I have encountered a few of the experiences outlined in this chapter, one memorable one was when a student held a view that I saw as offensive. I was aware, going into our meeting, that my personal views or opinions were meant to be kept aside, and I had to focus on the writing itself, rather than the viewpoint. In a way, I employed non-directive tutoring where I asked them questions ensuring that their arguments were still related to the essay prompt. In the writing itself, I also suggested that they incorporate a naysayer, to give light to the “other side” of their argument, as a way to possibly consider how their views were related to the prompt.
For their second essay, I am working out a new strategy for some students that I am slightly struggling to work out. For some students, I recognize, or they ask to work on their thesis statement, so I have begun bringing a small whiteboard to my meetings. My goal with the whiteboard is to host a collaborative thesis workshop and demonstrate the process as we work together. I am still trying to sort out the “collaborative” part, since some students are more unsure of their work or ideas and I can feel like I am doing all the work for them. I plan on trying to ask them more questions while also getting comfortable with the silence as they sort out an answer. I also want to give them the chance to write on the whiteboard instead of just me. This relates to my education classes where we work on I do, we do, you do. I want to make the whiteboard the we do, since professor Brod already does the I do in class. The presence of the whiteboard is still a work in progress for me, but I hope to sort out these kinks in future sessions.
There is a lot more that I can say about my meetings related to this chapter in particular, but at that point it would be every meeting. I still use a line of questioning to probe information or clarification from students I work with, and that has been successful and a constant for me. I have encountered a few students with learning disabilities, but I have specific strategies from my education classes that can help with certain disabilities, and I have seen how I have helped these students in particular, which is a great feeling.
During my sessions so far I have encountered a number of successful strategies, and challenges, that I have been trying to keep in mind during my sessions. One challenge that stood out to me from my personal experience that was included in this chapter of our reading was, “the writer’s paper is full of errors”. While working with my tutees on their first essay I focussed more on global revision rather than editing errors and style. I saw many problems, but for the most part I focused on ideas rather than technical issues. After the students submitted their first essay and I was able to talk to Professor Frank about what I should prioritize for their second essay, I realized that I should have placed editing higher on my list of concerns. For their second essay I have been trying to catch really obvious errors as well as the major questions I have regarding the thought behind their essays. I have been extending my sessions by roughly five minutes so that we can go over obvious technical issues like run-ons, fragments, and unclear language. I talked with Professor Frank about specifics I should look for and she gave me a few ideas on where I should focus with different students. She also provided three holistic comments when grading the student’s essays, which I have been asking the students about to see if there was anything they could take with them into their second essay. Rather than going into detail on every issue I see, my approach so far has been to identify a main type of issue, fragment sentences for example, explain how to identify them, and then tell the student to reread just for that issue before submitting. Because I am not working primarily from the writing center, I have also adapted my tone to be a bit less formal and more friendly as the students and I have gotten to know each other. I feel that this strategy has been one of my most successful strategies I have used as it has led to some of my best breakthroughs with students.
Since I have not gotten to have any tutoring sessions yet, I most closely related this chapter to my younger sibling, who struggles with a learning disability similar to those discussed in this chapter. They are making the transition into college currently, so watching the strategies that work for them as they move from high school work to the rigor of college work will be helpful in tutoring sessions. I have noticed that it is helpful for them to break apart large assignments across multiple days, writing down each portion of the assignment in a planner with a checkbox. I plan to encourage my students to do this, as I think this can be a helpful tactic for all students, but specifically, those struggling with adjusting to college.
3 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 10”
I have encountered a few of the experiences outlined in this chapter, one memorable one was when a student held a view that I saw as offensive. I was aware, going into our meeting, that my personal views or opinions were meant to be kept aside, and I had to focus on the writing itself, rather than the viewpoint. In a way, I employed non-directive tutoring where I asked them questions ensuring that their arguments were still related to the essay prompt. In the writing itself, I also suggested that they incorporate a naysayer, to give light to the “other side” of their argument, as a way to possibly consider how their views were related to the prompt.
For their second essay, I am working out a new strategy for some students that I am slightly struggling to work out. For some students, I recognize, or they ask to work on their thesis statement, so I have begun bringing a small whiteboard to my meetings. My goal with the whiteboard is to host a collaborative thesis workshop and demonstrate the process as we work together. I am still trying to sort out the “collaborative” part, since some students are more unsure of their work or ideas and I can feel like I am doing all the work for them. I plan on trying to ask them more questions while also getting comfortable with the silence as they sort out an answer. I also want to give them the chance to write on the whiteboard instead of just me. This relates to my education classes where we work on I do, we do, you do. I want to make the whiteboard the we do, since professor Brod already does the I do in class. The presence of the whiteboard is still a work in progress for me, but I hope to sort out these kinks in future sessions.
There is a lot more that I can say about my meetings related to this chapter in particular, but at that point it would be every meeting. I still use a line of questioning to probe information or clarification from students I work with, and that has been successful and a constant for me. I have encountered a few students with learning disabilities, but I have specific strategies from my education classes that can help with certain disabilities, and I have seen how I have helped these students in particular, which is a great feeling.
Journal #10
During my sessions so far I have encountered a number of successful strategies, and challenges, that I have been trying to keep in mind during my sessions. One challenge that stood out to me from my personal experience that was included in this chapter of our reading was, “the writer’s paper is full of errors”. While working with my tutees on their first essay I focussed more on global revision rather than editing errors and style. I saw many problems, but for the most part I focused on ideas rather than technical issues. After the students submitted their first essay and I was able to talk to Professor Frank about what I should prioritize for their second essay, I realized that I should have placed editing higher on my list of concerns. For their second essay I have been trying to catch really obvious errors as well as the major questions I have regarding the thought behind their essays. I have been extending my sessions by roughly five minutes so that we can go over obvious technical issues like run-ons, fragments, and unclear language. I talked with Professor Frank about specifics I should look for and she gave me a few ideas on where I should focus with different students. She also provided three holistic comments when grading the student’s essays, which I have been asking the students about to see if there was anything they could take with them into their second essay. Rather than going into detail on every issue I see, my approach so far has been to identify a main type of issue, fragment sentences for example, explain how to identify them, and then tell the student to reread just for that issue before submitting. Because I am not working primarily from the writing center, I have also adapted my tone to be a bit less formal and more friendly as the students and I have gotten to know each other. I feel that this strategy has been one of my most successful strategies I have used as it has led to some of my best breakthroughs with students.
Since I have not gotten to have any tutoring sessions yet, I most closely related this chapter to my younger sibling, who struggles with a learning disability similar to those discussed in this chapter. They are making the transition into college currently, so watching the strategies that work for them as they move from high school work to the rigor of college work will be helpful in tutoring sessions. I have noticed that it is helpful for them to break apart large assignments across multiple days, writing down each portion of the assignment in a planner with a checkbox. I plan to encourage my students to do this, as I think this can be a helpful tactic for all students, but specifically, those struggling with adjusting to college.