Blog #12 - CAS Tutoring Session

During our first tutoring session in the CAS Writing Center, none of us had students signed up to see us :( I guess that was okay because we got practice observing our classmates tutor in action. I've got to admit that it was a little chaotic at first seeing that it was only our first day there, but I'm glad we were able to get our feet wet, so to speak. I can't wait until next Monday when, hopefully, a real live student will come seeking for our help and guidance!

I was given the opportunity to observe two of my fellow classmates during our time there. I think it's safe to mention their names here since it was only practice but I don't want to risk it. I'll just say that I observed Kris (tutor) and Sarah (student) - real names have been altered. During my observation, I noticed that Kris used minimalistic techniques which seemed very effective for this session. He sat next to Sarah and only spoke when she needed ideas or had a question. Sarah had a pen in her hand and wrote on the paper while Kris sat there and watched her do the work. Sarah read the paper out loud so that the both of them could analyze and work on it together. There was not a lot of eye contact going on between them because most of the time was spent looking down at the paper. Whenever Sarah would explain something, she would talk with her hands moving around from side to side, which to many of us (including myself) is natural. Kris' comments were always positive and the session wasn't that long because Sarah only needed help with a small portion of her paper. I'm sure some of the tutoring sessions we will observe in the CAS will go like this because the students just want to go in to get help and leave. However, the student felt that she got the help that she needed so I'm guessing that that's all that matters.

Since the session was shorter than expected, Dr. Chandler decided to demonstrate how to tutor a student, so she tutored Sarah again. This time, I saw a great difference between her tutoring style and Kris'. The tutor did a lot of nodding and was very encouraging. Whenever the student would say something that contributed to the thesis statement, she would say, "Good. Now write that down." Whenever the student would say something about the paper, the tutor would restate it in the form of a question to make sure that she understood it and the information that was relayed to her by the student was correct. There was more eye contact that occured during this session than the first and again, positive feedback was given to the student - example, "That's a great title!"

At the end of the hour, I wasn't sure if I took the right notes and observed the proper elements of a tutoring session. I guess I didn't know if this would help me for my research paper, but since I'm not sure what I'm going to do for it, the notes were good enough. Unexperienced as we are at this point in time, we just need to go in with an open mind and see how it is. This is a learning process and I can't wait to see what will turn up next :)

Blog #11 - Possible Ideas for a Project

Listed below are three possible ideas for my research project:

1) During our class discussion on Wednesday, we talked about assumptions on how tutoring sessions in the CAS will be conducted. One assumption I came up with was on constructive criticism and how a student handles it. Face it...none of us want to be criticized but sometimes it needs to be done in order for us to learn and grow. It would be interesting to find out when students take offense when they are given constructive criticism about their writing. Will they take it personally and become offending by what the tutor has to say? Will they become defensive and feel that the tutor's words about their writing is an actual reflection of the person that they are? How and to what extent will the students express their offense, maybe through their words or body language? Will some appreciate the constructive criticism and use it to better their paper? How do men vs. women handle constructive criticism? These are but a few questions I have in mind for this topic and I'm really interested to find out more!

2) During one of our discussions in class, we talked about how people learn. Some examples of these are by memorization, repeating something in order to "get it", creating mnemonic devices, etc. It would be interesting to see what kind of learning styles are most popular with the students at Kean. Are the majority of us visual learners or do we need someone to break it down for us in order for us to "get it"? This in my opinion would be a good research topic but then you have to take into account what works for the tutor because most likely, that'll be the first strategy they will use to relay the message to the student. I guess more observation on body language and verbal exchanges will have to be focused more here.

3) I mentioned in my previous blog that it would be interesting to conduct research on effective techniques that will get younger students to want to learn and become better writers. Since our job as tutors is not to create better writing, I want to at least find out how to engage them long enough so that they at least care about it.

Looking at all three possible ideas, I'm leaning more towards #1. Why? I'm not quite sure...I guess we're going to have to wait and see :o)

Blog #10 - Possible Research Ideas

I have to admit that I've been falling behind on my blogs in this class. This past week has been CRAZY in my house so writing blogs and completing assignments have taken a back seat to life. Sorry guys! As soon as I get my life in order, which probably might be an eternity, so let me rephrase that or just delete it all together...I'll try to read everyone's wonderful blogs and make comments on them so that you get my opinion alongside with everyone else.

I've learned so much in this class that it's a little difficult to choose what I want to do my research on. Since Dr. Chandler mentioned that most of our students might be freshmen, I would like to do a study on how to properly tutor them or what we consider as younger learners. During our class discussion, we made note of the learning stereotypes between older people and those of our generation. Since younger learners are "tech savy" and seem to alway want the shortcut to the end product, and since our generation of students refuse to listen to anyone older than us because of course, we are definitely smarter than them (SO NOT TRUE!), I would like to conduct research on effective techniques that will get younger students to want to learn and become better writers. Since our job as tutors is not to create better writing, I want to at least find out how to engage them long enough so that they at least care about it.

I haven't really thought much about this since I've been so focused on not getting Lunsford's Garret Center and Storehouse Center concepts mixed up with everyone else so I need a little more time to think. Collaboration is something else that would be interesting to explore since I've never really seen it happen before. It would be great to see something on paper actually come to life!

This probably didn't answer the blog's question but that's what's on my mind right now. I'll have to look into this a lot more and maybe hear a little bit of everyone else's ideas so that I can properly formulate my own.

Blog #9 - Position on Minimalist Techniques

I believe that minimalist techniques should be used when the student seems like he/she understands what's going on. This means that the student is prepared with questions and has a focus on what he/she wants to accomplish during the session. Minimalist techniques should be used to get the student writing and basically when the tutor personally feels that the student can direct the flow of the session.

Teacher-centered approaches should be used when the student seems like he/she doesn't care, which sometimes include students that go to the tutoring center because they were forced by a professor to seek help there. These students are there because they just want to get things over with and get the answers so that they can leave. Tutors should step up to the plate and help direct the student in the right direction. The tutor needs to help the student brainstorm possible ideas on how to tackle the problem. During this session, the tutor will get the student to do some writing and will ask the questions that will get the student motivated to work and make his/her paper better.

Looking at my personality, I'm more of a person that likes to tell people what to do, but then again, I get tired of that after a few minutes and then I want the person to think for themselves,. This pretty much means that I stand in the middle of the minimalist and teacher-centered techniques. It all depends on the student's behavior and their desire to become better writers. I know we shouldn't judge people by their cover but sometimes we have to; we have to have a feel for what kind of student they are in order to adjust ourselves to better help them during our tutoring sessions.

Blog #8 - Checklist

Living in this country, we are privileged to be surrounded by a diverse group of people. We have the opportunity to learn about different cultures and the wonderful people that are raised by them. As tutors, we will meet these people, but because of what society has "labeled" them, we can't help but have certain beliefs about them, even if we try not to think about it. As tutors, it is our responsibility to respect everyone and give equal attention to those that are there in need of our help. With that said, here's a few pointers that I will make for myself in order to put on my best face and give my all when it comes to helping my students:

- leave all stereotypes outside! there's no room for them in the tutoring center
- treat everyone with respect
- encourage them at all times
- watch their body language to see if they are confused or if they "get it"
- if they do "get it", ask them to say it back in their own words so that I know they actually got it :o)
- if they do "get it", do an activity with the student in order for them to apply what it is that they've learned
- try to find the good everyone's work
- ask them how they study for tests and take notes in class; this will help the tutor get an idea of how they learn and gather information, either through repetition, mnomonic devises, seeing an example first, etc.
- if the student feels overwhelmed, break down the assignment into "digestable chunks" so that the job will get done little by little
- LISTEN! Genuinely care about what the student has to say and do your best to be of assistance to everyone

Blog #7 - Features of Effective Tutoring

Based on my experiences in class, I believe that one of the most important features of an effective tutoring session is that a tutor's job is to produce better writers, not better writing (North). I enjoyed the scenario that Brooks wrote about in his essay entited "Minimalist Tutoring: Making the Student Do All the Work" wherein he basically says that a tutor should not be the editor. Even though it may be tempting at times for a tutor to just find the errors in the paper and correct it, or just give information that may seem helpful to make the paper better, being the editor will do "little service" to the student.

I agree with Brooks when he said that students should "own" their paper and take full responsibility for it. The student should do most, if not all, of the work during a tutoring session as well as do most of the talking. This is where North comes into play when he says that talking is an essential part of a tutoring session. There should be a constant flow of conversation going on between the student and tutor in order for ideas to be passed around that collaboration (Lunsford) can take place.

I think that it is important for the tutor to be encouraging and provide positive feedback. Just like what Brooks mentioned in his essay, tutors should make every effot to "find something nice to say about every paper, no matter how hard you have to search".

As I prepare to enter the writing center to become a peer tutor, I would like to improve on all of the important features of a tutoring session. I believe that with added experience, I will be able to develop my skills in order to be a good tutor and not an editor. As with a previous tutoring session I had with Stephanie, I need to learn to make the student do most of the talking and all of the work.

Blog #6 - Writing Center Philosophy (revised)

As I look over my Writing Center Philosophy from my previous blog, I stand by my beliefs in that the ideal writing center should be a combination of the Garret and Burkean Parlor centers. Below are my reasons why I think it should be this way (which I pretty much just copied from my previous blog).

I believe that knowledge is both interior, like the Garret Center, and exterior, like the Storehouse Center. I believe that in order for knowledge to be interior or to be our own, we need to search externally by looking elsewhere and learning from other people. Tutors and teachers should help direct the students in order for them to find that knowledge and make it their own. Students, on the other hand, should not be sponges absorbing everything that the tutor is telling them. Instead, students should use this information or knowledge as a guide and change it up a bit to make it personal.

Everyone in the writing center should work together like the Burkean Parlor Center and strive to have a collaborative environment. The writing center should be a friendly place where students do not feel intimidated that their writing might not be good enough. Staff members should be welcoming and should not discriminate against anyone. This place should also have enough staff members available at all times so that if students want to walk in and ask for help, tutors and teachers will be there. Tutors should be knowledgeable in the content in which they will help the students with. If everyone in this writing center will work collaboratively, I believe that tutors should also know the content that the students need to research or are working with in order to provide better guidance and assistance to those that they are helping.

As I look over my philosophy, I know that this is a bit idealistic and maybe not so realistic. During our discussions in class, we learned that most students do not have the time nor the patience to spend a great amount of time working on their papers. Most of them go to the writing center because it is required by the professor or they just want a quick fix so that they'll get a better grade on the paper. According to North's "The Idea of a Writing Center", he believes that the writing center should be a place where writers who are passionate about their writing go for help; in other words, people that should go to the writing center are those that are genuinely interested in talking about their writing. It would be great if everyone that goes to the writing center is passionate about their writing, but most students are not. That is why I believe tutors should not only know the content that they are helping their students with, but should be knowledgeable in the strategies needed to motivate students to write and become better writers. Tutors should find ways to engage the student in their own writing so that they can fulfill North's idea of an ideal writing center where people talk about their writing. When people talk and share ideas, collaboration takes place which is what I envision as the perfect writing center.