Reading through Gillespie and Lerner’s strategies on being a writing tutor definitely gave me some insight into how to better support students. A method that I have found to be helpful when I approach writing prompts is to focus on one section at a time when I find the overall prompt too overwhelming. For example, if a writing prompt had an overarching main topic, and below it had certain areas or subtopics that you have to touch on as the author, I would work on one subtopic at a time. I find this method especially useful when I am writing research papers instead of trying to balance all of them simultaneously. In other courses I have tutored, I take a similar approach when I help students who have a lot of different areas of content that they want to focus on. This can work into either the Planning or the Drafting stage of the Writing Process model that the authors described in Chapter 2.
The strategies listed in the chapters can help almost any part of the writing process. Specifically, the second chapter gives a step-by-step guide from initial planning to editing and proofreading, while Chapter 3 covers how you, as a writing tutor, can approach a session. The authors mention near the end of Chapter 2 that writers have to learn to be flexible and adjust the way they work while also being in control of the writing process, whether or not you use a strategy they outline or you create your own.
For specific challenges, the advice given can help students who have not started their writing process get started. Some methods the authors mentioned were clustering and freewriting. Clustering, created by Gabriel Rico, is when you start out with a single word that relates to your topic and can invoke word associations. Once you get the word down, start adding more words around the beginning word until you end up with the “cluster.” This can help students start to think about their topic without the stress of trying to initially put their thoughts into sentences. On the other hand, Freewriting, conceptualized by Peter Elbow, entails you quickly and constantly write about the topic for a set amount of time in order to put your thoughts on paper without focusing on tweaking or editing.
Some of the key ideas I took away from the chapters were how to properly ask students about their writing and that I do not need to be an expert on a topic to assist a student with their writing. Being informed on how certain questions can influence a student’s response or confidence was very eye-opening to me from a tutor’s perspective. I currently tutor students here on campus. However, I rarely worked with tutees who needed assistance with writing. These chapters have given me some tools and strategies I can use to support students through the writing process, both as a Writing Fellow and as an on-campus tutor.
One strategy I could add to the strategies in the book is during the revising process of writing, you could look at your work from the eyes of a critic/somebody who opposes everything you are writing for/about. This can help determine weak points in your writing and places where it might be good to address a counterargument. Another strategy I have used is, during the pre-writing stage, I look at past writing that I have done, and the feedback it received. This helps me with being aware of what areas I need to dedicate more time to, but also shows me that even if I am struggling in the moment/are facing crippling writers black that I am capable of quality writing
These strategies have been helpful in getting students to think about their writing in a meta way. On page 20, it says a good question to ask in a tutoring session is “how did you go about writing this?” I like this question because it forces the student to think about their writing process in a retroactive way. I think another scenario these strategies would be helpful is if I have a student come to me who is very against seeking outside help. I want to get them talking as much as I can about their work so I can better help them improve it. I can do so by asking leading questions about what their argument is, and even make them read parts of their work out loud to me. This will almost force the student to demonstrate their understanding of the assignment so I can help them, despite them being resistant to tell me these things of their own volition.
These strategies help me address the challenge of addressing how to help students form different levels of experience writing essays. I was very fortunate to have a good background in writing before coming to college, as well as it being something that I enjoy and that comes naturally to me. I do, however, acknowledge that some people don’t have that same luxury, and being able to take a step back from my own bubble and help with concepts that might seem intuitive to me is something that this reading has opened my eyes to and given me more tools to overcome that roadblock.
Something that sticks with me about these chapters is the idea of accepting that just because something works for you doesn’t mean it will work for everyone. Instead of simply offering the skills that I know and am good at, I need to be willing and able to meet students where they’re at and find what works for them. For some, that will be trying a bunch of methods and seeing what sticks, and for others it might just mean refining the skills they already have and bringing them up to a more advanced level
One strategy I could add to the strategies in the book is during the revising process of writing, you could look at your work from the eyes of a critic/somebody who opposes everything you are writing for/about. This can help determine weak points in your writing and places where it might be good to address a counterargument. Another strategy I have used is, during the pre-writing stage, I look at past writing that I have done, and the feedback it received. This helps me with being aware of what areas I need to dedicate more time to, but also shows me that even if I am struggling in the moment/are facing crippling writers black that I am capable of quality writing
These strategies have been helpful in getting students to think about their writing in a meta way. On page 20, it says a good question to ask in a tutoring session is “how did you go about writing this?” I like this question because it forces the student to think about their writing process in a retroactive way. I think another scenario these strategies would be helpful is if I have a student come to me who is very against seeking outside help. I want to get them talking as much as I can about their work so I can better help them improve it. I can do so by asking leading questions about what their argument is, and even make them read parts of their work out loud to me. This will almost force the student to demonstrate their understanding of the assignment so I can help them, despite them being resistant to tell me these things of their own volition.
These strategies help me address the challenge of addressing how to help students form different levels of experience writing essays. I was very fortunate to have a good background in writing before coming to college, as well as it being something that I enjoy and that comes naturally to me. I do, however, acknowledge that some people don’t have that same luxury, and being able to take a step back from my own bubble and help with concepts that might seem intuitive to me is something that this reading has opened my eyes to and given me more tools to overcome that roadblock.
Something that sticks with me about these chapters is the idea of accepting that just because something works for you doesn’t mean it will work for everyone. Instead of simply offering the skills that I know and am good at, I need to be willing and able to meet students where they’re at and find what works for them. For some, that will be trying a bunch of methods and seeing what sticks, and for others it might just mean refining the skills they already have and bringing them up to a more advanced level
I found the strategies listed by Gillespie and Lerner to be very interesting. It encouraged me to think about tutoring in a new light. I have little experience as a tutor so this way of thinking is new to me. In high school, I played the alto saxophone and tutored younger students on the basics. Tutoring in music and tutoring in writing is very different from each other. However, I did practice one of the things that Gillespie and Lerner briefly covered. It was important to me that the person I was helping felt comfortable. It can be scary to be vulnerable with a peer and expose your flaws to them. Some people find it difficult to accept help from someone because they have to let down their guard. I really tried to make it easier for them by treating them with respect and compassion. I also tried to make each session lighthearted so it didn’t feel so serious. I hope to incorporate this strategy into my tutoring sessions to ensure it is a comfortable experience for them. Beside that one experience of formal tutoring, I have helped friends with writing in the past. Similarly to Gillespie and Lerner, I find reading the paper out loud to be very helpful. As a student myself, it can be hard to separate yourself from the text. Sometimes you need to hear it as others would to find the potential improvements. It can be very helpful in situations where you feel stuck and are unable to identify issues. Another strategy mentioned in the chapters that I use is starting with the major issues. It can sometimes be overwhelming when there are a lot of improvements to make. It is easy to feel stuck and unsure about where to begin. Gillespie and Lerner recommend starting with the“higher-order concerns”. I have always called it the “priorities” of the paper. Personally, I find it better to get the more complex changes done first. It can be easy to jump right into editing grammar because it is a clear cut solution. The act of ordering the “concerns” could be helpful and give students an idea of where to start. This strategy would be particularly helpful in situations where students feel overwhelmed by their paper and don’t know what to do first. Creating an order might take some of the uncertainty away. Both chapters provided me with very helpful tips that I will use in tutoring sessions. The first big takeaway is asking questions. The chapters put a big emphasis on asking questions and letting students take direction. It seems like incorporating questions helps students improve their writing skills and would help me get a better understanding of what they need from me. The other big takeaway is the error analysis. My first instinct when reviewing a paper is to make the necessary edits that I see. However, the book recommends guiding the student to see their error so they can learn from it. I feel like that is a very useful tip to encourage growth of writing skills. Overall, these chapters provided me with helpful insights to keep in mind when doing a tutoring session.
4 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 1”
Reading through Gillespie and Lerner’s strategies on being a writing tutor definitely gave me some insight into how to better support students. A method that I have found to be helpful when I approach writing prompts is to focus on one section at a time when I find the overall prompt too overwhelming. For example, if a writing prompt had an overarching main topic, and below it had certain areas or subtopics that you have to touch on as the author, I would work on one subtopic at a time. I find this method especially useful when I am writing research papers instead of trying to balance all of them simultaneously. In other courses I have tutored, I take a similar approach when I help students who have a lot of different areas of content that they want to focus on. This can work into either the Planning or the Drafting stage of the Writing Process model that the authors described in Chapter 2.
The strategies listed in the chapters can help almost any part of the writing process. Specifically, the second chapter gives a step-by-step guide from initial planning to editing and proofreading, while Chapter 3 covers how you, as a writing tutor, can approach a session. The authors mention near the end of Chapter 2 that writers have to learn to be flexible and adjust the way they work while also being in control of the writing process, whether or not you use a strategy they outline or you create your own.
For specific challenges, the advice given can help students who have not started their writing process get started. Some methods the authors mentioned were clustering and freewriting. Clustering, created by Gabriel Rico, is when you start out with a single word that relates to your topic and can invoke word associations. Once you get the word down, start adding more words around the beginning word until you end up with the “cluster.” This can help students start to think about their topic without the stress of trying to initially put their thoughts into sentences. On the other hand, Freewriting, conceptualized by Peter Elbow, entails you quickly and constantly write about the topic for a set amount of time in order to put your thoughts on paper without focusing on tweaking or editing.
Some of the key ideas I took away from the chapters were how to properly ask students about their writing and that I do not need to be an expert on a topic to assist a student with their writing. Being informed on how certain questions can influence a student’s response or confidence was very eye-opening to me from a tutor’s perspective. I currently tutor students here on campus. However, I rarely worked with tutees who needed assistance with writing. These chapters have given me some tools and strategies I can use to support students through the writing process, both as a Writing Fellow and as an on-campus tutor.
#1
One strategy I could add to the strategies in the book is during the revising process of writing, you could look at your work from the eyes of a critic/somebody who opposes everything you are writing for/about. This can help determine weak points in your writing and places where it might be good to address a counterargument. Another strategy I have used is, during the pre-writing stage, I look at past writing that I have done, and the feedback it received. This helps me with being aware of what areas I need to dedicate more time to, but also shows me that even if I am struggling in the moment/are facing crippling writers black that I am capable of quality writing
These strategies have been helpful in getting students to think about their writing in a meta way. On page 20, it says a good question to ask in a tutoring session is “how did you go about writing this?” I like this question because it forces the student to think about their writing process in a retroactive way. I think another scenario these strategies would be helpful is if I have a student come to me who is very against seeking outside help. I want to get them talking as much as I can about their work so I can better help them improve it. I can do so by asking leading questions about what their argument is, and even make them read parts of their work out loud to me. This will almost force the student to demonstrate their understanding of the assignment so I can help them, despite them being resistant to tell me these things of their own volition.
These strategies help me address the challenge of addressing how to help students form different levels of experience writing essays. I was very fortunate to have a good background in writing before coming to college, as well as it being something that I enjoy and that comes naturally to me. I do, however, acknowledge that some people don’t have that same luxury, and being able to take a step back from my own bubble and help with concepts that might seem intuitive to me is something that this reading has opened my eyes to and given me more tools to overcome that roadblock.
Something that sticks with me about these chapters is the idea of accepting that just because something works for you doesn’t mean it will work for everyone. Instead of simply offering the skills that I know and am good at, I need to be willing and able to meet students where they’re at and find what works for them. For some, that will be trying a bunch of methods and seeing what sticks, and for others it might just mean refining the skills they already have and bringing them up to a more advanced level
#1
One strategy I could add to the strategies in the book is during the revising process of writing, you could look at your work from the eyes of a critic/somebody who opposes everything you are writing for/about. This can help determine weak points in your writing and places where it might be good to address a counterargument. Another strategy I have used is, during the pre-writing stage, I look at past writing that I have done, and the feedback it received. This helps me with being aware of what areas I need to dedicate more time to, but also shows me that even if I am struggling in the moment/are facing crippling writers black that I am capable of quality writing
These strategies have been helpful in getting students to think about their writing in a meta way. On page 20, it says a good question to ask in a tutoring session is “how did you go about writing this?” I like this question because it forces the student to think about their writing process in a retroactive way. I think another scenario these strategies would be helpful is if I have a student come to me who is very against seeking outside help. I want to get them talking as much as I can about their work so I can better help them improve it. I can do so by asking leading questions about what their argument is, and even make them read parts of their work out loud to me. This will almost force the student to demonstrate their understanding of the assignment so I can help them, despite them being resistant to tell me these things of their own volition.
These strategies help me address the challenge of addressing how to help students form different levels of experience writing essays. I was very fortunate to have a good background in writing before coming to college, as well as it being something that I enjoy and that comes naturally to me. I do, however, acknowledge that some people don’t have that same luxury, and being able to take a step back from my own bubble and help with concepts that might seem intuitive to me is something that this reading has opened my eyes to and given me more tools to overcome that roadblock.
Something that sticks with me about these chapters is the idea of accepting that just because something works for you doesn’t mean it will work for everyone. Instead of simply offering the skills that I know and am good at, I need to be willing and able to meet students where they’re at and find what works for them. For some, that will be trying a bunch of methods and seeing what sticks, and for others it might just mean refining the skills they already have and bringing them up to a more advanced level
I found the strategies listed by Gillespie and Lerner to be very interesting. It encouraged me to think about tutoring in a new light. I have little experience as a tutor so this way of thinking is new to me. In high school, I played the alto saxophone and tutored younger students on the basics. Tutoring in music and tutoring in writing is very different from each other. However, I did practice one of the things that Gillespie and Lerner briefly covered. It was important to me that the person I was helping felt comfortable. It can be scary to be vulnerable with a peer and expose your flaws to them. Some people find it difficult to accept help from someone because they have to let down their guard. I really tried to make it easier for them by treating them with respect and compassion. I also tried to make each session lighthearted so it didn’t feel so serious. I hope to incorporate this strategy into my tutoring sessions to ensure it is a comfortable experience for them. Beside that one experience of formal tutoring, I have helped friends with writing in the past. Similarly to Gillespie and Lerner, I find reading the paper out loud to be very helpful. As a student myself, it can be hard to separate yourself from the text. Sometimes you need to hear it as others would to find the potential improvements. It can be very helpful in situations where you feel stuck and are unable to identify issues. Another strategy mentioned in the chapters that I use is starting with the major issues. It can sometimes be overwhelming when there are a lot of improvements to make. It is easy to feel stuck and unsure about where to begin. Gillespie and Lerner recommend starting with the“higher-order concerns”. I have always called it the “priorities” of the paper. Personally, I find it better to get the more complex changes done first. It can be easy to jump right into editing grammar because it is a clear cut solution. The act of ordering the “concerns” could be helpful and give students an idea of where to start. This strategy would be particularly helpful in situations where students feel overwhelmed by their paper and don’t know what to do first. Creating an order might take some of the uncertainty away. Both chapters provided me with very helpful tips that I will use in tutoring sessions. The first big takeaway is asking questions. The chapters put a big emphasis on asking questions and letting students take direction. It seems like incorporating questions helps students improve their writing skills and would help me get a better understanding of what they need from me. The other big takeaway is the error analysis. My first instinct when reviewing a paper is to make the necessary edits that I see. However, the book recommends guiding the student to see their error so they can learn from it. I feel like that is a very useful tip to encourage growth of writing skills. Overall, these chapters provided me with helpful insights to keep in mind when doing a tutoring session.