The Tutoring Book - California State University, Sacramento

More documents

Recommendations

Info

not know what they are doing that makes their paper strong or effective. So as I read through what my students are doing, I can show them what they are doing. For instance, I might say, "You are analyzing here, you are providing evidence here...etc." This way, students can begin to identify for themselves the process each paper must go through and whether or not they are completing that process. Another instance when it is appropriate to be more instructive with a tutee is when the tutee has obviously not acquired basic strategies most of their classmates already have obtained at that point in their academic career. Offering solutions to this problem can be very tricky because it is a well-known fact that not everyone learns the same. Some tutees are visual, some are auditory learners, while others are kinesthetic learners. Some tutees have to write notes down while others cannot write and listen at the same time (like me). If a tutee does not know his or her learning style, I just offer key strategies that seem to work for most of my tutees. Strategies that may be helpful to students (despite whether or not the strategies are obvious to us) are: • Create a checklist of what the prompt asks students to do and check each item off as they are completed • Underline any section of the prompt the student may not understand so that they can ask their teacher (or their tutor) to clarify for them • Ask students to break their body paragraphs into three basic parts--topic sentence, evidence, and analysis--and ask them if it all connects together • Or ask them to make a basic outline of the paper in general which includes the thesis statement, the main points or the topic sentences, and the evidence they plan to support it with. As I go along I hear new strategies offered to me by fellow tutors and even tutees. Sharing strategies can be helpful, and it allows the student to keep his or her voice intact in the paper. <strong>The</strong> Non-Direct Approach Having a non-direct approach is one of the most difficult things I have had to learn as a tutor. Since I like to combine both approaches in my tutoring sessions, I have to constantly be prepared to pull back and let the student take control or step in when the student needs explicit direction. An appropriate time to be non-direct is also related to time. If you know that you will be seeing your tutee again because they have committed to meeting on a regularly scheduled time, there is not as much pressure to point out all the subtleties of academic conventions in one session. However, the reason why taking a non-direct approach can be difficult, is that the tutor has to know what questions to ask that will allow the student the freedom to answer without suspecting there already is an answer. We don't want our tutees playing a guessing game because they suspect we already know the one and only answer. A good way to approach a non-direct situation would be to ask questions that you really don't know the answers to. I asked one of my tutees about a topic I had virtually no previous knowledge of: a bacterium with a very long name. She opened up right away, often forgetting about the paper (which is great, because then they are not tied down to what they have already written). By the end of her explanation to my question, she had generated a large of amount of material relevant to her thesis statement. But the funny thing was, none of what she told me had been included in her paper! Sometimes getting the students to just talk about their paper without pressuring them to come up with a thesis statement beforehand allows them to open up with what they already know, and as a tutor, I am able to identify points my tutee makes that could be a great source of discussion in her paper. Sometimes just having the student summarize their introduction and recite their thesis (without looking at the paper) to me is just as effective in getting them to open up about their topic, because as soon as they mention their thesis, students will want to talk about what they said to support it. I had a student recite his thesis about whether or not the death penalty should be legal, and as soon as he finished explaining his thesis he began talking about all the reasons why it should be legal (I think it was after I asked him "why"--another good question to just keep asking). But like the previous tutee, much of what he told me was not included in the actual paper. So now the problem he had before of trying to make his 40
essay meet the page limit is no longer a problem. Now he has to figure out what points he wants to include because now he has a lot more material to work with. Adapting After working at the writing center for a semester, it became clear to me that every tutor approaches tutoring different ways, each unique, but just as relevant as the next. However, I do know that the most important approach should be sensitive to how the tutee learns the best. That is why I have chosen to adapt the two approaches, directive and non-direct. I know that both approaches have an idea of how tutees learn best, but we tutors don’t really know until we sit down with them and work with them and get to know them. <strong>The</strong>refore, my strategies may end up being completely different than the next tutees strategies because we are all learning and adapting. As long as our strategies put the tutee’s growth at interest, feel free to experiment and come up with your own approach to tutoring. 41
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 and 14: eceiving tutoring. But don’t let
Page 15 and 16: helped me see that. As a result, ex
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: Directive or Not? Adapting an Appro
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?