This week I observed a session that was very helpful for me and I learned quite a few things that I can take into consideration when I am tutoring a student on Monday. My tutor was quite friendly to begin with, introduced himself, asked what the assignment was on and then began reading the paper. One thing I did not really like was that as soon as he took the students paper, he began reading and it to himself and it took him longer then I thought it would. I could sense the uncomfortable body language because the student did not know what to do as the tutor was reading the paper. At this point of the session, I noticed how awkward it became. I learned that instead of reading a long paper to yourself, you should read bits of the paper out loud so the student can also hear what he/she wrote about.
The topic the student was writing about was about their fieldwork experience they were doing as a student observer. As the tutor finished reading the paper, (took about 10 minutes), he then asked the student questions as to why did you write this statement?, why not put it this way?, can you expand this sentence more? I remembered Professor Rogers saying something like, whenever you don't know what to say as a tutor, ASK QUESTIONS, and in this case that's what the tutor was doing. He then helped the student organize her paper in a more proper way, gave her ideas as to where she should put the sentences and where they sound better, which i thought was quite clever.
This session I was able to observe the DO'S and DON'TS at a tutoring session. A few of the DO'S were be friendly and introduce yourself. A few of the DONT'S were, Don't read the paper to yourself as a tutor, and if you do, don't take a really long time because then the student will feel uncomfortable and uninterested. I definitely noticed many things that the tutor could of done differently but after all I must say that for my last observation at the tutoring center, it was a interesting one that I learned from.
For the assignment version, we'll need as many examples to demonstrate your claims here as possible...WHAT were the do's/don'ts, etc.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward...
Change is made! Thanks for the advice.
ReplyDeleteHi, my name is Jessica and I am currently taking ENG 220 with professor cooper. I read your blog on your tutoring observation and it seems as though you had a really good observation. I do agree with all of your DO's and DONT's when tutoring another student. It is always good to introduce yourself to the student that you are about to help out. This is like a number one ice breaker in any situation when meeting someone for the first time. I have the same problem as the tutor your observed. When reading something I always read to myself and I can see how awkward this can be because a person can make some facial expressions while reading and this may not be a good thing. My first observation was very different the tutor that I got to observe was very friendly and kind. She tutored two students at the same time. The first student needed help with a dialogue he had written on a controversial topic of his choice. At first the tutor read the paper and read the assignment from the professor and started off by commenting on the things she liked first from the paper, this I believed boosted the students confidence and made him feel a bit comfortable. After she commented on a few grammatical errors that was on the paper. The second student had a paper already written but was looking for a feedback on what he has written already. The tutor had prior knowledge on the person that the student wrote about which was very good and showed that she knows about the project as well. This paper just needed some minor "tweaking" but other than that that paper was ok. When the tutor was done with both students she wrapped everything up wished them both a good day and took the time out to sit with me and answer any questions I had about tutoring.
ReplyDeleteHi, my name is Tiffany Elcock from ENG 220 of the Fall 2014 semester. This post was very interesting to me because this experience was the same experience that I had as I was observing my tutoring session. I believe that some of these tutors probably did not read the 'Tutoring Writing' text and therefore they don't have much tutoring guidelines and as a tutor it is important to go in with some kind of guidance.
ReplyDeleteHi, my name is Bianca, I am also observing at the writing center, the highlight of your observation to me is that the tutor introduced himself, that sometimes can make things better, make the tutee feel comfortable. a "what not to do" the observer noticed was it took the tutor a long time to read the tutee paper. I have not encountered similar strategies in my observations. Every time I observed a tutor, they have read the paper out loud or have let the tutee read it out loud.
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Hello, my name is Karen and I am enrolled in a Seminar in Writing class in LAGCC. I really enjoyed reading your observation and liked that you added the "Do's and Dont's" at the end. I have also noticed most of the tutors I observed this semester read to themselves and it leaves the same awkward feeling for the first part of the session. I wonder why the tutors find this way better? Anyways, overall I think your observation was great and very helpful.
ReplyDeleteHey! Overall, I enjoyed reading about your observation session. You pointing out allot of do's and don'ts when it comes to tutoring. I also glad that you recognized the things that you should and shouldn't do in a session based on what Professor Rogers said in class. It's important to know these techniques when they happen and what it does to the student during the tutoring session. Its like when you observe a tutoring session you already sense the vibe and see the students body language based on the tutor that they have. Its the same thing with me, I observed many things in my observations that I read through class assignments and discussions through Professor Rogers class that we shouldn't do during a tutoring session which is very helpful in the long run.
ReplyDeleteHi, my name is Ciriaco Watson and I am currently taking ENG 220. I enjoyed reading about your experience in the writing center. What caught my attention was his use of asking question. I think that is a great tool to keep the student involved and sets up the use of a collaborative teaching style. I also like the fact that the tutor introduced himself which a lot of tutor forgets to do. The reading the paper to oneself is definitely something that you should not do. Reading it out loud keeps the session running smoothly and the student can begin to catch their own errors. In all I think the session went great and you definitely learned a lot about what to do and what not to do in a tutoring session.
ReplyDeleteHello Valbona, my name is Andrea and i am currently taking ENG 220 as you once did. Your post was entertaining to read and i agree with you on how the tutor should have read parts out loud or read along with the student that way they can hear the mistakes in their paper. I also had the same issue with my first observation and it did became awkward as the student had no idea what to do and just starting playing with her phone. regardless of that it seems your tutor did a good job and was friendly and professional.
ReplyDeleteHi, I am Melissa and I enjoyed the part where you relate what is going on during the secession to what professor JRC said in class. I like to do the same also when I am taking notes during the tutoring secession. This helps me remember the importance of applying what we learned in class to become better tutors.
ReplyDeleteHello, I am Michelle, a current student in the Teaching Writing class. As I read your observation I noticed you clearly concluded the strong and weak points of the session along with connecting it to your personal classroom experience. It subtly reminded me of when I try to “look at the big picture,” or session as a whole.
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