The Tutoring Book - California State University, Sacramento

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Through the Looking Glass: the Tutoring Experience through the Tutee’s Eyes 14 Andrea M. Hubbard Setareh Tabrizi Spring 2011 On the first day of class, we were asked to share what we feared the most about tutoring writing. My greatest concern was knowledge. Did I have a solid knowledge foundation that would enable me to support my fellow students? This fear was allayed my first day of tutoring for it was clear I knew enough about writing and problem solving to assist my tutees. As I met with each student and I fought against my fear of ineptitude, it became clear they too were dealing with fear. In some cases, this fear was debilitating for students. It prevented many students from fully participating in reviewing their work. As I tuned in to the nervousness of the students, I felt I understood where it was coming from, but I wanted to experience what it felt like to sign up for a tutor and have your paper reviewed by a peer. What fears and prejudices did I bring to the writing table? What prevents a student from settling in and becoming comfortable with a tutor and what prevents them from coming back? The purpose of my experiment was threefold: 1) to locate ways in which the writing center tutors could gain improved retention of student writers, 2) to implement practices which would make my own writers feel more comfortable in the Writing Center, and 3) to become a better writer myself. I walked nervously to the front desk. I felt silly for wanting to know what my writers were experiencing. I felt silly, like I was crossing an invisible line. I chose a tutor and time slot and hoped for the best. I imagined this experience was similar for students. As I waited for my appointment, I began to grow increasingly nervous. I looked at the papers I had to work on and mentally listed their weaknesses. Was I really going to let a stranger, in a close, intimate environment read my papers? What if he thought I was the worst writer on the planet? What if he thought I was an idiot in general? My insecurities gradually built until the time of my appointment. My tutor laughed when he saw me. As I explained what I was attempting to do, he smiled and agreed to be my tutor. I discovered from this first interaction how important a smile is in alleviating the nervousness of the student. However, as we began to work, I found that I was uncomfortable as he reviewed my work silently. I experienced difficulty expressing my thoughts when he questioned the goals of my essays. I felt flushed and embarrassed and absolutely wanted to turn all control over to him and defer to his judgment regarding my papers. From this initial meeting, I understood fully what my tutees were experiencing and why they had trouble explaining their goals and why they felt the need to push their papers towards me. It seemed like a natural thing to do in the setting. Already, we were arriving to the session with preconceived notions of hierarchy. I assumed he had knowledge I did not have. The next session, I got over my stutter, but not the feeling of being a bad writer. It seems when I entered the writing center as a tutee, I feared the tutor would judge that I needed help because I was a terrible writer. Since writing is a creative endeavor, the student may feel personally threatened or over critical of their work. Consider a time when a tutee of yours said something deprecating about their work. I can recall several instances where I reassured writers that they had the necessary ability to write proficiently. It was not until my third session that I felt comfortable with my tutor. He exhibited no hint of admonition for poor writing. I began to trust his judgment and recognize that his suggestions were sound. I began to want to own my work and looked eagerly over it with him. From this experience, as it applies only to regularly scheduled students, I discovered that it takes time for the student to warm up to their tutor. As it applies to tutee retention, this experience shows that the discomfort surrounding the first and second meetings may negatively affect the student’s decision to return to the Writing Center. What I enjoyed most about being a tutee was brainstorming ideas for papers. It is my favorite part of tutoring. The collaborative atmosphere allowed me to see my tutor as an equal. He made no attempt to hijack my ideas and force his own upon me. I realized, through collaboration, that I had been silly to be afraid in the first place. There was no harm here in the writing center. They were just students like me who wanted to become better writers. This was a place to practice writing not bash it. My tutor
helped me see that. As a result, experiencing the Writing Center from the tutee’s eyes made me a better tutor. This experience taught me that rapport with students takes time, students hold preconceived notions regarding hierarchy in the Writing Center, and silence makes a nervous tutee more nervous. I used my experience as a tutee to help students feel more comfortable during our sessions. I adopted a confident, approachable, and friendly demeanor through tone and body language. In this way, I was able to win trust quickly and create a more enjoyable session. I addressed notions about WC hierarchy as soon as the tutee deferred control to me. I would use phrases like, “you are the boss,” “you are the one driving this train,” “how do you feel about changing this to incorporate a more academic tone,” “altering this would be a style choice, it is up to you.” I learned from my experience with my tutor that silently reading my essays only heightened my anxiety. My brain was unengaged and left to wonder wildly about the value of my work. For a student who is incredibly nervous, silence can be their worst enemy. It is important to remove their fears immediately and let them know that they have come to a safe place, where we value growth not criticism. A simple and sincere “getting to know you” conversation is extremely helpful in making the student feel comfortable. Also, to combat silence, I read their paper to them. The writer’s mind is fully engaged in what I am reading to her, because it belongs to her. Reading aloud also encourages her to actively participate with her own text as she hears its effect unfold. What Tutees Like and Don’t Like Throughout the semester in this class you will read numerous articles on how to tutor—what works, what doesn’t and all the different ways to handle a tutee when they come to the University Reading & Writing Center (URWC). However, you will not read anything about what the students who come to the URWC for help actually like and don’t like that the tutors do—until now. For this article I created a survey and had it distributed during one full week of tutoring sessions in the URWC. The goal was to find out what our tutees like and don’t like from the sessions they have with us. Other articles you will read in this class deal with topics that of course will be useful to you like how to tutor different types of students (ESL vs. Native speakers) or how directive to be or not to be, and also how to help writers find their own voice while still adhering to the prompt of their Professor. Eventually you’ll learn that all tutors will have their own way of tutoring. It may or may not be exactly what the experts say, but I believe it will be to the benefit of future URWC tutors to know beforehand tools that they could use that will help and patterns to say away from during their sessions. First off, the students who partook in this survey all said they liked how positive, encouraging, polite, respectful, understanding, friendly, kind, and helpful the tutors they had were. It may seem like a given to be all or some of these above characteristics but it’s nice to know that these qualities are in fact noticed and appreciated by tutees. Tutees also enjoyed how their tutors were approachable to ask questions. Many tutees liked how their tutors were all well informed about writing but more so how they explained the organizational structure, quotations, citations, sentence structure, and brainstorming tasks to help generate ideas. One student wrote in their survey, “I like how my tutor doesn’t give me answers, but helps me find information” this is something we hope to achieve in the URWC—giving students the tools they need to identify issues regarding their papers instead of simply telling them what they need to fix. Finally, you’ll learn in this class that every tutor is different and every tutee is different, not all methods of tutoring will work for every single tutee you have. Adapting your approach to suit the situation you are in is what makes someone an even better tutor. One tutee wrote, “I like how my tutor gives me and my paper personal attention, that there is no script to follow” it is important to realize that better tutoring sessions come from treating tutees individually rather than collectively. Even though I feel like it is enough to share with you what tutees liked that our tutors did so that future tutors can incorporate some of these things that tutees like into their own tutoring sessions; I feel like it is a good idea to also mention several of the things that tutees felt were not helpful so that future tutors can steer clear of them. 15
Page 1 and 2: The Tutoring Book Fall 2011 Edition
Page 3 and 4: �� Diverse Students and Cont
Page 5 and 6: Helpful Strategies 5 Savannah Corti
Page 7 and 8: Draw Upon Other Tutors Experiences
Page 9 and 10: and that even the sessions that did
Page 11 and 12: What is one thing you wish you had
Page 13: eceiving tutoring. But don’t let
Page 17 and 18: One Time Wonders: 30 Minutes to an
Page 19 and 20: No Draft? No Problem! 19 Kathleen U
Page 21 and 22: 10-4, Little Buddy: Two Way Convos
Page 23 and 24: her paper, I noticed she hadn’t a
Page 25 and 26: mentors and sounding boards for the
Page 27 and 28: �On this page, the top link leads
Page 29 and 30: Purdue OWL (http://owl.english.purd
Page 31 and 32: • Argument • Writing about Lite
Page 33 and 34: The WAC Clearinghouse (http://wac.c
Page 35 and 36: “This exercise, popularized by Pe
Page 37 and 38: active problem solving and critical
Page 39 and 40: Directive or Not? Adapting an Appro
Page 41 and 42: essay meet the page limit is no lon
Page 43 and 44: particular solution, you are still
Page 45 and 46: was to trust her own knowledge and
Page 47 and 48: Step 2: Learning to Praise Equally
Page 49 and 50: • Hand gestures. Students who are
Page 51 and 52: Despite the fact that their struggl
Page 53 and 54: Your Safari Guide to Tutoring Advan
Page 55 and 56: esources for help. And don’t be a
Page 57 and 58: the instructor is saying, but she q
Page 59 and 60: Dyslexia in the Writing Center 59 A
Page 61 and 62: thinking about it and without reali
Page 63 and 64: Conceptual Learners: Students who a
Page 65 and 66:
Tutoring Hearing-Impaired Students
Page 67 and 68:
Writing Tutors. Boston: Bedford/St.
Page 69 and 70:
Story 3: I brought up the subject o
Page 71 and 72:
try reassuring them that writing is
Page 73 and 74:
Tips for Tutoring Reading 73 Kathry
Page 75 and 76:
each paragraph, and transitional se
Page 77 and 78:
Theory to Practice At our writing c
Page 79 and 80:
After each paragraph I asked her to
Page 81 and 82:
Reading Out Loud: An Effective Stra
Page 83 and 84:
discussion throughout the reading b
Page 85 and 86:
Are There Proof-reading Traps Regar
Page 87 and 88:
Labels and Misleading Assumptions:
Page 89 and 90:
A Spare Tire, Not a Windshield 89 D
Page 91 and 92:
experience on the tutoring road. I
Page 93 and 94:
While I have had many successful tu
Page 95 and 96:
that he was forced to learn five la
Page 97 and 98:
work with students who seem to spea
Page 99 and 100:
My Personal Experience with Tutorin
Page 101 and 102:
Worldview: the Continent, Asia and
Page 103 and 104:
) In case they believe to be excell
Page 105 and 106:
grammar. After free-writing, a tuto
Page 107 and 108:
which represents more than just a p
Page 109 and 110:
developed in the American Academic
Page 111 and 112:
order writing concerns will be very
Page 113 and 114:
113 Niccole Scrogins Fall 2008 Afri
Page 115 and 116:
they are unaware of the social impl
Page 117 and 118:
writer had trouble understanding yo
Page 119 and 120:
Like other immigrant groups and Nat
Page 121 and 122:
121 Katie Johnson Fall 2004 The Wri
Page 123 and 124:
One of my writers was told that in
Page 125 and 126:
It Is Ok. I Am an Expert. 125 Gordo
Page 127 and 128:
The Value of Writing Center Tutors
Page 129 and 130:
expectation of their disciplines mo
Page 131 and 132:
Tutoring for the Grade: Finding the
Page 133 and 134:
The Writing Center and the WPJ 133
Page 135 and 136:
available. Students need to make su
Page 137 and 138:
Essay #1 (60 minutes/90 minutes for
Page 139 and 140:
“Learning to write is a complex p
Page 141 and 142:
Analyzing Rhetorical Situations in
Page 143 and 144:
word choice and the attitude that r
Page 145 and 146:
Social Constructivism in Action 145
Page 147 and 148:
Social Constructivist Strategies fo
Page 149 and 150:
The Writing Center as a Bridge: A P
Page 151 and 152:
Situated Acts of Writing and Tutori
Page 153:
Kastman Breuch, Lee-Ann M. “Post
show all

The Tutoring Book - California State University, Sacramento

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?