Monday, December 1, 2014
Third Tutoring Experience
The third tutoring session our class did was held in an ENG 101 class where the assignment was to write a research essay arguing that a work of pop culture either discriminates against a particular group of people, or that it works to raise awareness about a specific type of discrimination. The class was already suppose to have their first drafts written up and thats what we were suppose to peer revise. I was very excited for this assignment because it seemed like a piece of writing that would be fun to create and a really easy way to express your thoughts and opinions on certain issues. When i got to the class however, I can not say all the students hared the same enthusiams fro this assignment. Again, during this session, I was placed with two students, a situation that already makes me uncomfortable, but these two students did not have a draft with them and were also the only two students in the classroom with laptops (and technology is, believe it or not, soemthing i am very unfamiliar and very umcomfortable with).
Monday, November 17, 2014
Second Tutoring Experience
During my second the task for the paper the students were working on was to chose an educational policy from a list provided and research it further. The topics were "No Child Left Behind", "Raise to the Top", "Charter School Movement" and "School Voucher Movement". This time around I was helping two students with their papers, so naturally I was very nervous. Both students did not have much work to start their papers, one students had an idea for her paper, the other student did not have anything at all, not even a topic. For both students the main focus was getting their ideas in order and creating a basic essay outline they can follow to continue work outside of the classroom. the first student had a kind of "Bubble mapping" chart where she listed possible subjects to discuss during her writing and we started from there. I started with this student because at the beginning of the tutoring session I only had her, later on was when i was also assigned tot he second student. The first student showed me her ideas and told me her topic was charter schools and that her further research would revolve around the idea that they are not as advanced or helpful as most would claim to be. Her mapping was on the right track but was still a little unorganized and vague. So we started a new mapping chart with her main focus circled in the center. Then, we extended lines from he center circle and choose some ideas from her previous bubble that would backup her main point best. After this we extended more lines and bubbles based on details to support the claims. Each idea (second step) would become the main focus of a paragraph, and each bubble extended form that would be the details. Around this time was when i was assigned a second student, so I asked my first student to find these examples and extra details from her class reading (because that was a requirement for their research papers) while i worked with the second student.
Monday, October 27, 2014
First Tutoring Experience
Last week I had my first tutoring session with a student in a CAT-W class here in LaGuardia Comminity College. Our task was to help the students in any way their paper needed in order to make it a stronger paper capable of receiving a passing grade during the CAT-W. The topic of the paper was Immigration and how it helped or hurt the American economy. Each of us were assigned to one or two students. After first introducing myself and reading over the students paper together out-loud, I noticed the student had a paper that was good in ideas and examples (I think because immigration was an issue familiar to him and his family, so it was easier to think of examples) but needed work in organization and "flow". For this reason, I believe this was more of a "Structure/Organizational Tutorial". I first started by trying to go through his body paragraphs, which he told me were his main concerns, and just work through the problems as we go. But after some time I realized that I needed to get the writer to connect what he was trying to say(the ideas in his head) with what he was writing. His examples were good but they were not exactly connecting to his main idea. After realizing this I took out a pen and some paper and made something similar to a skeleton outline. I started by asking him "What is the main point of this paragraph" and he would tell me and I would bullite point it on the paper. Then I would ask "What are else are you stating (examples) in this paragraph that helps this main idea", and I would write what he said under his main idea and lastly I would ask "How does this relate back to what you said in the introduction". We did this for his two body paragraphs, taking out anything that seemed like "fluff" (Sentences with no real meaning/connection/ or just repetition) and moving around other sentences to have the body connect better with the introduction and with what the student was originally trying to say. I did not want to focus on Lower Order Concerns but knew there were some things that had to be addressed, so after finishing the skeletal outline and going over the ideas presented in both the introduction and conclusion paragraph, we went back and read it aloud together. I did not stop at any words that needed to be connected but told him were he needed the most work (tenses and some misspellings/word choice his teacher all ready pointed out)
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Fourth Tutoring Observation
On my fourth observation was with two students and an extremely nice tutor. At first I honestly thought she would not be a good tutor but it turned out she was very great and although she did some of the things I mentioned and had seen in other observations and done by other tutors, which are usually "Donts", the way she did it makes these "Dont's" actually acceptable (to me at least). Firstly, the tutor did not introduce herself to her students. She was very friendly but there was no formal introduction. She later explained to me that she knew one of the students (he was back for a follow-up meeting with her) but not the other student. Both students had the same assignment, which was to use two photos and write a before and after story based on those photos. The students were even in the same class together.
She started with the student she had not known previously and started by reading to herself. My first thought was "Why does every tutor do the same thing?!"then she did something I had not seen any tutor do before, she would not wait to finish reading the whole paper to then comment on it. Instead she would stop while reading whenever she found anything she needed to comment on which I thought was way better than waiting until after reading the whole paper then commenting because it avoids the awkward silence and wandering thoughts from the students while the tutor is reading their paper. The first student's paper had already had her paper checked and graded by her professor and did not need any HOC (Higher Order Corrections). After working on the comments and marks don't by the professor (minor things), this session became an example of an essay that the tutor thought to be good and could not see where the student needed much help, so the tutor asked the student where she wanted help and what parts of the paper concerned her most. The student's major concern was her conclusion. The tutor told the student that although generalizing the topics in your conclusions in essays are usually the way to go, in personal essays the generalizations are usually not as strong as something more personal would have been. Since there wasn't much to work on, the first session with the first student was very quick and straight to the point. The tutor told her she could come in again if once she made the changed and if she felt she still needed more help.
The second student had been there the week before with the same tutor and also did not need help with HOC, since that was what they were concentrating on the week before, but mostly LOCs (grammar, spelling, punctuation's, etc...). The tutor used spanish and phrases of affection commonly used in spanish to better communicate with the student. I thought this was also very effective because people tend to feel more comfortable and are able to express themselves more in their own language. She also explained reasoning behind why certain grammatical changes had to be made using correct terminology and then also explaining the terms (subordinating, conjunction, dependent clause, "no comma after although, etc...).
All in all, i believe the tutor was a great tutor who really cared about her job and her students and takes the extra mile to make them feel comfortable. She also showed me new skills I could use in future tutoring sessions, instead of reading independently or if there is no time to read out loud with the student, I could read it and stop while reading lied this tutor did. I really enjoyed observing this session and think it was a great way to end my observations.
She started with the student she had not known previously and started by reading to herself. My first thought was "Why does every tutor do the same thing?!"then she did something I had not seen any tutor do before, she would not wait to finish reading the whole paper to then comment on it. Instead she would stop while reading whenever she found anything she needed to comment on which I thought was way better than waiting until after reading the whole paper then commenting because it avoids the awkward silence and wandering thoughts from the students while the tutor is reading their paper. The first student's paper had already had her paper checked and graded by her professor and did not need any HOC (Higher Order Corrections). After working on the comments and marks don't by the professor (minor things), this session became an example of an essay that the tutor thought to be good and could not see where the student needed much help, so the tutor asked the student where she wanted help and what parts of the paper concerned her most. The student's major concern was her conclusion. The tutor told the student that although generalizing the topics in your conclusions in essays are usually the way to go, in personal essays the generalizations are usually not as strong as something more personal would have been. Since there wasn't much to work on, the first session with the first student was very quick and straight to the point. The tutor told her she could come in again if once she made the changed and if she felt she still needed more help.
The second student had been there the week before with the same tutor and also did not need help with HOC, since that was what they were concentrating on the week before, but mostly LOCs (grammar, spelling, punctuation's, etc...). The tutor used spanish and phrases of affection commonly used in spanish to better communicate with the student. I thought this was also very effective because people tend to feel more comfortable and are able to express themselves more in their own language. She also explained reasoning behind why certain grammatical changes had to be made using correct terminology and then also explaining the terms (subordinating, conjunction, dependent clause, "no comma after although, etc...).
All in all, i believe the tutor was a great tutor who really cared about her job and her students and takes the extra mile to make them feel comfortable. She also showed me new skills I could use in future tutoring sessions, instead of reading independently or if there is no time to read out loud with the student, I could read it and stop while reading lied this tutor did. I really enjoyed observing this session and think it was a great way to end my observations.
Monday, October 6, 2014
Keys to a Successful Tutoring Session
I have seen about three tutoring sessions so far (going on tot 4 soon) and after rereading my own observations and observations from my classmates and students from last semester, I've seen many common occurences in the sessions as far as "Do's" and "Dont's" for both the tutor and the student going in for tutoring.
Do: Introduce yourself. As a tutor, you should always start with an introduction because it makes the student feel welcomed and its just plain ol' common courtesy.
Don't: Forget to bring in your prompt. It is extremely helpful for the student who's going in for tutoring to bring in the essay prompt or the assignment instructions and directions given to them by the teacher. It helps the tutor understand what the essay should look like and also helps to avoid misunderstanding between tutor and students. (Also I've noticed tutors get really mad when students forget this so try not to do it for your own benefit)
Do: Have good body posture. People really notice another persons body posture. As a tutor, it is just rude to look uninterested because people are coming to you for help. As a student, it is also rude to look uninterested when someone is doing you a favor.
Dont: Focus on LOC. LOC stands for Lower Order Concerns (grammar, spelling, punctuations,etc...) which are not important to worry about as a tutor in a session. Instead focus on HOC (Higher Order Concerns) which are the thesis, essay structure, essay "flow", and other bigger parts of the essay. (Unless otherwise stated by the student)
Do: have questions. As Cindi (another student in my Writing Seminar class) said, even if there isn't much work given to start off on, If a tutor asks the right questions, productive conversation can be made to work on improving the lack of work given.
Dont: Take over session. Let the students own thoughts and comments guide the direction of the paper, as Melissa observed in one of her tutoring session observations (Another student in my Writing Seminar class) it is very unproductive to the session when a tutor does this.
Do: Introduce yourself. As a tutor, you should always start with an introduction because it makes the student feel welcomed and its just plain ol' common courtesy.
Don't: Forget to bring in your prompt. It is extremely helpful for the student who's going in for tutoring to bring in the essay prompt or the assignment instructions and directions given to them by the teacher. It helps the tutor understand what the essay should look like and also helps to avoid misunderstanding between tutor and students. (Also I've noticed tutors get really mad when students forget this so try not to do it for your own benefit)
Do: Have good body posture. People really notice another persons body posture. As a tutor, it is just rude to look uninterested because people are coming to you for help. As a student, it is also rude to look uninterested when someone is doing you a favor.
Dont: Focus on LOC. LOC stands for Lower Order Concerns (grammar, spelling, punctuations,etc...) which are not important to worry about as a tutor in a session. Instead focus on HOC (Higher Order Concerns) which are the thesis, essay structure, essay "flow", and other bigger parts of the essay. (Unless otherwise stated by the student)
Do: have questions. As Cindi (another student in my Writing Seminar class) said, even if there isn't much work given to start off on, If a tutor asks the right questions, productive conversation can be made to work on improving the lack of work given.
Dont: Take over session. Let the students own thoughts and comments guide the direction of the paper, as Melissa observed in one of her tutoring session observations (Another student in my Writing Seminar class) it is very unproductive to the session when a tutor does this.
Friday, October 3, 2014
Third Tutoring Session Observation
This tutoring session started good but then turned a little bit awkward. I think it was the first session I've seen with a some what "difficult" student. Firstly, the student did not have the assignment with him, so the student told the tutor about the assignment which (according to what the student said and what the paper lead to believe) was to write an argumentative essay. After this conversation, the tutor read the paper to herself (this is something I have seen every tutor I've observed before do, but one, and I know in my Writing Seminar class we have been told not to do this so I wonder why so many tutors prefer this over reading out loud). The tutor did take a long time reading the paper and there was a long awkward silence where there was really nothing for me or the student to do but wait to for the tutor to be done and I imagine for the student it might be a very nerve-racking situation.
After reading the paper the tutor started by leading with praise, telling the student the best parts of his essay before diving into the critiquing part. Starting with the intro, the tutor took parts of the other paragraphs to add to the intro in order to straighten the paper. Next, the tutor helped the student develop the rest of the paper by asking him questions about the topic. This student in particular was very talkative and the tutor would let him talk as much as he needed and not talk over him, this helped them both develop new ideas and especially come to the "why" for the paper. I noticed that, not only did the tutor start with praise, but also made a compliment every time before making a critiquing comment. After having longer discussions on certain topics of the essay, the tutor would ask the student what they thought over all, basically saying he had the final say in his paper.
Something she was telling the student was that in an argumentative essay the writer could not remain neutral. He had to pick a side and stick with it through out the whole essay. The student disagreed with the tutor and continued to say it was best to have both opinions on the essay. The tutor would reply with "For essay sake", basically saying that in a real life argument you would want to think of both sides but that most ardent essays only needed one side. Then the student said his professor wants him to use both opinions in his paper. There was an obvious confusion that could have been avoided if the student would have had the essay prompt with him, but although the tutor said it is not "classically correct", she was still polite and told him that if the professor wanted both arguments he needed to add more to the second opinion paragraph. Together they brainstormed what other information could go there.
After this conversation of what to add in second opinion paragraph was over, both the tutor and the student stopped talking and the session had turned again into just awkward silence. I believe the tutor thought she was done and that there was nothing else he needed help with. Then, the student asked about his conclusion paragraph. While the tutor reread the conclusion (again to herself) she noticed he could use a sentence to "close" the essay or to "seal the job". The student seemed to be very stressed about the conclusion and could not understand how to "close" the essay. He kept trying to put in examples and add extra facts instead of summarizing the other paragraphs and bringing them all together. The student would start to ramble and was at times hard to understand because of an accent but the tutor always grabbed something that he said and connected it back to the essay sort of to keep him on track center his rambling. In the end the tutor was trying to get the student to come to his own conclusions, and when he was close to coming to a conclusion he would always add on an extra example that could better be suited for a body paragraph but not the conclusion. The tutor was running out of time for the session and the student was obviously stressed too so the tutor had to give him her own words but with statements like "I feel what you're trying to say is.."So she used parts of his essay to come up with her own closing for his essay.
Finally, the tutor summarized the session and reminded the student about where he needed to edit certain things (straighten intro, add to certain parts, etc...) and also again gave him praise for the good parts of his essay. The student copied the tutors name and said he would return if he needed help with anything. Overall, I think this essay may have had its ups and downs but it was still very successful. The tutor focussed only on Higher Order Concerns and tried hard to have the student make all the final decisions. Keeping the students voice in mind through out the whole essay is key during sessions and I believe the tutor was successful in doing that, maybe not completely when it came to the conclusion, but I believe I can learn a lot from this lesson.
After reading the paper the tutor started by leading with praise, telling the student the best parts of his essay before diving into the critiquing part. Starting with the intro, the tutor took parts of the other paragraphs to add to the intro in order to straighten the paper. Next, the tutor helped the student develop the rest of the paper by asking him questions about the topic. This student in particular was very talkative and the tutor would let him talk as much as he needed and not talk over him, this helped them both develop new ideas and especially come to the "why" for the paper. I noticed that, not only did the tutor start with praise, but also made a compliment every time before making a critiquing comment. After having longer discussions on certain topics of the essay, the tutor would ask the student what they thought over all, basically saying he had the final say in his paper.
Something she was telling the student was that in an argumentative essay the writer could not remain neutral. He had to pick a side and stick with it through out the whole essay. The student disagreed with the tutor and continued to say it was best to have both opinions on the essay. The tutor would reply with "For essay sake", basically saying that in a real life argument you would want to think of both sides but that most ardent essays only needed one side. Then the student said his professor wants him to use both opinions in his paper. There was an obvious confusion that could have been avoided if the student would have had the essay prompt with him, but although the tutor said it is not "classically correct", she was still polite and told him that if the professor wanted both arguments he needed to add more to the second opinion paragraph. Together they brainstormed what other information could go there.
After this conversation of what to add in second opinion paragraph was over, both the tutor and the student stopped talking and the session had turned again into just awkward silence. I believe the tutor thought she was done and that there was nothing else he needed help with. Then, the student asked about his conclusion paragraph. While the tutor reread the conclusion (again to herself) she noticed he could use a sentence to "close" the essay or to "seal the job". The student seemed to be very stressed about the conclusion and could not understand how to "close" the essay. He kept trying to put in examples and add extra facts instead of summarizing the other paragraphs and bringing them all together. The student would start to ramble and was at times hard to understand because of an accent but the tutor always grabbed something that he said and connected it back to the essay sort of to keep him on track center his rambling. In the end the tutor was trying to get the student to come to his own conclusions, and when he was close to coming to a conclusion he would always add on an extra example that could better be suited for a body paragraph but not the conclusion. The tutor was running out of time for the session and the student was obviously stressed too so the tutor had to give him her own words but with statements like "I feel what you're trying to say is.."So she used parts of his essay to come up with her own closing for his essay.
Finally, the tutor summarized the session and reminded the student about where he needed to edit certain things (straighten intro, add to certain parts, etc...) and also again gave him praise for the good parts of his essay. The student copied the tutors name and said he would return if he needed help with anything. Overall, I think this essay may have had its ups and downs but it was still very successful. The tutor focussed only on Higher Order Concerns and tried hard to have the student make all the final decisions. Keeping the students voice in mind through out the whole essay is key during sessions and I believe the tutor was successful in doing that, maybe not completely when it came to the conclusion, but I believe I can learn a lot from this lesson.
Second Tutoring Observation
Second Tutoring Session Observation
The Second Tutoring session was one I really enjoyed observing because the tutor really seemed to know what she was doing and was a session I could really benefit from. The tutor I was observing had to help two students at the same time. I could not imagine doing something like that would be easy but the tutor made it seem like it was nothing out of the ordinary. The first thing I noticed was the tutors posture, she was in the middle of both students and never slouched or gave her full back to one student while talking to the other. She introduced herself to both students and then proceded to ask one student at a time questions about their paper. She asked what the essay was about, what are the problems they are most concerned with, and if the professor had already seen it or not. Both students needed to write a response essay to an article so the tutor first read the article then the essay. The only sign of something "negative" was that the tutor read silent to herself. She might have been doing it for time sake, because maybe having the student read out-loud would be too time consuming on a session for two people, but she didn't take too long reading it either way so the silence wasn't too long.
For the first student, The tutors first concern with the essay was the structure, specifically having different paragraphs for each point stated in the introduction, and organizing the ideas on the essay in general. The tutor showed the student a basic outline for an essay paragraph ( Topic sentence, Reference article, follow with examples/ personal statement). Using what was already written in the essay, the tutor and the students brainstormed together what parts of the essay should go where according to the outline they just made. By the end, the student had an organized new draft outline and only had to think of what to add to the conclusion paragraph. The tutor left the first student to think of the conclusion and focused on the second one. She again read the essay and article independently and then focused on making the main idea more concrete. The tutor again brainstormed with this new student to help her clear up her main idea and would return tot he article to show examples the reference to throughout the essay. While organizing their ideas the tutor would allow the students to talk through what they were thinking and the tutor would connect it back to the paper. The new student also had a new essay outline by the time the tutor was done talking with her.
By the end, the first student finished the body outline and was ready to rewrite her draft. The second student had different ways to complete the essay and the tutor helped her brainstorm two outline options. Also the second student said she would come back for more help because she enjoyed this session and found it extremely helpful. This tutor was very nice the whole time to both students and gave them her absolute attention and focused on Higher Order Concerns the whole time. She had a student centered tutoring sessions by allowing the students to guide the outline with their thoughts instead of just flat out telling them what to write. Overall I believe this session was very beneficial for me and I learned a lot of skills that I will be able to use in the future.
The Second Tutoring session was one I really enjoyed observing because the tutor really seemed to know what she was doing and was a session I could really benefit from. The tutor I was observing had to help two students at the same time. I could not imagine doing something like that would be easy but the tutor made it seem like it was nothing out of the ordinary. The first thing I noticed was the tutors posture, she was in the middle of both students and never slouched or gave her full back to one student while talking to the other. She introduced herself to both students and then proceded to ask one student at a time questions about their paper. She asked what the essay was about, what are the problems they are most concerned with, and if the professor had already seen it or not. Both students needed to write a response essay to an article so the tutor first read the article then the essay. The only sign of something "negative" was that the tutor read silent to herself. She might have been doing it for time sake, because maybe having the student read out-loud would be too time consuming on a session for two people, but she didn't take too long reading it either way so the silence wasn't too long.
For the first student, The tutors first concern with the essay was the structure, specifically having different paragraphs for each point stated in the introduction, and organizing the ideas on the essay in general. The tutor showed the student a basic outline for an essay paragraph ( Topic sentence, Reference article, follow with examples/ personal statement). Using what was already written in the essay, the tutor and the students brainstormed together what parts of the essay should go where according to the outline they just made. By the end, the student had an organized new draft outline and only had to think of what to add to the conclusion paragraph. The tutor left the first student to think of the conclusion and focused on the second one. She again read the essay and article independently and then focused on making the main idea more concrete. The tutor again brainstormed with this new student to help her clear up her main idea and would return tot he article to show examples the reference to throughout the essay. While organizing their ideas the tutor would allow the students to talk through what they were thinking and the tutor would connect it back to the paper. The new student also had a new essay outline by the time the tutor was done talking with her.
By the end, the first student finished the body outline and was ready to rewrite her draft. The second student had different ways to complete the essay and the tutor helped her brainstorm two outline options. Also the second student said she would come back for more help because she enjoyed this session and found it extremely helpful. This tutor was very nice the whole time to both students and gave them her absolute attention and focused on Higher Order Concerns the whole time. She had a student centered tutoring sessions by allowing the students to guide the outline with their thoughts instead of just flat out telling them what to write. Overall I believe this session was very beneficial for me and I learned a lot of skills that I will be able to use in the future.
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