Parting ways!

 



My observations and tutoring experiences have come to an end and I say this with a bit of sadness. During my last tutoring session In professor Hendrickson's class I was given a student who had no thesis statement, no out line and to make matters worst he didn't even have a copy of the class assignment. I didn't fret about the situation I was put in I just kind of went along with my head and my heart. For this particular student I felt it was best to approach him in conversation and see if there were anything that he took an interest in before I just shot out ideas.

during the discussion with the student I learned that he was very passionate about the topic stop and frisk. He felt very strongly about black men being of target and he felt he should write about that. I asked him what his ideas were based on the topic of his choice and he felt like too many young black men in particular was being stopped in frisk based on reasons of suspicion and because they looked like someone that has a warrant out for their arrest. Had so many ideas that he wanted to discuss that fit well with his topic that my only choice was to write them down so he could remember at the end of the session which direction he was going in.

At the start of the session I thought it was going to be rather difficult for me to tutor this student given that he showed no signs of interest when I walked over towards him. As soon as I got him talking he spoke to me during the entire session which I considered to be "felt sense" the way that he spoke so passionately about the topic I was able to pick up that the topic he choice was not by coincidence it was more a personal choice.

As we continued talking and sharing ideas I was able to see how collaborative tutoring is one of the best methods when tutoring because of the conversation exchange and sharing of ideas between the tutor and the tutee the tutee is able to think about ideas that were shared by the tutor which helps enhance the thinking process leaving the student felling less overwhelmed about a topic or ideas they did not know how to express on paper. Just before the session ended I explained to the student that he had to site his sources using the proper MLA guidelines for citation and he explained to me that he did not know how to do it correctly. I told him that I too have trouble with MLA citation as well and that I found a pdf online with examples of how to do cite correctly and offered to send him a copy by email. He generously accepted my offer on the email and I reassured him before I left to find 5 sources that supported the claim he was making and to use each source he found as supporting details in his paper. I handed him back the notes that I took and thanked him for sharing his thoughts with me. Before we parted ways I wished him luck and all the best in his work.

Tutoring Experience

From preach to practice

 

During this tutoring experience I found myself actually enjoying helping another student put their thoughts and ideas on paper in a way that i would come across clear and sound to the reader. This student that I was paired with in professor Kozol ENG 99 class didn't have as much trouble in constructing her essay in the was that I imagined it to be. The little blue book given to her had been almost filled to capacity I myself was actually happy for her to have been able to write as much as she did. We went over as body paragraph to add more details in which the professor said she didn't include any.

My first instinct was to get her talking so she wouldn't feel uncomfortable. we took turns reading her essay paragraph by paragraph out loud and she was able to pick up on some of the mistakes she made in terms of speech. With English being her second language she did a really great job in constructing her essay. I felt like she needed to put a lot more details into her body paragraph and talk more in depth about how her boyfriend was lazy so I felt the best way for her to do this was to tell me exactly what made him lazy in her eyes. As she gave me examples on what made him lazy I wrote them down on a sheet of paper to give back to her at the end of the session so she can add more to the ideas she already had.

In another paragraph she spoke about how her parents shared the work load at home, but she didn't incorporate how they did this and what the benefits were for her or them, so I felt the need to encourage her to write more on this as well. How I got her to write more on how her parents split the work I asked her question about it to engage more conversation about it. She spoke about how her mom cooked and her dad cleaned which gave her mom and dad more time to spend with her and with them sharing the work it gave her more time with each other and it became less for her mom to do around the house.

The more and more depth I got her the more of her ideas I wrote on paper. This student was very intelligent and knew exactly what she needed to write about. Some trouble with details but, nothing to where it could not have been fixed within the session. Reading and writing ideas out loud is very helpful and engaging especially when coming across quite and shy people. It helps broaden their ideas and together it helps the tutor incorporate more ideas for the student to benefit their future in writing. I enjoyed tutoring this student very much and in my own  career I can see myself transforming a student who is shy in writing and turning them into a writer who is not afraid of the paper and definitely not afraid of expressing themselves on paper.

Student Tutoring Session 1

I was given the opportunity to tutor a student from professor Hendrickson's class on Monday. After meeting with the student he let me know that he had just previously took an ESL class prior to taking Professor Hendrickson's course so that his paper may not be all that great. Gentrification was the assigned topic the professor had chosen for them to write a paper on . When I reviewed the students work there was no indication in the speech at all that told me he had any trouble with the language. If he had not spoken to me at all during the session I would have not know that he had any trouble with the English language at all.

while going over the paper what I did notice is that the student kept repeating the word Gentrification over and over again and I know that the professor wanted the paper to have a certain structure, but I felt like the student could have made his point and kept to his topic without having to consistently repeat the word over and over. I felt as if the constant repition of the word was going to keep him from vering off the topic that he was discussing, but I also felt that it was taking away from his paper and the reader would eventually get tired of reading it based on the constant repetittion. Repettion is something that is usually done in poetry to create and emphisis on a word expressed, but in terms of a structuional paper I for didn' think this was good.

I did enjoy reading the drafted paper that was constructed and the student did have a lot say about gentrification. I also took in appreciation that he was able to give me some more insight about what I knew on the topic any way separate from me doing my own research to give him more ideas on his assigned topic. As I continued to read further on into the paper I begin to see the students ideas begin to emerge so I felt it was time to have him bring in some of his own personal ideas on the topic in his own community and that got him talking about the things that he seen in his own neighborhood the went well with his topic. Because he was able to speak in dept about what he saw in his area it was no better way, but to end the session with telling him to use all of what he told me to to the body paragraph of his paper to make it better.

I enjoyed tutoring very much because not only did I get to help a student broaden his thinking. This session also helped me think more and the positive feedback from the student was quite engaging to me and I was happy to have this opportunity to develop the experience to do this.

The Beginning to the End ! ( Observation 4)

During my last and final observation hour during this tutoring session I watched how the tutor reviewed the students paper and prepared himself for the questions he knew he was going to ask. The student did wait patiently as he did this but, it was a awkward and long wait in which I appreciated as I sat there waiting in silence. This tutor was different from the ones that I was given the opportunity to sit and observe with, but instead of me feeling like he was just a tutor talking to a student at this particular time it was like he became just another person engaging in pure conversation and reflected off the response he was given by the writer. 

He didn't focus much on grammatical errors he focused mostly on structure and the organization of the students paper. One thing he did bring to her attention was the use of a colon and in his words he said to her " Don't use the semi colon stay away from it because it will mess you up when writing, it is not your friend so if you are not aware of the use of a colon don't use it because it changes the impression of something you are writing even when you don't intend to". Not only did I feel that this was great, but I learned something here too and perhaps I have done the same in my very own writing and was not made aware of it. 

The student and the tutor sat chatting "off the paper talk and on the paper" the entire session developing more ideas and coming up with strategies to make her paper better. She did struggle a bit with a few past and present tenses which made him read her entire paper out loud for her to hear the way it read. By him doing this she was able to pick up on how she sounded and was quickly able to make all the necessary changes and corrections of the errors she needed on her paper.I felt that this was one of the best tutoring approaches presented while observing at the writing center.

Furthermore, given that he did read her paper out loud and she was able to pick up on her mistakes almost entirely on her own. The differences between language during this session was no a barrier at all between the tutor and the student they just seemed like two people simply having a conversation and if a person had went passed the table they would have not known they were in a tutoring session. I took in a great appreciation for the tutor when he read all the work aloud to the student and the correct use of the semi colon . So as a motto from the tutor "Semi Colons are not your friend if not used right so your best bet is to stay away from them and don't use them at all if you don't know how."

A.L.E.C

American Legislative Exchange Council.

In response to the Video ALEC shown in class this morning. ALEC is a organization that is funded for writing custom made legislation to spread to republican law makers across the country to push there instate respective legislatures or passing of their state laws, to pass tax increase. Lisa Graves the executor and director of media and democracy whom is also the creator for the website www.aleceexposed.com talks more about what ALEC really is and how the organization is funded only large corporations and not legislative dues and is one of the biggest bipartisan organization around.

 Observation 3

  

 

At the writing center this afternoon, the tutor was rather quite good. She remembered each topic she talked about with both of the students she was tutoring. What was fascination to me is that she not only remember what the topic of there paper was she has a lot of information to give to each of them. She was very engaging and asked both of them questions to see if they had an idea of what they wanted to discuss in their paper.

 

 

There was some silence during the review of the papers, but none to where it was agonizingly dreadful. This woman put a lot of thought into what she would say to each of them and she didn't come off in a harsh manner at all. They both seemed to have a lot to talk about and she complemented both of the students for making an effort in their assignment.

 

She worked with each of the student and shared the hour equally not leaving one to figure out what they needed to do if there was no understanding of it. I felt like while sitting there with them during this session the problem between both students was pretty much the same they both had difficulty with language and present and past tense, but none to where they didn't understand what they needed to do.  I also like the way she broke down the list of requirements instructed by the professor for the paper.

 

One student had some trouble with following the directions of the paper and she explained to him in debt exactly what his professor was looking for which mad it a bit easier for him and the other student as well. With this being said I felt that she was very forthcoming as a tutor and spoke professionally to the both of them to where she even forgot that I was watching.

 

I as a student or a tutor would definitely engage my student just as she did because if there was any tension in the between anyone at the table it quickly fade when she opened her mouth and began her session.. If I ever had any doubt and the lack of confidence that I couldn't tutor someone else on a piece of writing. At this session it faded and now I am even more excited about it than in the beginning.

 

 

 

 



Observation 2 of the Writing Center

 

            On my second observation at the writing center the tutor ended up working with two students during this session. The first student came in and had several drafts already written for his paper that wasn't due until later on during that week. He had several question and comments that he had already written down that he wanted to ask her.  The tutor was very intuitive with supplying him with all the information that he needed. She didn't focus much on grammar she mainly focused on the structure of the paper going up against the course syllabus that he provided her with for the class the paper was due for. She let the student know that she was going to read over his paper real quick to get some idea  on what the paper was about and then she will get back to him with any comments, questions or concerns that she had about his paper. After doing so she then asked him question about the topic of his paper.  To my understanding he was doing an essay on a piece of literature that he had written for the class. She had some concerns about one of the things that he mentioned in the paper because, he just simply threw it out there and didn't give his audience any information about the character he was discussing in the book. Her comment to this was to pretend that your audience is stupid. Think of it as if the reader doesn't know anything and don't be afraid to explain to your reader what is going on and who the characters are you are discussing. Don't assume that because you know who you are talking about the reader will too because its not always the case. This was not only informative to the student but it was very informative to me as well. I even learned how to introduce a quote when writing.

 

 

Just before this session ended she told the student that his paper was good and that she felt like there were a couple of areas that he could work on to make it better and stand out more.  She gave him her schedule and told him to come back if needs anymore help on his paper. The student was also informed that if he didn't feel that his paper would be ready on time for submission that he could always ask for an extension from the professor instead of waiting until the day its due and not having it. At the end of the session another student arrived who didn't have the tutor's schedule. When she came and sat down she was introduced to me and made aware that I would be sitting for observance of her session and she was also comfortable with it.  She took out her paper and placed in the center of the desk and the tutor made her aware that she was going to read first and ask questions later. This student seemed to pretty much know exactly what she was talking about in her paper. Her problem was backing up the argument she was making in her paper. She didn't have any quotes to none of the materials she used to support her ideas she was making.

 

 

The tutor asked her why she didn't have any quotes incorporated in her paper from any of the text she read? Her response was because I know what he said and I feel its this way. I believe she did this because she didn't completely understand that using quotes and statements from outside sources would only make your argument stronger, but it will also support your argument in turns of making it more believable. The tutor began to break down to her why including a quote from each of the works she cited was important and by the end of the session she had a full understanding of the mistakes she made on her paper and notes she took to improve her final draft. I took away from this experience knowing how to properly introduce a quote into my paper and why they are important and they are only used to help make an argument stronger.  Not only did I walk away with this, but I also took away from this session is to not hold out information from my readers and not assume.