How I feel about becoming a Writing Tutor

I have always thought of myself as a confident, attentive, empathetic person and teacher. The tutor I observed was exactly how I feel I will be when I tutor. Since I know I have studied the techniques and approaches to tutoring, I have even more confidence than I had before taking this class since I know the material. My earlier concerns were that the writer would have extreme expectations and, wanting an authorative tutor, they’d be disappointed at my student-centered approach. An example of my prior concerns: the writer tries to make me feel incompetent and uneasy by asking many questions and demanding answers from me or the writer vaguely answers my proposed questions and does not engage actively with me

What I have learned about being a Writing Tutor

During the course of the first three weeks of ENG220, I learned through reading tutoring writing, researching James Moffett and observing a tutoring session. What was most enjoyable is having studied the facts, the techniques, different approaches, the importance dialogue and inner speech play when teaching and then seeing everything I learned, applied in a tutoring session at the writing center.
The tutor I observed greeted the writer and proceeded to practice the different theories of writing. Starting with Talking and Writing, the tutor asked the writer to read her paper out loud slowly. In an attempt to clarify textual meanings, the writer actively engaged with the tutor. While the writer was reading her work, the tutor attentively bent over the work to follow along and listened carefully. The tutor then practiced Feminism by encouraging and supporting her to express her concerns and response to the text. Thinking carefully about each phrase the tutor noticed problems with the past/present tense and some grammar. She went over these LOC after she made sure all the higher order ones were taken care of. Lastly, she gave the writer a practice sheet for grammar and tense rules and explained clearly everything on the sheet by giving examples to better understand the rules. When the session was over she made sure the writer was happily satisfied and offered to help her with any revisions she may need.

Why I said what I said to Caroline

In my comment on Caroline’s piece, I stated that I liked how she began her essay with a question that acted as an attention getter and drew my interest further when she quoted for Sigmund Freud in the opening paragraph. I thought it would benefit her to be reminded that not everyone who reads her essay has read her poem, “Broken Wings”, and for this reason she should supply readers with more descriptions and details. In an attempt to get her ideas going, I asked her, “Where do the symbols of summer, sky, bluebird, that you vaguely mention, appear in the poem?” and “How does the author set a sad tone in the beginning and end the poem with great joy?” I ended my comment by assuring her that her thesis and structure are clear and reasonable but that, lacking details and examples, her average piece can be fantastic if she simply elaborates.
My choice of the high order concern of underdevelopment was arrived at by eliminating the other high order concerns of thesis, organization and voice. Caroline’s thesis is strong and explained clearly. She organized her piece nicely by putting tone and symbolism first in their own paragraphs and then in a paragraph together before wrapping it up with a conclusion and she did so with a constant sweet voice. What is lacking are explanations and supports details. The paragraph on symbolism is only two sentences long (one defining symbolism and the other claiming her poem has six symbols.) My focus therefore was to encourage her to elaborate.

Why I said what I said to Carlos

My comment to Carlos starts off by stating how I enjoyed reading his work and that I liked the background information he provided in his opening paragraph. The higher order concern that I hope he will pay attention to for his final draft is his thesis and overall focus he wants to base his paper on. I wanted the opening paragraph to introduce me to what I would be reading about in the essay. His second paragraph actually seemed to me like a better introduction of the poem since the opening paragraph focused on Greek mythology and the author of his chosen poem which he did not even state title. I did not mention this in my comment to Carlos, but I think he should consider condensing the first two paragraphs into an opening paragraph and make a new paragraph elaborating on tone. My closing comment is that his grade would benefit if he made a more defined thesis.
Since I found Carlos’ paper well developed, explanatory, written with a consistent voice/tone, and the structure/organization clear I focused my comment on thesis. Since I know the importance of a defined focus and that it has the potential to strengthen the work, providing the foundation for the skeleton that’s about to be built, I chose thesis. Carlos opens his work my stating the author of the poem he chose and what the poem “deals with.” A sentence later he writes, “This poem gave me very deep vivid images that brought projections of a great battle into my mind.” This is a fragmented possible thesis and the only sentence in the nine-sentence opening paragraph that is devoted to his chosen poem.