During the tutoring session, I particularly liked the questions Virginia asked such as asking me (the tutee) to explain the points of my essay, describe the prompt, and what I specifically wanted to work on. I think she did a great job at facilitating the conversation while not taking ownership over the essay and allowed me to speak freely. I liked her method of note taking, I thought that was smart, as sometimes during a meeting where we cover a lot of topics, some of the key points made can be forgotten or lost. I think it helps the tutee too, to look back over the tutor’s notes to see if what I wanted to be understood actually was, or if I (the tutee) should rework some of the points I wanted emphasized. I liked how Virginia maintained a distance from the essay, allowing it to be entirely mine and not something she had to fix. I also appreciated the positive reinforcement she gave; I think that’s a very important aspect to allow the tutee to feel comfortable. I think she maintained her composure throughout and didn’t let some of my “help me” comments to get to her or make her change her role as tutor to editor. I hope I can do the same!
I really enjoyed the mock tutor simulation, but I was incredibly nervous acting as the stand in tutor. I got a lot of great feedback on what I have been doing successfully as a tutor and what I still need improvement on. I appreciate the role that Alexis played as the grumpy student and I learned a lot from this experience. Especially when she as the “What do I do? / how do I fix it?” questions for the conclusion. I was hesitant at frist, but knew she was getting into the character of a student who just wanted the tutor do be their editor. However I tried to maintain a distance and give her suggestions about what she could do herslef to make edits and draw her own conclusions. I took a lot of my successful practices (like telling the students that I was taking notes not just writing criticism & asking “why” questions) from the Longman’s Guide and from my training at SASC. I am more confident about how I start a session, what to focus on, and how to wrap up based on this simulation and off of tutoring sessions I have been doing in the past couple weeks. I try to remember to always ask what they would like to work on and what they think of their work thus far. I also enjoy encouraging students with what they have done well. It is very important to articulate to them that their ideas are not the problem and that we are just here to help them make those ideas more finalized and make the student more comfortable in their own writing process.
However I still need to work on making sure I read the paper all the way through either as they read or before the session. Then we can both work through it to confirm what the student is telling me aligns with what they have on the page. Specific passages can help me as a tutor identify where the writer needs more help or where they could be confusing themselves.
Overall I really love being a writing tutor so far. I enjoy working with and learning from other writers and getting their perspective through their process and ideas!
I did not see all of the mock-tutoring session, but I was able to get a decent understanding of what it looked like from what I was able to see. Something that stood out to me immediately was how Virginia, as the tutor, was letting Alexa do most of the talking. Virginia was asking a lot of questions trying to get an understanding of Alexa’s ideas and what her paper looked like. I noticed Virginia was taking notes, and made it clear that she wasn’t making critiques, they were just for her own organization and memory. Alexa was really the one who was running the session and providing the context whereas Virginia was just there as a guide. I did not get to see the part where they looked at a specific part of her paper to fix, but I know that Virginia had Alexa read some of it out loud, which is something that is consistent with what we have learned so far. I also noticed that Virginia helped make some broader connections with Alexa’s writing and tried not to become too much of an editor but instead tried to remain distant and let Alexa take control of what she wanted to do.
3 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 4”
During the tutoring session, I particularly liked the questions Virginia asked such as asking me (the tutee) to explain the points of my essay, describe the prompt, and what I specifically wanted to work on. I think she did a great job at facilitating the conversation while not taking ownership over the essay and allowed me to speak freely. I liked her method of note taking, I thought that was smart, as sometimes during a meeting where we cover a lot of topics, some of the key points made can be forgotten or lost. I think it helps the tutee too, to look back over the tutor’s notes to see if what I wanted to be understood actually was, or if I (the tutee) should rework some of the points I wanted emphasized. I liked how Virginia maintained a distance from the essay, allowing it to be entirely mine and not something she had to fix. I also appreciated the positive reinforcement she gave; I think that’s a very important aspect to allow the tutee to feel comfortable. I think she maintained her composure throughout and didn’t let some of my “help me” comments to get to her or make her change her role as tutor to editor. I hope I can do the same!
I really enjoyed the mock tutor simulation, but I was incredibly nervous acting as the stand in tutor. I got a lot of great feedback on what I have been doing successfully as a tutor and what I still need improvement on. I appreciate the role that Alexis played as the grumpy student and I learned a lot from this experience. Especially when she as the “What do I do? / how do I fix it?” questions for the conclusion. I was hesitant at frist, but knew she was getting into the character of a student who just wanted the tutor do be their editor. However I tried to maintain a distance and give her suggestions about what she could do herslef to make edits and draw her own conclusions. I took a lot of my successful practices (like telling the students that I was taking notes not just writing criticism & asking “why” questions) from the Longman’s Guide and from my training at SASC. I am more confident about how I start a session, what to focus on, and how to wrap up based on this simulation and off of tutoring sessions I have been doing in the past couple weeks. I try to remember to always ask what they would like to work on and what they think of their work thus far. I also enjoy encouraging students with what they have done well. It is very important to articulate to them that their ideas are not the problem and that we are just here to help them make those ideas more finalized and make the student more comfortable in their own writing process.
However I still need to work on making sure I read the paper all the way through either as they read or before the session. Then we can both work through it to confirm what the student is telling me aligns with what they have on the page. Specific passages can help me as a tutor identify where the writer needs more help or where they could be confusing themselves.
Overall I really love being a writing tutor so far. I enjoy working with and learning from other writers and getting their perspective through their process and ideas!
I did not see all of the mock-tutoring session, but I was able to get a decent understanding of what it looked like from what I was able to see. Something that stood out to me immediately was how Virginia, as the tutor, was letting Alexa do most of the talking. Virginia was asking a lot of questions trying to get an understanding of Alexa’s ideas and what her paper looked like. I noticed Virginia was taking notes, and made it clear that she wasn’t making critiques, they were just for her own organization and memory. Alexa was really the one who was running the session and providing the context whereas Virginia was just there as a guide. I did not get to see the part where they looked at a specific part of her paper to fix, but I know that Virginia had Alexa read some of it out loud, which is something that is consistent with what we have learned so far. I also noticed that Virginia helped make some broader connections with Alexa’s writing and tried not to become too much of an editor but instead tried to remain distant and let Alexa take control of what she wanted to do.