discussed in this course to me personally, based on the tutoring that I have completed thus far in the Reading and Writing Center, were “Reflection” and “Observation.” These key concepts shaped many of my tutoring sessions because both are crucial in order to reach maximum productivity in each tutoring session, no matter what it is your tutee wants to accomplish.

            Observation is important in every tutoring session because you have to familiarize yourself with your tutee and their specific needs, given the fact that each tutoring session will be completely different from the last. Observation will help you, as a tutor, understand your tutee’s background, relationship with writing, and goals that they need you to help them reach. Observation is a key concept that is most beneficial in regards to advice for tutors on knowing exactly how to reach these unique and specific goals.

            Reflection is an important key concept to know because reflection helps increase communication between you and your tutee. If you proofread or help brainstorm or even just polish a paper, reflecting on everything you fixed or every suggestion you have will help make your tutee more comfortable in the session and also give them more of an opportunity to strengthen and emphasize their personal voice. Reflection will help you as a tutor to divide the responsibility evenly in each session, allowing your tutee to be in control while you step back and only help when needed.

            I found that in my past tutoring sessions, observing my tutees has helped me better decide what tactics I will use to help them, such as reading their paper aloud, or skimming over it, stopping only for minor grammatical errors, or simply focusing on MLA or APA formatting or how to cite sources. Reflecting with my tutees has helped me personalize each session, figuring out what it is that my tutee wants and what suggestions I have made that most satisfy them. Asking questions like, “what do you think about changing this word here, or putting a comma here,” has helped me feel more confident in my suggestions and more comfortable as far as steering the tutoring session in the way that my tutee would want it to go.

Reflection 11/13

This week I did not have to tutor in the RWC due to the holiday. However, I just have a few things I wanted to discuss regarding my least few sessions.

Last week, I had dealt with a student who did not come in with a rubric. I asked her to explain the project to me and she simply said, “Just a research paper on anything.” I knew there was probably more to the rubric, but she kept saying “research paper.” Instead of wasting more time pressing for details that she was unwilling to give, we started to read her paper aloud. In the session, we discussed various things regarding her citations and also sentence formatting. Towards the end of the appointment, probably five minutes left or less, she said, “Well, I have to do an annotated bibliography.” I was livid. We had wasted the entire appointment on this “research paper” when she had to do an annotated bibliography. Basically, her entire paper was done incorrectly. What do I do in situations like that?

Another question, which I had briefly mentioned in my reflection last week, was how do I politely tell students to LEAVE? I say our session time is up and that they will do well, but all of my tutees keep talking and not moving. What are some polite things to say to them to get them to leave? I feel weird saying my next appointment is here when, in fact, I have no idea whether the next person is here. I also don’t want to be pushy because I want the student to want to return to the RWC in the future.

Finally, I was wondering if in class we can do “pretend” tutoring sessions? Like have one of us bring in a rough draft of something and have another student go over it with us. We could even do that with our papers for Project 3. I know we’re doing a lot of stuff to help us with Project 3, but I am trying to intern for the RWC next semester and having these practice sessions with each other would be extremely beneficial. That way we can all share our ideas with each other and give advice as to how a session should be.