Questions for 3/29

Thirty-something students: Besides needing to be more encouraging to an older student because they may less confident, what else could you do to make them feel more comfortable in the session?

Non-Traditional Students in the WC:

The article's main reason non-traditional students should have non-traditional tutors is that then the students will not feel scared of the tutor or what the tutor thinks about them. What other problems would a tutor have that would lead the session to being unsuccessful and how could they be overcome?

WC ethics: Although it is ethical to not think of "non-traditional" students as any different than typical students, is this a practical strategy? Couldn't knowing some of the "non-traditional" students common flaws or knowing strategies that work best for an older age group help a session run smoothly?

Defense of Conference Summaries: Why do the writers feel it necessary to include the writer in writing the conference summary? Doesn't the writer already know what was discussed and shouldn't tutors be responsible enough to write the summary accurately?

Writing Center: Week Six

When I saw the writing consultant I shadow in d-hall before the session, she told me to be prepared for a more intense session than usual because the english was not the writer's first language. She had received the paper ahead of time and she knew that there was going to be a lot to discuss. At the Writing Center, the consultant began by asking the international student why they came to the writing center. The student responded by saying she wanted to work on grammar and she also mentioned her professor suggested she come to work on english translation. The consultant then proceeded to ask the writer what she meant in her thesis, without looking at what she had written. This didn't seem to help much so they look at and analyzed what she had written. There were short discussions about the meanings of certain words dispersed throughout the session, like "strong" (emotionally or physically). It was clear that the writer had good ideas, but was having trouble expressing them. She wasn't sure how to make her writing sound more formal because she hasn't been exposed on a regular basis to formal words. The consultant then set up the progression of the paper using an outline (with much help from the writer of course). The consultant began to read through the paper, discussing many many sentence level problems throughout the paper. Quotations were also discussed and how to analyze them properly. Overall this consultation was seriously overwhelming. If I were the writer I don't know that I would have felt good leaving the session. The writer seemed shy so it was hard to tell if she was getting frustrated, but there was a lot discussed in the session and it makes me wonder if the writer would have benefited more by just focusing on and perfecting one aspect of her writing.

Questions for 3/24/10

Apprenticed to Failure:

Do you think it is possible to be continuously failing and not realize it? What warning signs are there that show an unsuccessful session? How do you know if it is a situation when just walking away is in order?

Bedford Guide Ch. 8:

One of the suggestions for what to do with a "perfect paper" is to make stylistic changes. How do you do with without taking away the voice of the writer? How can you be sure one way of saying something is better than another?

College Mentor Writing Consultation Part 2

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and the idea of sitting inside concerned me. Good thing it was possible to take the essays outside and enjoy the sun! First we were paired up with out writers. Last time I was a floater so I didn't have a writer, but this time Molly and I both shared a different writer. We began by going outside to read the papers. This gave us time to read the paper carefully without having to worry about the awkward silence that occurs when you are reading to yourself. Then we came back inside to retrieve our writers and then went back outside. First we asked the writer what her and her consultant worked on last time. She they they worked on organization. This is what we initially thought was worked on because the paper was very well organized. The one major problem the essay had was the lack of direct quotes. It was clear that the writer was not comfortable using them or had not used them in the past. She did a lot of paraphrasing the quotes. This is good sometimes, but she was asked to use direct ones as well. She was very willing to listen to what tips we had to incorporate them. We took her through how to pick out a good quote and how to introduce it and also how to add analysis following it. There were a few grammatical errors, but we were more focused on her ideas and making sure the main ideas of her essay were expressed. Then we went back inside and talked with the high school students about the difference between high school and college. I think the high school students really learned a lot through working with us. Also, the process of revising their paper multiple times is a very good experience to have. I never revised a paper more than once before coming to college and its exciting for them to have this experience in high school.

Writing Center: Week Five

The writer did not show up for the writing consultation last night. It was the first "no-show" I had so far. Not too bad considering other people had multiple no-shows.

Questions for 3/15/10

Minimalist Tutoring:

Could there be a time when minimalist tutoring does not work? Could a shy or unengaged person benefit from another tutoring method?

A Critique of Pure Tutoring:

Why do you think writing centers avoid directive tutoring? Could one problem be that there are not enough writing tutors with enough experience in particular fields to run a directive tutoring session?

Writing Center: Week Four

On the last night before spring break started I did not think that anyone would make an appointment at the writing center. But of course, someone had a paper due the next day that they wanted to have checked over. The assignment was writing about three different poems and poets. The writer then had to support or refute their ideas. Each of the poems told the readers different negative things about falling in love. She is supporting the claim that little has changed with love over time. The consultant asked the writer what she wanted to work with and she said overall flow, and if her paragraphs go along with her thesis. She also wanted to work on grammar. Then the consultant started reading the paper out loud. The writer had particular parts of the paper in orange lettering that she wanted to work on. The first problem area was just a wording choice. The consultant asked the writer just to talk about what she meant in order to find a new way to say her sentence. The consultant then continued reading aloud and fixed some little grammar points as she went along. There was then a lot of work done on particular word choices. This was able to be done because the thesis and supporting paragraphs were strong. Reading the paper aloud really did a lot to improve it. The writer really got on a roll with rewording some of her sentences to make them sound a lot more concise and academic sounding. The consultant then had to plug her computer in which gave a great time to take a break and have a different conversation before returning to focus on the paper. The focus continued to be about word choice and grammar. It was over-all not as exciting as other tutorials mainly because there were not major problems, but this is a very realistic thing that happens in the writing center. There aren't always huge issues and word choice and grammar are sometimes the only things that need fixed up in a paper. At the end of the tutorial the consultant told the writer about transitions and gave her a hand out from the writers web to help her when she got home.