Readings 4/21

Doodles:

-What can we learn from the situation with Kaplan, how some disagree with it, and how Kaplan admitted to their flaws? What does this say about trusting a source and considering possible unintended consequences or flaws in the source? In my opinion, it is always important to consider what others would have to say about the source.

Moujtahid

-The article states that it is important that consultants not think of all ESL students as alike. What would be the most important thing to consider according to the ESL students themselves? How can we get inside the heads of ESL students and consider what they would want consultants to know about them and how to help them, and then, what do we think they would want us to know?

Mosher

-In regards to the cultural variances, when is it appropriate to direct the writer towards common practices in American writing vs what they're used to. How can we know if a writer's ultimate goal is to learn about American writing and improve in that arena vs working on their writing as it is in their own culture?

Readings: 4/12

The Rule of Thirds & CARP Rules:

1. What do these concepts have to do with making us better tutors? Are writing centers going so far digital that we need to learn this things? If so, is this necessarily a good thing?

Planning on Hypertexts....

1. If the writing center does not advertise that the tutors are willing to consult hypertexts, how will the student know? In my opinion, there should be separate tutors for this kind of thing. If the writing center DOES consult with students on hypertexts, will another resource that the university offers suffer? the TLC?

Protocols and Processes in Online Writing

1. What are some unintended consequences of online writing tutoring? Misunderstanding leading to angry professors or students? How could we deal with these issues?

First impression on Dr. Gayle's info freewrite

One thing that came to mind while Dr. Gayle was talking was this: if the mentors are going to be largely around the students in a social setting, will we need to guide the mentors more on how to establish respect in a more academic setting with the students? I'm not sure if this will be an issue but it is something to think about.

Objectives for Final Project

Here are some points that come to mind when thinking about what the future mentors need to know. I will probably edit this post several times, but here are some immediate reactions to our discussion in class.

1. Think about the differences between high school and college (especially in terms of writing). Anticipate some problems that you foresee, but be prepared for anything you might come across, and don't seem surprised if the writing is worse than you expected.

2. Recognize patterns of error, but focus on the development of ideas.

3. Use examples and give them concrete advice. Always explain WHY the particular technique improves their writing.

4. Introduce yourself first, maybe even make some small talk. Get the writer comfortable with you and they will be more likely to open up and voice their concerns.

Questions 4/5

St. Martin's Sourcebook

-How might the expectations of the writing center among international students differ? Among students? Cultures?

Bedford Guide

-Is it really beneficial to try to"culturize" your tutoring style to each individual student? Wouldn't it teach them more to stick to your own practices and teach them something?

Readings for 3/24

1. Apprenticed to Failure:

-What do we do if a student thinks he or she is failing, when really you see progress? Where is the line between unnecessary cheerleading and effective encouragement?

2. Bedford Guide:

-Of course there are pros to there being anonymity in an online session, but what are some unforeseen negative consequences? Does realizing race, class, gender, etc sometimes benefit the tutor or writer?

Impromptu Session

A few days ago, my friend Emma asked me to look over her paper for English 103. Since I haven't been seeing much action in the writing center lately, I agreed. Her paper was about Columbine, and the effect of looking at photos after the tragedy. It was a great experience, because I realized it was a very typical example of what I will see in the writing center. She is a great writer, and was actually referred to take 383 next semester. However, her writing lacked a central claim. Looking over her paper also gave me experience with very intelligent students who are good writers, which are students that I foresee being a challenge in the writing center. This experience also allowed me to see how much I am learning in 383 and how much progress I have made as a writer!

The College Mentoring Project

Saturday was the second and final meeting with the college mentoring program. Myself and Emily worked with Alex, who was writing her "letter" to her cousin. Emily and I brought the paper outside in the beautiful weather to read over, and as I read it I was thinking that Alex had some great ideas and did a great job of picking a central point (that Americans are intimidated of the growing Hispanic population) and sticking to it.

We brought Alex back outside in the sun and talked to her about her paper. Alex said that last time she worked a lot on organization, which was apparent in her paper because it was very well organized. Then, we got to the discussion of quotes. I noticed that the students were told to use quotes from the articles in their paper, but Alex hadn't done that. Alex admitted to working on quoting in the last session, but she still hadn't incorporated them into her paper. Alex was not confident in her ability to quote effectively or "correctly". The approach we took to the situation had a few elements: 1. We asked Alex to pick a quote in the article that she might want to use (for hypothetical purposes) 2. We asked her what argument it supported 3. We asked her "why??" Why did she choose that quote in particular? How does it support her claim? 4. We showed Alex how to introduce and follow up her quotes using the "sandwich" idea, that a quote should never stand alone.

Following the session, we had a discussion with the students about the differences between high school and college. Prior to this discussion, and even during my session with Alex, I never realized that quoting is a very foreign idea to high school students. I been thinking a lot about quoting and different ideas that are new to college students when they first step on campus. It's interesting to bring myself back to my first few weeks of college classes and remember what I found difficult. More importantly , this has gotten me to think of how to fix these issues and advise people on how to write better.

Reading Response 3/15

1. Minimalist Tutoring: What is a tutor to do if the writer outright tells the tutor that they need more to work with? How can you identify a student that will need more guidance? Can simply reading their writing and seeing their skill level determine that?

2. Pure Tutoring: What are some pros of directive tutoring? What are the issues?

Here is my response:

http://paige-english383.blogspot.com/2010/03/reading-questions-for-315.html?showComment=1268632672587_AIe9_BFv640TbYlC0WrElxLmOX3xhNGltsS8qBFBS5v2gSxQGxhjS74lPWQs0fUX-qQ2j0dTC_mWvSPQ7Vb7pTAt48RrKkiz4_RL-SkCdDfbHGomMehr_ZfpBCQth44cRZ8Da408Zea8hnZ5T3BeXreZ8IiLXr8rVRUtPPfH2aUDAPRsq_f-6A4nSn7c6UxNbihJtMSp9uK9je22p5bZohMvOwkEbETWF2IZBuUDkySy41HXci8tn7g#c4672878551904976326

Final Writing Center Shadow

My final writing center shadowing appointment was a no show!

High School Tutoring

To make up for missing the college mentoring project, I had my sister, Meredith, email me a paper she is working on for her religion class. My sister is a sophomore at a small-ish Catholic school in my hometown in Maryland. I know that a private school in Annapolis is a far cry from the student's situation who are involved in the college mentoring project, but from looking around at some of the posts about tutoring the high schoolers, Meredith seemed to have some similar problems and questions about her writing. The assignment was to write a paper describing a story that has been in her family for a long time and is told over and over again. Then, they were to state their opinion on family stories, how they contribute to a sense of family, and if a family could even be a family without family stories. Additionally, they were to briefly compare their story to a story found in the Bible.

I called Meredith yesterday afternoon and asked her to send me her paper. She said she wasn't done yet, so I asked her what she was writing about. She started telling me a wild array of ideas that seemed to not really have any significance or meaning to her. I also saw the potential that this paper has to mean something to her because it has to do with a family story. I began to sense that her paper would be unorganized and lack a central idea. Of course I didn't tell her that outright, but I asked her what her main idea was. After trying to come up with something, she admitted that she didn't really know, but she thought what she was saying sounded good on paper. So, I began to talk her through sort of a "prewrite" process. I asked her what she thought our family was about, what words she would use to describe our family. (It was difficult to not provide my own insight, seeing as how she was talking about my family too). After giving me a few minutes of good ideas, she had an insight to take her paper in an entirely new direction and start over. After that we hung up the phone. Within a few minutes she called me back with her thesis. The thesis had kind of the same problem as the initial draft -- she was just saying words because they sounded good, but she wasn't pinpointing her idea or driving home her point. So, I asked her again what she wanted her thesis to say. After that, she began to realize what I wanted out of her...to pick her point and stick to it.

A few hours later she called me back and told me that she emailed me her "final" draft. I opened the paper, read it over, and called her back. Her paper was actually good. I told her that her organization was significantly better, and she seemed passionate about her topic. Her main problem was the flow between sentences. I taught her how to use transitions effectively by using an example in her paper. Then she began saying "ooh, so I could do the same thing here..." exactly. Also, her paper lacked a conclusion entirely. I told her that her point would be driven home much better with a conclusion, and she asked me what to write. (She had no problem asking me exactly what to do in her paper, seeing as I am her sister, and I had to remember the 'fix-it-shop idea' and apply the techniques we have learned about in class). I advised her on how I usually write conclusions, but I asked her what she wants her reader to take away from reading her paper. She told me, and her dialogue was a good conclusion in itself.

Reflecting on the experience of helping my sister, I realized alot about the transition between high school and college. My sister said that she has never thought about writing this way, as a personal assertion of what YOU have to say about something. I think a lot of high schoolers are thinking about what their teacher WANTS them to say and are just trying to get through the assignment, without realizing that their teacher most likely wants to hear what they have to say. I think a lot of high schoolers like Meredith would benefit from college students coming and teaching them about writing, especially college students that are passionate about writing and who realize that writing is an excellent form of expression, and that good grades on their papers will just fall into place as long as they are passionate about what they saying.

I really enjoyed working with my sister. I now have so many ideas about how a high school writing class should be taught!

March 1 Questions

Tips for Conferences and Reports:

-I was confused on the first point about only using the report forms for the writing center and 383. Why wouldn't you use the report forms for writing fellow work?

Reports:

-What are the consequences as a writing consultant for writing an "awful" report?

St. Martin's Sourcebook

-How can we effectively tutor the student in regards to their development if we do not fully agree with their topic? In my opinion, it is our job to help the student regardless of our stance on the issue, so how can we help the student to the best of our ability without having them feel attacked?

Bedford Guide

-Is it valid for teachers to make their students do a specific type of pre-write? If they do, and the method does not work for the student, is it right for us to provide the student with another type of prewrite that goes against the professors assignment?

Writing Center Part 3

Yesterday I had my first real experience shadowing in the writing center. The tutee was a freshman girl writing short essays for her English 103 class and she was asking for help with her third essay. The assignment was to choose 2 articles, in addition to one required article, and develop a single cohesive thesis while making the articles "speak to each other". The tutor did not read the paper before hand, so she read the paper out loud to the writer. I think that it is beneficial to read the paper before the session, but if that isn't possible for some reason, I think reading the paper out loud was an awesome way to get the writer listening and catching her mistakes on her own. In this case, the writer did stop the tutor at some points and say that she realizes that is a mistake, or ask the tutor how she could fix that because it sounded awkward.

This was an awesome session to sit in on, because a lot of the issues we have been talking about in class came up. The writer had tons of specific questions, and the tutor would address the issue at hand, usually using a single example in her paper, and then leave it up to the writer to fix the issue wherever else it came up. I felt that this was a good approach to take because it wasn't a "fix it shop" method, but the writers concerns were still being addressed.

The writer mentioned in the beginning that she wanted to talk mostly about content, because she wasn't sure if her argument made sense. The tutor used techniques that we have been discussing, mostly asking the writer to talk through her ideas and explain her argument. The tutor mentioned that she knows the writer knows what she is talking about, but her writing is not accurately reflecting that. The tutor made marks directly on her essay, and the writer was also taking notes of her own.

There was definitely a gracious attitude from the writer, and I could tell that she genuinely wanted help. The tutor was also passionate about helping her and she had a lot of knowledge on how to help her.

This session started at 5 and ended around 6:10. Generally, sessions are limited to an hour, so the question that I thought of while 6 pm neared was this: what do you do as a tutor if the session is going to run long? There is no guarantee that you or the writer will be available to stay longer. So, what is the protocol for the long session? Do you schedule another session? Continue via email? This question is something I will continue to think about.

Monday's Readings

Here are my questions for Monday's readings:

1. "This is a redneck argument!"

-If the tutor had shared his background with the student who wrote the paper, how would their session have been different? Would that make the student more willing to open up and think in broader terms, or would they feel attacked and embarrassed? Would sharing a tutors personal connection with the argument even be ethical?

2. "Reflections on Teacher Comments"

-Is there really a harm in tutors commenting on professor's comments? What is that harm, and is there any potential good that could come out of commenting on professor's comments?

3. "How to Make Sentences Clear and Concise"

-After reading this, I realize that using too many prepositions is a weakness of mine. So, ow many prepositions is too many?

4. HK ch 5

-Why isn't there a standardized system of English grammar or standard guidelines for academic writing? What does the fact that there isn't tell us about the English language and academic writing?

5. Bedford Guide Ch 4

-So far all the readings we have done have told us what to do with students who are having grammatical problems in their papers. But what about students who just can't get it even after having corrected their mistake multiple times? Do you refer them to their professor or is it your job to work with them until they "get it"?

Dr. Gayle's Visit

I really enjoyed Dr. Gayle's visit to class today. Other than it being beneficial for the obvious reasons (learning about what we're going to do on Saturday), it opened my eyes to a few other things.

1. Dr. Gayle's commitment to the kids and to their success really inspired me. Like she said, we don't have an investment in their paper or their grades. Dr. Gayle is selflessly committing herself to the success of others and her visit made me realize that I really hope my future career does the same thing.

2. Looking at the kid's papers made me think back to our previous discussion on the importance of grades. The kids who wrote those papers would most likely not receive a 4.0 gpa or get "As" written on their papers and tests. However, it was obvious to me when reading their writing that these kids were smart. They were thinking and learning from these passages and really have something to offer. Furthermore, I'm sure Dr. Gayle and a lot of us 383 students who are reading their work ARE "A" or "B" students...yet we are learning from these high schoolers whose grade point average may not even come close to ours. So, maybe grades aren't the perfect measure of intelligence, and maybe we can learn the most in places where we least expect it.

3. I'm excited to work with the kids, and I think it is perfect practice for us. I think we will get the opportunity to use the techniques we have been talking about all semester, such as asking them to talk through their ideas and brainstorm. Probably the most challenging students we will face in the writing center are the ESL students, so what better practice could we get then working with these students?

So, besides learning the logistics of what Saturday will bring, this is what I took away from Dr. Gayle's visit to class. I can't wait to see what this weekend will bring.

Round 2

Today I went for my second writing center shadowing appointment, hoping to actually get to shadow someone. Well, this time there wasn't a no show, but the consultant that I was shadowing had her appointment canceled...far enough in advance that it wasn't considered a no show, but I didn't get to shadow either way. I am disappointed, but luckily I got to the center a bit early and there was an appointment happening in the waiting area because all the rooms were being used, so I overhead a few minutes of that appointment. This consultant was tutoring a freshman boy with his Core paper, which is due tomorrow. The consultant seemed to be commenting very specifically about his paper, such as telling him words that seemed overly vague or general. However, the consultant was saying the words "I suggest..." rather than "you should do this, do that, etc" , which is something I recognized from our readings. The consultant and the student were sitting side by side in lounge chairs and leaning in toward one another. The boy seemed receptive to her comments and very appreciative of her time.

From the few minutes I heard, I did take away something from my "fake shadowing" session, but hopefully the 3rd week's the charm and I get to shadow next week!

No Show?

So today I had my first writing center shadow. I was excited for the opportunity and a little anxious to begin. I arrived at the center around 4:45 when my appointment was to start at 5. I read the collegian in the lobby of the center and soon the consultant I was to shadow, Alex, came out of the room, introduced herself, and invited me into the room where the consulting takes place. I am just getting over being really sick, so my voice was a little raspy and I was a little out of it and I hope Alex didn't pick up on that. Alex wrote her report and answered any questions that I had while 5pm quickly approached. Minute by minute passed and no student walked through the door with a paper in hand. 5:10pm came around and Alex told me that the protocol was that after 15 minutes passed, the student is considered a no show and we could leave. So Alex and I chatted about her experience with the writing center for 5 more minutes and no student showed up. So around 5:17 or so, Alex and I both left the center. I was slightly disappointed, but I did not walk away from the experience empty handed.

As I sat on the couch on the side wall of the writing center, I was in a prime position to observe the setting and think about how I felt about the aesthetics of the writing center, as Dr. Essid asked us to do. I thought about a few things:

1. I love the round table and chairs. I think this promotes a conversation between the consultant and the student, and is less intimidating than a regular table and chairs.

2. The size of the room is perfect. It's intimate, comfortable (with the couch also promoting a sense of comfort), and allows the student to feel like they can open up his or her concerns to the consultant without feeling intimidated. The size of the room has a way of saying, "what is said in this room, stays in this room".

3. Two things struck me as negative aspects to the room: while the lighting was good, the lamps were unattractive and slightly harsh looking. Secondly, the bulletin board behind the table and chairs could be spruced up a bit and made brighter, a job I think many would be willing to take on!

So those are my thoughts on my first shadowing experience...without actually shadowing! Hopefully next week I will be able to talk more about writing.

Dr. Essid's Visit

It was a relief to have Dr. Essid in class to discuss some of the nuts and bolts of being a writing consultant. It made me excited to begin shadowing, and I realized that while I will be (hopefully) helping the students in the writing center, I will also be able to learn something from them. This in turn will make me not only a better writer, but also a better "people person" as I will gain invaluable experience working with all types of students.

Constructive Criticism

Today in class, we got into a debate centered around the idea of positive vs negative comments. Do students come to writing centers looking for compliments on their papers? Our general consensus was no. Do students come to writing centers looking for a cure-all, an easy route to an "A" paper? We said that yes, some students, and even professors, may view the writing center as a "fix it shop". My stance on giving positive comments to students is this: writing tutors should by no means look for reasons to compliment students on their writing. If a paper needs a lot of work and doesn't merit a compliment, don't give one. However, if a student comes in and gives you an exceptional paper, or even an exceptionally organized or stylized paper, then point it out. This may give the student the encouragement they need to continue to enjoy writing. Additionally, as I pointed out in class, often times positive comments are remembered by the writer and that will help them become better writers by using the same methods they used in that paper.

Writing tutors are students and by no means experts. Therefore, who are we to simply tear apart their paper without giving them some type of compliment or reason to keep writing?

Grades 2

I took a look at the economy professors posts on grades, and I couldn't agree more. I liked his final words that "one size doesn't fit all". I think that is true. I have seen many of my friends and even myself at some times pay too much attention to the pressure from parents, guidance counselors, and the numbers on college admissions sights to get high grades. As I thought about this, I realized that the only authority figure in my life that I'm not receiving pressure to receive high grades are my teachers. While (most) of my teachers have genuinely wanted their students to do well, they place the importance mostly on learning and grappling with the information than getting an A+. Some teachers even outright state that they WANT you to not understand the information, because that is when you ask questions, and therefore learn more.

Another question I asked myself after Monday's class was this: in a writing center, as a writing consultant, is it more effective to strive for a position of authority over the students you are tutoring, or to strive to come off as their "friend" or just a peer trying to help them? I think this may vary student to student, but I will definitely keep thinking about this.

Grades?

Our discussion about grades and their importance struck particularly interesting to me because this is something that I have always wondered about, but never thought was a valid argument because I have been brought up to believe that grades are important and heavily impact your future success. As for my opinion on the issue, I'm not entirely sure. I think there are plenty of smart people out there that don't try hard enough and therefore their grades reflect their effort. In that case, their grades would not reflect their intelligence, but they would reflect how much they learned if you are following the rule that you learn more if your put more effort in. As the course goes on, I will continue to think about this issue because now I realize that this is worth pondering and definitely a valid argument!