Live Session, take deux

Monday's tutoring session went a lot better than expected. The student was a former law school student in Brazil, his country of origin. He was extremely nice, completely eager to be guided, and was totally receptive. He and I discussed things that were mentioned in class before we went in to tutor. He had brought up that he was stuck in a legal mindset. Back in Brazil, he was taught to write essays/papers in a certain format and he stuck with that format until he got here. He said he was surprised to learn that it was alright for him to give his opinion about a certain matter. He also brought up how he feels the need to go with the tide when writing about a topic, even if he disagrees. I told him that his opinion definitely matters and that he should almost always include it in his essay, it's his argument, his point of view and also it's what he will be trying to prove throughout his piece.

He was prepared, he had the assignment, the article, the professor's comments and rubric, and an almost completed essay. Right after introducing ourselves, he handed me all these items and gave me a moment to read over it all. His professor had commented on his summary being longer than necessary. The student and I then went over how to make it shorter, we spoke about paraphrasing. He had quoted an opening quote in the article and spread it out through the entire summary. He brought in examples of how his friend and his wife share domestic responsibility and were happy. That was compared to his childhood and how domestic responsibility solely belonged to the mother. I asked him about his life now (he had mentioned that he was married) and how that compared to his upbringing. He was enthusiastic about being able to make the comparison. After we decided what his last body paragraph would say, we went back and worked on the thesis. I basically told him that his thesis for this essay was his stand on the situation, did he or did he not agree with what the author of the article was saying. He said he did and within a few minutes had an idea of what his thesis would be.

It was a rather enjoyable session and I am glad to have met the student. He was intelligent and open to the session which made everything easier.

I guess they usually save the best for last

This past Monday, the 28th of April, I went to observe my final tutoring session at the Writing Center. This one was by far the best session I have witnessed since I began observing back in March(?). This specific tutor was very friendly and seemed as if she wanted to be there. She was given two students who were taking the same course with different professors. One of the students had her essay already written, she claimed to only want help with grammar since English wasn't her first language. The other student had come in almost completely unprepared. The assignments were completely different and that's why she couldn't help the unprepared student as much as she helped the student who was doing last minute revisions on an already completed paper.

When the tutor was working with the student who had her essay completed, she went over the entire essay with her and suggested certain thoughts to be further developed and encouraged the student to read her work aloud so that she would be able to catch her own grammatical errors. The tutor however did not solely focus on what the student thought was problematic, she complimented her writing and how well the essay was structured. While the student thought of things to add or say in her essay and read certain sentences aloud, the tutor focused on the other student who was struggling with the reading required for her assignment. The student made comments about how she felt the assignment was unnecessary but the tutor helped her overcome the boredom of reading by telling her to relate it to something current. She was reading Oedipus The King and the tutor mentioned some currently famous actors and told the tutee to imagine them playing the story out in her head. This seemed to have an immediate effect on her because she seemed to only stop reading in order to define words she did not understand. Every so often, she would switch between the students, never leaving them without anything to do. I thought this was both professional and effective.

It was only toward the end that the student with the reading assignment had pulled out the second part of the assignment and both her and the tutor realized that they were focusing on the wrong things. She was supposed to make a small bibliography for herself and she didn't understand what the meant or even entailed. The tutor then explained what a bibliography was and what it used for. The student still somewhat confused had asked the tutor if she was available during the next session in order to further explain the assignment because time was running out. The tutor gave both students her schedule and both had made plans on returning to be tutored by this specific tutor.

In conclusion, I found this session to be productive. I'm not sure if this was the first time that they had all met one another but it didn't seem like it. The tutor was incredibly friendly and even made me feel comfortable. Although the second student seemed to have been focusing on the wrong things, she left in confidence because she knew she was able to come back and seek help with the second part of the assignment.

Good stuff.

"Veg Occasion"

YouTube captions work funny, they break words up or it completely reads them wrong. It was my first time using the captions and I chuckled a few times. "Education" was translated as "veg occasion", haha.

Uhm, I don't know what to honestly think about the videos we saw today (concerning Education and stuffs). I agree that one can't accurately measure intelligence through standardized testing. It's also completely unfair that art and physical education programs are being cut because they're not deemed important enough, because you apparently can't measure creativity or athletic ability and if you can, it doesn't matter because it's not necessary.

Session 3

I think I finally know what it is to have a good tutor. Last week, I went to the writing center and observed a session that was professional and effective. This specific session involved a tutor and student that had worked together numerous times before. Their level of comfort was apparent in one another and they seemed to get along great. The student was an ESL student who went in to receive help with speech that she was going to be delivering that evening, although it was definitely on short notice I feel that they both got a lot done and the student had made tremendous progress. After the speech was read by the tutor, they immediately engaged in conversation and the tutor began offering suggestions as far as placement and structure went. 

One specific moment in the session that I found to be extremely helpful was when the tutor broke down the structure and tried to get the student to explain what each segment was supposed to represent. The tutor explained things such as the thesis and why a specific order might be favorable until the student really understood it. When the student asked if she should cross what she had written out, the tutor said no and encouraged her to use the ideas that she had but to further explain them. Whenever the student seemed stuck, she would help her out with suggestions but always wanted the tutee to think about what she wanted to say. Once the student and tutor seemed satisfied with the work at hand, the student asked if she could have her grammar looked over. The tutor made it a point to mention that she was not there to "proofread" a few times during the session, although, I think that was mostly for me because she would look to me when she said it. 

But uhm yeah, that was it. It was a nice session to observe.

Live Session

My first time tutoring a college student went alright, I guess. She wrote about gentrification being a bad thing and went on to discuss how it was negatively affecting communities. One of the first things that I had asked her (after reading her essay) was if she had any concerns regarding her essay. She said that she was worried she wasn't detailed enough and I assured her that that was not the case, but that there were some ideas that should be expanded, some quotes that should have more context, or that should be explained further. I remember her being really quiet, the only time I got her to speak more than a few words was when I asked her what neighborhood she was from. We both lived a block away from each other at one point, that's not relevant, I just thought it was interesting. I was interested in something she wrote, it was something along the lines of gentrification being like a cancer that could not be cured, it could only be treated. I was interested in this idea and asked her to try to explain how it could be treated and she didn't exactly know how to answer it. I tried a writing exercise, I encouraged her to take a few minutes to write down what she had thought on the matter but she drew a blank. I also tried to get her to write down other ideas based off a part of a quote that she used, but had no results. I figured that in asking her and talking to her about it it might make things go smoother but that didn't work either. She shrugged a lot and said she didn't know. I found that to be the most difficult part of the session. 

Over all, I didn't think many corrections were necessary to her original essay because as simple as it was it addressed the assignment. She answered the question, took a standpoint on it, and used sources to help her prove her point. 

Hawkward, take II

So this past Monday, the 24th, I went to the Writing Center and observed another tutoring session. This time, it was two students from the same class who were required to come in to receive help with their essays. The tutor was, uh, interesting...she began the session by saying something along the lines of "get ready for me torture you." Whatever that meant. She read the professor's comments and made some inappropriate comments about the professor and then the school. Both students had problems with their thesis statements and she explained what that was, which was alright. She also concentrated on a lot on their grammatical errors because she said that their essays were "alright." She seemed genuinely interested in the assignment and seemed to be getting along with the tutees, I just don't think she exhibited any real professional behavior.

What got me was her speech, maybe it was so that the students would be able to relate to her or something but she used a lot of profanity and made inappropriate comments. One of the students was of Latin origin and she spoke to him in Spanish most of the time and used Spanish slang. I thought this was rude because the other student didn't speak Spanish. However, he didn't really seem to mind. She asked both students to come back because she wanted to give them grammar lessons, she mentioned this to each student about twice, yet she told them that they didn't "need" her anymore. Then at one point she put her head down and sighed really heavily, I didn't know how to take that. I'm not sure if she was tired, bored, or if she had a headache.

Toward the end of the session, she had helped both students with their assignment. Both took some liking to her, especially the Latino who seemed to have gotten a lot done while she was helping the other tutee. Uhm, yeah, that's kind of about it.

I can't say I enjoyed observing the session, it made me feel super weird. However, it seemed as if neither student had a problem with the way she was doing things. They did accomplish what they went there to do and I guess that's the point but the way it was done was, uh, not cool. I guess.

So yeah.

Well that was hawkward...

So, I don't know what it is but I think I just tend to bring out the worst in people. I swear, I don't even try.

This past Thursday, the 20th of March, I went in and observed my first tutoring session. Tutors didn't seem all that friendly, in fact they seemed indifferent to my being there (not that I was expecting a big welcome but at least polite greeting would have been nice). Putting what little professionalism was exhibited by the tutors aside, I was set up with a tutor and one of his regular tutees who was revising an essay for a scholarship. The tutor did alright, he encouraged the student's train of thought and suggested ideas when the writer seemed to be at a loss for words. "Not working for me", "I'm not getting it here", and "cause and effect" were popular phrases used by the tutor during the session. I assumed that because they had worked together in the past, the student understood that the tutor was being helpful instead of antagonistic, like I kind of took it to be. All in all, the student seemed happy with the progress and felt confident enough after just half an hour. Once the student had left, the tutor praised him and asked if I had any questions. I didn't, so we went our separate ways. 

It was definitely different from the way I hold my sessions. I utilize the entire time I have with a student because there is always something for us to work on. I wouldn't say I'm a "cheerleader" but I take into consideration the fact that regardless of age, no one likes to be told that their work isn't good enough. I tend to be cautious with what I say around them because I'm actually pretty sensitive to criticism, regardless of how packed with good intention it might be. 

But yeah.