3rd tutoring session

In today's session I was helping out two different students that we were working on a CATW practice essay about the effects on fast food advertisement toward children. I found myself focused on one student a little more because it seemed like the other one was doing very well. I read the passage they were given and both of their responses to the writing assignment. The first student had very little issues in her paper .The only thing I advised her to work with was adding more possible solutions to the issue presented in the passage throughout the essay and to check for run on sentences.After that she started rewriting the essay and checking for more mistakes or things she did not like about it. I read the other student's paper and discovered she had too many isues therefore she took up most of my time and attention. She didn't provide a good summary of the passage, did not have enough examples to back up her claims, had problems with sentence structure and many other things. I decided to help her re-write the essay. One of the problems I encountered with this student was that she had trouble understanding why her sentences were wrong. Students usually pick up fast on what sounds wrong and right but since she wasn't very good in writing or speaking english this became a litlle hard for me. In the same paragraph she kept repeating that children learn to do what their parents do and then she would say children learn fast and do what they see their parents doing and etc. In order to make her see the difference from one choice of words to another I had to use a lot of examples myself for her to catch the hints. I started building sentences about the things that surrounded us at the moment in the classroom until she was able to get a sense of what I meant. When I checked on the first student's progress she had ended up writing a much better version of the paper she had. I noticed that both of them felt rushed because the practice exam was timed therefore they felt like they were in a hurry and had to write whatever came to mind as fast as possible. They both agreed with me and said that the timing affected their writing skills making the paper harder for them to write. Their professor suggested for us to point out some tutorials online that are available to them and tell them which one we thought they needed to work with. The first student recognized them right away and agreed with my choice. What I didn't like about the second student is that she didn't allow me to choose any for her beceause she was stubborn in saying I need them all because I dont know what Im doing. Every time I would suggest a change on her paper like using the word 'therefore' instead of 'so' or ending a sentence that was too long she would say "don't ask me just tell me what to write because you are the one who knows and I don't". I explained to her that just because I was there helping her that didn't make me right about everything. She was convinced that I had to make the choices on her paper because I was right and she was wrong. It was a very different experience but I'm still learning a lot of things and I still love helping them.

techniques

~works -topic questions outline -2students read over add, change -read out loud -small talk give context -outline generate summary ,task -oral summary , return to paper -read sentence, explain words ~didnt work -rotation/ dividing time -resist feedback -work ethic , tactics, insecurity lck of confidence -talk -off talk off focus -split time 2 3 students -not a fluent speaker -subject knowledge -you ain't the expert

4th observation

In my fourth visit to the writing center I noticed that the lines of students waiting to get help are only getting longer. A lot of students had to set up appointments for later periods and sometimes people that had appointments for the present period were not able to get in. This time I observed a tutor with two students. One of them was really focused on their work and had brought two essays; an original and a revision. The other student was obviously lazy and didn't seem to cooperate too much. She seemed like the type of student that wants the tutor to write the paper for them. She kept staring at me all the time which became a little uncomfortable after a while because it was the first time something like this had happened to me while observing. The tutor ended up helping the student with the revision paper a little more because the other one was too laid back and wasn't so active with their work. Since she did not stop staring at me I left a few minutes before the session ended.

2nd tutoring session

In my second opportunity to tutor I believe I experienced a few more issues than the first time. I actually had the chance to work with the same students I worked with the last time.They were both basically finished writing the assignment we worked on in the previous session. The problem was that the second student did not have a chance to correct any of the things I advised her to work on the first time I helped her. It was kind of difficult to explain to her why a lot of her sentences were not right. Her sentence structure was a little diffuse but I was able to make her notice what was wrong by having her read her assignment outloud. This way she was able to understand that the sentences did not sound right and that they can be fixed in a clearer organized way. I reminded her that whoever was to read her paper did not know anything about the subject she was talking about therefore she needed to make the points in the sentences as clear as possible. The other student ended up doing the same thing because there was a few words that didn't connect with her actual meaning so she read the sentences outloud and saw the problem. I am pretty sure none of them had proof read their assignment because they both found grammatical mistakes they were not aware of. I had a tough time trying to split my attention between of them because it seemed to me like this time they both needed more help since the paper was already done while last time they were just creating a first draft.Besides the amount of time and attention it took I believe they were able to get something useful out of this session.

3rd observation

In my third visit to the writing center I observed a tutor with only one student. The student had written the paper but wasn't so confident about it so she took it there to get some help with it. The session didn't last the whole hour because the student had somewhere to go and could not stay but it seemed like she had enough feedback to get going. Her topic was the amount of vacations workers in america get and that the government should pass a law making them longer. The tutor explained her what was good and what was wrong with her paper and that was about it. Since she didn't have time to work on it there she left. The tutor stayed with me the rest of the time and showed me around so I could have a sense of what is it they do at the writing center.She showed me a few CATW samples some worksheets they gave to students that had a problem with vocabulary verbs and etc. It was a busy day in the writing center though because most of the apoointments had to be cancelled. Other than that it seemed like a nice experience.

1st tutoring session.

Having the opportunity to tutor people was great.! I was able to work with two students at a time and both of them were working and two different assignments. The first student was confused and a little nervous because she had not read the article she was supposed to write about. She didn't know what to do, what to write and did not like the topic she was given. I helped her read the passage because she had some trouble understanding it and gave her some advice so she wouldnt't get stuck on the reading thinking that it was an uninteresting topic. She did not want to finish reading and wanted to start writing but I suggested that it was better if she finished the reading so she would know exactly what to talk about on the assignment.Since she felt nervous because she kept thinking that I was stuck with her and that her slowness (as she called it)was keeping me from helping someone else I told her I would give her some time to read and she did. After she felt comfortable I told her to keep reading by herself so she won't feel nervous by my presence and went to help the other student. This other student had already wrote her assignment and just needed me to check it. Unfortunately she had many grammatical issues and had to work on the clarity of her sentences. I also noticed that she didn't introduce the topic or even summarized it before talking about it,therefore I suggested she should give some more feedback on the topic before going straight to mentioning it.When I first walked into the room I felt a little nervous because I wasn't sure if it was going to work but after I started I felt pretty confident because I reminded myself that they need help and I was not going to be able to give it to them if they could see that I was nervous. I learned how to split my attention equally between two students and something I would try to avoid is to focus on the student's grammar so they won't feel like everything they are writing is wrong. I only did it because the grammar issues did not let me understand what this person was trying to say in any of their sentences. It was actually easy to focus on their assignments and give them both the same amount of attention. When it comes to techniques I used a student centered approach because I feel like it is more important to listen to them first and interact so they could feel confident. It wasn't only giving them my attention but making sure they knew they had all my attention. Something positive about the experience is that the first student ended up writing a very nice first paragraph for her essay and that the other student was able to check on some issues her essay had. I just simply loved it and I really hope I was able to help them.

In my second visit to the writing center as an observer I was able to notice the difference in techniques that might be used by every tutor. This time the tutor was also helping two students at a time but was able to give both of them enough atention. This tutor was highly concerned with the grammar in the student's paper most of the session which is usually a low order concern but since there were so many errors in their grammar I sort of understand his position. Something I noticed different with this tutor was that he concentrated on both students from beginning to end while the other one kept trying to involve me in the process by explaining the things he would say or do. Even though they had different methods of tutoring I believe they both reached the goal which is help the student write a better paper. He conducted a teacher centered tutoring session since he was the one directing the session instead of interacting more with them and allowing them to share their opinion a little more.