My first experience tutoring

As confident as i was a week before I began tutoring, I couldn't deny the rush of nerves that I felt on the way to the Writing Center. When my tuttee walked into the room with a wide smile, I was consoled. The first thing she asked me is, "so, what do I do?" My nerves were gone at this point, knowing that I had to get my mind focused. I explained that we are working on ACT and she replied, "Oh yeah, that's right" and began shuffling through her binder.

I used the talk aloud strategy as soon as her paper hit the table. My first question was regarding the proposals in the opening paragraph. Having read the intro silently, I noticed the word "whether" and not two different proposals. Not being accustomed to "yes" or "no" ACT questions, I asked her to show me the ACT question. The question was worded the same way so i proceeded to the body paragraphs.

In each of the body paragraphs I first read silently and then picked out her opening sentence and supporting reason and read them to her aloud. I asked her if the sentence i had picked was the reason she was using to support her examples. She responded with a yes and even elaborated a bit on each of the reasons.

I was on the lookout for common patterns and key words within her body paragraphs. A few times i had to pause and ask her what exactly she meant when she said such and such. Overall, my tuttee wrote logically, structured and developed. I went over a few grammatical and spelling errors with her, making sure she understood each one. There were a few sentences where the articles were missing. I read over a few words, that were missing a connecting word, to see if she knew what she had forgotten. In all the sentences she was able to tell me exactly what word was missing, which made me happy. She told me that, "they only give you an hour to write these things." I responded, "I know, I just want to make sure you know what was missing." I noticed also that she was unsure about when and where to pluralize words which I explained and helped her correct, but I intend to run it by her again to make sure she understands. We left off at the end of the second body paragraph.

I realized from my first tutoring experience that sitting in on other tutors and being a critic is easier than actually being in the tutors seat. I know that I have criticized tutors for not focusing on the higher order concerns first and yet I found myself helping my tuttee with her lower order concerns. I am not particularly happy about that. I do think my first experience went well but I know the second will be better.

Reflection on "Understanding Composing"

Sondra Perl’s insightful work on “Understanding Composing” was a pleasure to read. Perl takes the research result of composing aloud (that was intended to provide teachers with the opportunity to see their own composing processes at work) and realizes the flow of composing was captured. Detecting certain basic patterns through this research study, Perl goes on to ask and answer the questions of: “what basic patterns seem to occur during composing?” and “what does this type of research have to tell us about the nature of composing aloud?”

Perl describes how writing appears to be recursive even though the parts that recur seem to vary between different people. I had to laugh when I was reading the recursive processes in detail and writing an essay because I noticed how I had been unconsciously doing everything that Perl said writers do. I reread little bits of discourse, returned to my notion of the essay topic, changed what I wrote to better comply with the notion I have of the topic and then I paused, using what Perl refers to as “felt-sense”, to listen and react to what my words already on the page were saying to me.

Tutoring "Do's" and "Dont's"

There are certain things that should be done as a tutor and certain things that should not. Here are a few that I find most important:

"Do's"
Listen intentively, act interested, become involved in the writing.
Be an empathetic respondent while remaining detached (focused on the writing and not the writer.)
Pay attention to your body language, gestures and posture.
Give honest feedback, encouragement and deserved praise.
Encourage collaboration, getting the writer to talk while welcoming them to explore/express their own idea's.

"Don't"
Use praise to sugarcoat the truth (stating its perfect when there are obvious problem areas.)
Use aggressive gestures or words.
Interrupt, speak over and above the tutee or slouch and nod (acting authorative and/or disinterested.)
Be overly critical or picky (zeroing in on the Low Order Concerns.)
Disrespect the writers work by inserting, what you may think is, "better" language, information or style.
Act as a therapist by getting too personal and attempting to counsel the writer.

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.