The mock tutoring session was very helpful to see. I appreciated seeing a real life example of all of the strategies presented in the textbook. As an observer, I got to really see what a tutoring session would look like. I noticed that Faith started the tutoring session by establishing rapport. She introduced herself and engaged in some small talk. Throughout the whole session Faith was very approachable and friendly. Even when constructive criticism was provided, it was done in a way that it didn’t feel intense or mean. There was plenty of positive feedback spread throughout. I also really enjoyed seeing how Faith navigated Coco’s “grumpiness”. She didn’t take the comments personally and push her methods. Instead, she explained her reasoning and how it could be helpful. She did a great job finding the happy medium between her suggestions and tried to take Coco’s opinion into account. Another thing I noticed was that Faith did a good job wrapping up the session. She did a good job transitioning into the end, while also signaling that a follow up session could be beneficial. It was very helpful to watch my peers practice these skills. I can see myself using phrases used such as “it looks like we are almost out of time”. It provided me with some good ideas that I will implement in my future sessions.
Being the tutor in the mock tutoring session was very helpful. My biggest anxiety about being a writing fellow was not knowing how I was going to be able to navigate a tutoring session, and this experience gave me a trial run to help develop my process in tutoring sessions. I was a little nervous at first to start giving feedback, but once I got Coco to explain the prompt and what she was trying to get out of the session, I was able to find a flow and work with her to give her some tools to improve her writing. When Coco was pushing back on my ideas, I was able to bounce back and either offer alternatives or get to the root of why she was pushing back, which helped us reach a compromise on strategies to take into revision. I wanted to make sure the tutee’s concerns felt heard and that I wasn’t trying to completely change her writing style/process, but to just develop upon it. I did, however lose track of time and had to be reminded that I need to be aware of when to find a good stopping point, in order to have enough time to properly wrap up the tutoring session. I could also, in the future, use some more strategies to engage the student with their writing more, such as making them read me a section that they feel needs the most help. Overall, I feel much more prepared for a tutoring session with my students, and I am excited to take the strategies that I learned into my work as a writing fellow
For the mock tutoring session, I was one of the observers. It was helpful to observe a “writing tutoring session” in progress. I appreciated that Faith asked about Coco’s concerns when it came to her assignment, and continued that thread throughout the session. I think it’s very important that we make sure, as writing fellows, our tutees take the lead on what they want to improve with their writing. Faith also constantly gave positive feedback to the student while also including areas they needed to improve upon. I think this also helps build confidence in the tutee and their writing. Finally, Faith gave the tutee an overall list of what they talked about in the session, and suggested maybe following up in another session. I think that this was a really good idea since it allows the tutee to work on improving their writing, and then they can check in with the writing fellow to see if they are making progress on the goals that they discussed in the last session.
3 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 4”
The mock tutoring session was very helpful to see. I appreciated seeing a real life example of all of the strategies presented in the textbook. As an observer, I got to really see what a tutoring session would look like. I noticed that Faith started the tutoring session by establishing rapport. She introduced herself and engaged in some small talk. Throughout the whole session Faith was very approachable and friendly. Even when constructive criticism was provided, it was done in a way that it didn’t feel intense or mean. There was plenty of positive feedback spread throughout. I also really enjoyed seeing how Faith navigated Coco’s “grumpiness”. She didn’t take the comments personally and push her methods. Instead, she explained her reasoning and how it could be helpful. She did a great job finding the happy medium between her suggestions and tried to take Coco’s opinion into account. Another thing I noticed was that Faith did a good job wrapping up the session. She did a good job transitioning into the end, while also signaling that a follow up session could be beneficial. It was very helpful to watch my peers practice these skills. I can see myself using phrases used such as “it looks like we are almost out of time”. It provided me with some good ideas that I will implement in my future sessions.
Being the tutor in the mock tutoring session was very helpful. My biggest anxiety about being a writing fellow was not knowing how I was going to be able to navigate a tutoring session, and this experience gave me a trial run to help develop my process in tutoring sessions. I was a little nervous at first to start giving feedback, but once I got Coco to explain the prompt and what she was trying to get out of the session, I was able to find a flow and work with her to give her some tools to improve her writing. When Coco was pushing back on my ideas, I was able to bounce back and either offer alternatives or get to the root of why she was pushing back, which helped us reach a compromise on strategies to take into revision. I wanted to make sure the tutee’s concerns felt heard and that I wasn’t trying to completely change her writing style/process, but to just develop upon it. I did, however lose track of time and had to be reminded that I need to be aware of when to find a good stopping point, in order to have enough time to properly wrap up the tutoring session. I could also, in the future, use some more strategies to engage the student with their writing more, such as making them read me a section that they feel needs the most help. Overall, I feel much more prepared for a tutoring session with my students, and I am excited to take the strategies that I learned into my work as a writing fellow
For the mock tutoring session, I was one of the observers. It was helpful to observe a “writing tutoring session” in progress. I appreciated that Faith asked about Coco’s concerns when it came to her assignment, and continued that thread throughout the session. I think it’s very important that we make sure, as writing fellows, our tutees take the lead on what they want to improve with their writing. Faith also constantly gave positive feedback to the student while also including areas they needed to improve upon. I think this also helps build confidence in the tutee and their writing. Finally, Faith gave the tutee an overall list of what they talked about in the session, and suggested maybe following up in another session. I think that this was a really good idea since it allows the tutee to work on improving their writing, and then they can check in with the writing fellow to see if they are making progress on the goals that they discussed in the last session.