Let's use this blog to reflect on some of our tutoring sessions. What went well with your last session? What do you think could have been better? Is there anything else that you would like to share?
I just had a session with a pre-nursing student who wanted to go over her letter of application for the program. She came to the session with questions, which made the session flow a lot more smoothly. Since all three of us tutors on shift were free, she got the benefit of three people's advice. It was nice to collaborate and ask my fellow tutors for advice if I was unsure about word choice or grammar. The student was very open and invested in her piece, which is always nice. It was a wonderful tutoring session to start off the new semester.
What a great session to start 2012 with! I bet that student will talk about her experience with her classmates, and come back for her next assignment.
Most of my "tutoring" so far-during this last week and a half-has been getting our lab-based students set up for the semester. We've had a couple who've started working right away, which is heartening.
I recently experienced a rather difficult tutoring session with a lady. This session was challenging and really tested my ability as a tutor. Luckily, for the most part, I enjoy challenges. Anyways, she stormed into the writing center in pure "panic mode." The women had a very extensive research paper which required charts, graphs, scientific studies, surveys, data pattern analysis, you name it! The professor actually told the lady to re-write the paper. As a result, she came to the writing center, practically hysteric.
Its very difficult to work with an individual who is completely frantic. Thankfully, I remained calm, and helped her as best I could. Although the session was difficult, I feel like I did a good job tutoring the lady. I understand school can be stressful, but I do wish students would keep in mind that frantic behavior only makes it more difficult on themselves and the tutor.
I agree, Kevin. The angry or stressed people are the hardest to work with. I just try to keep smiling and be polite, while still being firm with my suggestions and requests (especially if they are lab students)so that they don't spend the entire tutoring session complaining to me about the assignment. I usually say something like, "I know juggling classes and work and other commitments can be really stressful; I'm a student, too. But I'm here to help you, so let's just see what we can do." I think a lot of students that come to the Writing Center forget that most of us are students, too. We are dealing with most of the same stresses.
I agree, Kevin; certain "high-maintenance" students can wreak havoc on peace of mind, not to mention blood pressure. I hope your calm behavior helped her relax a little. When a student like that comes in, would it be presumptuous to suggest she stop and take a few deep breaths? It might help her (and you)focus on the job at hand. (Ken knows I'm a big fan of deep breathing.)
Last week, I was working with a Lab student who told me that she HATES prewriting. I showed her clustering and free writing, and explained that it was, in fact, something that Professor Harcourt really wants to see. She told me that she could not do it, so I told her I would help her. I asked her to choose a topic off of the list, and then when she chose one, I wrote it in the center of the clustering sheet. Then I started to ask her questions, and as she answered them, I started filling in the bubbles. After a minute or two, she was able to take over and write it herself. I think all she needed was someone to get her started, and to show her that prewriting is not really so hard afterall.
That's a smart strategy, Kristin. Sometimes I'll do the writing (or clustering) while a student thinks aloud. Some students find it difficult to brainstorm and write at the same time.
Last Saturday I worked with an ESL student who wanted me to focus on helping him with his grammar. I read through his paper, which had quite a few grammatical errors. I helped him with his introduction and then moved on to the grammar. I was not going to help him correct every grammar issue in his paper, but I went over the first two paragraphs in depth with him. His errors were repetitive and mostly dealt with subject-verb agreement and using the correct articles. I then had him go over the remainder of his paper on his own.
When I reviewed what he had corrected, I was amazed at much he did on his own. He was quick to catch on to his mistakes and knew what to fix. This tutoring session showed me how a little guidance can take students a long way. I am reminded of our goal as tutors: To not fix their papers, but merely give them the advice that they need to become better writers.
That's why Ann R. urges us to look for patterns of errors. You were able to identify a few, which allowed your student to take more responsibility for his own work. He got far more out of that tutoring session than if you'd corrected his entire paper for him. Good work, Gwen!
Today I had the opportunity to read a students paper... I must say that reading and writing is forever a learning and on-growing process. Each student use various methods to explain, describe, define, and identify themselves through their own skills of expressions. Therefore, I am also mindful to always remember that as the world around us continue to grow and evolve through literature, our intellect and brain power will reserve this same energy to adapt to change, store information, increase in knowledge and gain understanding for improving our intellectually abilities.
I didn't have an entire tutoring session with this person, but I spoke to him as he was leaving the WC today. He told me the topic he had chosen for the OPIA paper, but he said he had not done any brain-storming (or pre-writing) for the paper. When asked why not, he said that it was his field so he didn't have to get any additional ideas about it. The question I'm throwing out is: How do you get students who "know it all" understand the beauty of pre-writing?
That's a tough one, Marian. Maybe one way to address this is to suggest that pre-writing may help the student narrow down his topic, instead of trying to jam in everything he knows.
I had a successful tutoring session with a Korean student the other day. I write the term 'successful,' with surprised pride in myself, due to the fact that it was one of the first sessions with a difficult ESL student in which my endurance paid off. I have had a wealth of different rich experiences so far this semester that have provided me with many opportune moments to learn, whether they were inadvertent, or deliberate attempts on my part to hone my ways to teach such students in the most beneficial way. I have found many such students to be at such a low speaking and writing level, that my most basic instructions to them verbally fly straight through their brains, and I find myself imagining an empty fish-bowl when I look at them, truly.
My combined experiences caused me to try a different attempt, therefore, at teaching this particular student. Something of my prior knowledge must have helped me along in this process, as well as necessity. Because this pupil did not understand a thing I said to him, in my count, not a simple thing, an interesting transformation took place. It really was the most fascinating session, I think, and perhaps even more so had anyone been watching. His sentences were so confused and mixed up that I just began to pick random ones out of his paper. I'd ask him, 'can you tell me how you would re-write this?' Thus I generated his thought process, as he seemed to understand my written instructions enough to do what we needed to do to get our jobs done. We continued in this way until I had gone through the whole paper.
This was not a perfect method. When I and the student were both somewhat placated, we may have gotten through, well, perhaps 40% of what needed to be revised. To be honest, I am not at all certain how much the student understood and how helpful the session was. However, the great success came in the innovation, because I feel that I tried a variety of methods before I finally came across the best one. It was a marvelous learning experience. I told the student to take our revisions home with him and study them, and finally come back with a new version of his paper. I made it clear that I wanted to understand his learning style. He knows that this was a 'trial' session. I think that being up front with him was also wise in retrospect.
Good for you for thinking on your feet, Brooke. Figuring out how to learn is a necessary precursor for any real learning. Maybe this student came to his next tutoring session with a deeper understanding of his role in this process
Monday morning was a really busy shift at the Writing Center. There is no one session that stood out that day, but it was just one of those days where all of us were doing one tutoring session after another, with people waiting. On those days, I have to work really hard to not seem rushed when I am working with someone. I don't ever want anyone to feel like I don't have enough time for them. When we are busy, I try to focus just on my one person and make them feel like this half hour is just for the two of us.
That's a rare skill, Krista, to be fully present with another person when there's so much to be done elsewhere. Good for you for honing that. That's often a struggle for me, too.
I've been noticing a bit of a trend in the writing center. All students have different levels of computer literacy, and I understand that, and I am more than happy to help students out with computer issues. Sometimes, though, it can really slow down a session. When a student has a hard time typing, they may not put periods in or they may not spell a word even close to correctly. While these are surface errors, they can make it very hard to read the piece and figure out what is a writing mistake and what is a computer mistake. I know there is very little we can do about that, but I just thought it was an interesting observation.
You're right, Laura. And although computer classes are mandatory, it does take a while to develop those keyboard skills. -- I believe there are some free programs that allow students to practice keyboarding skills. I wonder if we should bookmark one of those. What do you think?
I just had a session with a pre-nursing student who wanted to go over her letter of application for the program. She came to the session with questions, which made the session flow a lot more smoothly. Since all three of us tutors on shift were free, she got the benefit of three people's advice. It was nice to collaborate and ask my fellow tutors for advice if I was unsure about word choice or grammar. The student was very open and invested in her piece, which is always nice. It was a wonderful tutoring session to start off the new semester.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great session to start 2012 with! I bet that student will talk about her experience with her classmates, and come back for her next assignment.
ReplyDeleteMost of my "tutoring" so far-during this last week and a half-has been getting our lab-based students set up for the semester. We've had a couple who've started working right away, which is heartening.
I recently experienced a rather difficult tutoring session with a lady. This session was challenging and really tested my ability as a tutor. Luckily, for the most part, I enjoy challenges. Anyways, she stormed into the writing center in pure "panic mode." The women had a very extensive research paper which required charts, graphs, scientific studies, surveys, data pattern analysis, you name it! The professor actually told the lady to re-write the paper. As a result, she came to the writing center, practically hysteric.
ReplyDeleteIts very difficult to work with an individual who is completely frantic. Thankfully, I remained calm, and helped her as best I could. Although the session was difficult, I feel like I did a good job tutoring the lady. I understand school can be stressful, but I do wish students would keep in mind that frantic behavior only makes it more difficult on themselves and the tutor.
I agree, Kevin. The angry or stressed people are the hardest to work with. I just try to keep smiling and be polite, while still being firm with my suggestions and requests (especially if they are lab students)so that they don't spend the entire tutoring session complaining to me about the assignment. I usually say something like, "I know juggling classes and work and other commitments can be really stressful; I'm a student, too. But I'm here to help you, so let's just see what we can do." I think a lot of students that come to the Writing Center forget that most of us are students, too. We are dealing with most of the same stresses.
DeleteI agree, Kevin; certain "high-maintenance" students can wreak havoc on peace of mind, not to mention blood pressure. I hope your calm behavior helped her relax a little. When a student like that comes in, would it be presumptuous to suggest she stop and take a few deep breaths? It might help her (and you)focus on the job at hand. (Ken knows I'm a big fan of deep breathing.)
DeleteLast week, I was working with a Lab student who told me that she HATES prewriting. I showed her clustering and free writing, and explained that it was, in fact, something that Professor Harcourt really wants to see. She told me that she could not do it, so I told her I would help her. I asked her to choose a topic off of the list, and then when she chose one, I wrote it in the center of the clustering sheet. Then I started to ask her questions, and as she answered them, I started filling in the bubbles. After a minute or two, she was able to take over and write it herself. I think all she needed was someone to get her started, and to show her that prewriting is not really so hard afterall.
ReplyDeleteThat's a smart strategy, Kristin. Sometimes I'll do the writing (or clustering) while a student thinks aloud. Some students find it difficult to brainstorm and write at the same time.
DeleteLast Saturday I worked with an ESL student who wanted me to focus on helping him with his grammar. I read through his paper, which had quite a few grammatical errors. I helped him with his introduction and then moved on to the grammar. I was not going to help him correct every grammar issue in his paper, but I went over the first two paragraphs in depth with him. His errors were repetitive and mostly dealt with subject-verb agreement and using the correct articles. I then had him go over the remainder of his paper on his own.
ReplyDeleteWhen I reviewed what he had corrected, I was amazed at much he did on his own. He was quick to catch on to his mistakes and knew what to fix. This tutoring session showed me how a little guidance can take students a long way. I am reminded of our goal as tutors: To not fix their papers, but merely give them the advice that they need to become better writers.
That's why Ann R. urges us to look for patterns of errors. You were able to identify a few, which allowed your student to take more responsibility for his own work. He got far more out of that tutoring session than if you'd corrected his entire paper for him. Good work, Gwen!
ReplyDeleteToday I had the opportunity to read a students paper... I must say that reading and writing is forever a learning and on-growing process. Each student use various methods to explain, describe, define, and identify themselves through their own skills of expressions. Therefore, I am also mindful to always remember that as the world around us continue to grow and evolve through literature, our intellect and brain power will reserve this same energy to adapt to change, store information, increase in knowledge and gain understanding for improving our intellectually abilities.
ReplyDeleteI didn't have an entire tutoring session with this person, but I spoke to him as he was leaving the WC today. He told me the topic he had chosen for the OPIA paper, but he said he had not done any brain-storming (or pre-writing) for the paper. When asked why not, he said that it was his field so he didn't have to get any additional ideas about it. The question I'm throwing out is: How do you get students who "know it all" understand the beauty of pre-writing?
ReplyDeleteThat's a tough one, Marian. Maybe one way to address this is to suggest that pre-writing may help the student narrow down his topic, instead of trying to jam in everything he knows.
ReplyDeleteI had a successful tutoring session with a Korean student the other day. I write the term 'successful,' with surprised pride in myself, due to the fact that it was one of the first sessions with a difficult ESL student in which my endurance paid off. I have had a wealth of different rich experiences so far this semester that have provided me with many opportune moments to learn, whether they were inadvertent, or deliberate attempts on my part to hone my ways to teach such students in the most beneficial way. I have found many such students to be at such a low speaking and writing level, that my most basic instructions to them verbally fly straight through their brains, and I find myself imagining an empty fish-bowl when I look at them, truly.
ReplyDeleteMy combined experiences caused me to try a different attempt, therefore, at teaching this particular student. Something of my prior knowledge must have helped me along in this process, as well as necessity. Because this pupil did not understand a thing I said to him, in my count, not a simple thing, an interesting transformation took place. It really was the most fascinating session, I think, and perhaps even more so had anyone been watching. His sentences were so confused and mixed up that I just began to pick random ones out of his paper. I'd ask him, 'can you tell me how you would re-write this?' Thus I generated his thought process, as he seemed to understand my written instructions enough to do what we needed to do to get our jobs done. We continued in this way until I had gone through the whole paper.
This was not a perfect method. When I and the student were both somewhat placated, we may have gotten through, well, perhaps 40% of what needed to be revised. To be honest, I am not at all certain how much the student understood and how helpful the session was. However, the great success came in the innovation, because I feel that I tried a variety of methods before I finally came across the best one. It was a marvelous learning experience. I told the student to take our revisions home with him and study them, and finally come back with a new version of his paper. I made it clear that I wanted to understand his learning style. He knows that this was a 'trial' session. I think that being up front with him was also wise in retrospect.
Good for you for thinking on your feet, Brooke. Figuring out how to learn is a necessary precursor for any real learning. Maybe this student came to his next tutoring session with a deeper understanding of his role in this process
DeleteMonday morning was a really busy shift at the Writing Center. There is no one session that stood out that day, but it was just one of those days where all of us were doing one tutoring session after another, with people waiting. On those days, I have to work really hard to not seem rushed when I am working with someone. I don't ever want anyone to feel like I don't have enough time for them. When we are busy, I try to focus just on my one person and make them feel like this half hour is just for the two of us.
ReplyDeleteThat's a rare skill, Krista, to be fully present with another person when there's so much to be done elsewhere. Good for you for honing that. That's often a struggle for me, too.
DeleteDo we need an extra hand Monday mornings?
I don't really know if we need an extra hand, because sometimes Monday mornings are slow. I just depends on the day.
DeleteI've been noticing a bit of a trend in the writing center. All students have different levels of computer literacy, and I understand that, and I am more than happy to help students out with computer issues. Sometimes, though, it can really slow down a session. When a student has a hard time typing, they may not put periods in or they may not spell a word even close to correctly. While these are surface errors, they can make it very hard to read the piece and figure out what is a writing mistake and what is a computer mistake. I know there is very little we can do about that, but I just thought it was an interesting observation.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Laura. And although computer classes are mandatory, it does take a while to develop those keyboard skills. -- I believe there are some free programs that allow students to practice keyboarding skills. I wonder if we should bookmark one of those. What do you think?
Delete