The chapter provided a lot of valuable information and real life examples. I enjoyed that the chapter taught me how to take proper notes. This was something that I happened to be thinking about in regards to my fears about tutoring. I have been nervous at the idea of writing effective notes while also listening attentively to the student. The chapter gives example pieces and examples of the notes that the tutor took. I liked the idea of separating the page into two columns. One column will have details about the paper while the other column has my personal notes. The top of the page should have the assignment written down to remind the tutor of the specific prompt. There should also be a list of questions to ask the student written at the bottom of the page. These notes can be beneficial for me as a tutor, and for the students. Separating the paper into two sections sounds like a good way to keep it organized. I can definitely see myself using this strategy during sessions. It was reassuring that the book mentioned that this is a skill that is going to take time to perfect. It makes me feel better that it is normal to be unsure at first but that things will get better with experience. Another valuable tip was mentioned at the end of the chapter. It is okay to embrace the silence. Sometimes students need a minute to think of their answer, and that’s okay. The book mentions how professors and tutors often jump in too soon to avoid the silence. It might be awkward at first, but silence is usually a sign of deep thought. The chapter also included a practice session which I appreciated. I have been learning a lot about tutoring but it was helpful to see what a session might actually look like. The chapter provides a mock paper, the notes from the tutor, dialogue, and sample questions. It was interesting to see the application of all the tips and tricks mentioned in the book. Overall, this chapter was probably the most helpful for me so far. I will definitely be using that note taking strategy. All of the example questions have given me some really good ideas of what I can ask students. I am excited to have my first session and get to try out everything I have learned!
Chapter 6 of our textbook focused on how writing tutors can take effective notes on a tutee’s work. The concept that stuck with me the most was splitting the notes into two separate sections: one for personal notes and the other for organizational and structural purposes. I think that having this distinction in my notes when I look over a tutee’s work to give them relevant feedback. It was also helpful that the authors included many different examples of the various ways students take notes. I found that it was helpful to see how tutors who had the same material noted down different things. The authors provide a sample session to show how a tutor would implement the techniques talked about previously. Even though I have already been tutoring at the university for around a year, our textbook has given me a new perspective on how to effectively look over a student’s paper and give feedback.
The last thing to note from this chapter was to “embrace the silence.” I like that this further highlights the distinction between the professor-student relationship and the tutor-student relationship. In my recent tutoring experience, I have been practicing giving students “the space to breathe” when it comes to their work. I’m curious how this will play out in my office hours.
Something that really stuck with me about this chapter is not getting caught on the first issue you see. This is something that I would do a lot in peer reviews in English comp, and now coming back to revision as a tutor, I can see how with our limited time frame it is not wise to get stuck on one issue when there could be more urgent issues later on in the writing. I also liked, in the first sample tutor notes, how instead of writing blunt criticisms, she mainly wrote questions to help guide the student to improvement. I feel that is a good tool that I plan to take into my tutoring sessions, as it is less harsh than back-to-back criticism. Furthermore on the notetaking in the session, I liked in the first tutor of the second sample text, how she marked the breaks in ideas with arrows as she heard them, then checked if they lined up with the actual paragraph breaks. I like this idea because it seems more objective than just saying “you should separate your ideas like this instead of this.” Instead, it allows the students to see how the audience will interpret their ideas, and it comes off more like objective critique than subjective preference. I also like the idea of letting the student take the lead and focus on their concerns (depending on how honest they’re being with the concerns they have), as personally, I want to take the approach of encouraging them to be thinking about their work in a meta, critical sense. Overall, something that stuck with me was to just ask a lot of questions. In the chapter, it seems to be a very successful way to help guide a student’s writing where it needs to go, and it takes pressure off of the tutor to have all the right answers on how to improve their writing.
3 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 3”
The chapter provided a lot of valuable information and real life examples. I enjoyed that the chapter taught me how to take proper notes. This was something that I happened to be thinking about in regards to my fears about tutoring. I have been nervous at the idea of writing effective notes while also listening attentively to the student. The chapter gives example pieces and examples of the notes that the tutor took. I liked the idea of separating the page into two columns. One column will have details about the paper while the other column has my personal notes. The top of the page should have the assignment written down to remind the tutor of the specific prompt. There should also be a list of questions to ask the student written at the bottom of the page. These notes can be beneficial for me as a tutor, and for the students. Separating the paper into two sections sounds like a good way to keep it organized. I can definitely see myself using this strategy during sessions. It was reassuring that the book mentioned that this is a skill that is going to take time to perfect. It makes me feel better that it is normal to be unsure at first but that things will get better with experience. Another valuable tip was mentioned at the end of the chapter. It is okay to embrace the silence. Sometimes students need a minute to think of their answer, and that’s okay. The book mentions how professors and tutors often jump in too soon to avoid the silence. It might be awkward at first, but silence is usually a sign of deep thought. The chapter also included a practice session which I appreciated. I have been learning a lot about tutoring but it was helpful to see what a session might actually look like. The chapter provides a mock paper, the notes from the tutor, dialogue, and sample questions. It was interesting to see the application of all the tips and tricks mentioned in the book. Overall, this chapter was probably the most helpful for me so far. I will definitely be using that note taking strategy. All of the example questions have given me some really good ideas of what I can ask students. I am excited to have my first session and get to try out everything I have learned!
Chapter 6 of our textbook focused on how writing tutors can take effective notes on a tutee’s work. The concept that stuck with me the most was splitting the notes into two separate sections: one for personal notes and the other for organizational and structural purposes. I think that having this distinction in my notes when I look over a tutee’s work to give them relevant feedback. It was also helpful that the authors included many different examples of the various ways students take notes. I found that it was helpful to see how tutors who had the same material noted down different things. The authors provide a sample session to show how a tutor would implement the techniques talked about previously. Even though I have already been tutoring at the university for around a year, our textbook has given me a new perspective on how to effectively look over a student’s paper and give feedback.
The last thing to note from this chapter was to “embrace the silence.” I like that this further highlights the distinction between the professor-student relationship and the tutor-student relationship. In my recent tutoring experience, I have been practicing giving students “the space to breathe” when it comes to their work. I’m curious how this will play out in my office hours.
Something that really stuck with me about this chapter is not getting caught on the first issue you see. This is something that I would do a lot in peer reviews in English comp, and now coming back to revision as a tutor, I can see how with our limited time frame it is not wise to get stuck on one issue when there could be more urgent issues later on in the writing. I also liked, in the first sample tutor notes, how instead of writing blunt criticisms, she mainly wrote questions to help guide the student to improvement. I feel that is a good tool that I plan to take into my tutoring sessions, as it is less harsh than back-to-back criticism. Furthermore on the notetaking in the session, I liked in the first tutor of the second sample text, how she marked the breaks in ideas with arrows as she heard them, then checked if they lined up with the actual paragraph breaks. I like this idea because it seems more objective than just saying “you should separate your ideas like this instead of this.” Instead, it allows the students to see how the audience will interpret their ideas, and it comes off more like objective critique than subjective preference. I also like the idea of letting the student take the lead and focus on their concerns (depending on how honest they’re being with the concerns they have), as personally, I want to take the approach of encouraging them to be thinking about their work in a meta, critical sense. Overall, something that stuck with me was to just ask a lot of questions. In the chapter, it seems to be a very successful way to help guide a student’s writing where it needs to go, and it takes pressure off of the tutor to have all the right answers on how to improve their writing.