Writing Center Observation #3

I feel weird about writing this entry, because I don’t want to throw anybody under the bus, especially a tutor who I think has the tutee’s best interests at heart, and who tried her best to help. I also don’t know that my interpretation of what I saw was valid, or matched up with what the tutor or tutee might have to say about the session. I’m talking about subjective things like body language. They sat next to each other but the body language wasn’t great. The tutee rolled her eyes a lot. The two of them both seemed frustrated at times. The tutor seemed bored at times and condescending at others. At one point the tutee looked at me and subtly asked what time it was, as if all she wanted was to get out of there. This is all subject to my interpretation. Neither of them said anything nasty or confrontational or demeaning. I don’t want to condemn anybody for something I might be wrong about. But I don’t feel like what I witnessed was a very good session

Writing Center Observation #2

Wednesday, March 26, 2014
10:30AM

I was not terribly impressed by this session. It wasn't bad. I think it was probably pretty good. But there were some issues.

The tutor and his tutee already knew each other and had worked together before. They had a good rapport and it seemed like she worked with him regularly. The tutee's first language was Spanish and she had some confidence issues about her mastery of English and her writing skills. But she already has a Masters from a university in her home country and from what I observed today she's already a really good writer. Considering only higher order concerns, what she had written was better than 90% of the first drafts I've ever seen. Even considering grammar, punctuation, spelling and other lower order concerns, what she brought in was probably better than at least half of the work I've seen from people who only speak English.

API Tutoring #1

This post is about the tutoring I've been doing for English 101 through the API program at LaGuardia. The way API works, a tutor gets assigned to a class (I've been assigned to ENG 101). Then they take a survey of the time the students in the class are available and set up regular tutoring sessions during the week for the students from that class to attend. It's interesting from my perspective because I want to be a high school English teacher, so in addition to tutoring, I get the opportunity to watch a professor teach a class.

Writing Center Observation #1

Friday, March 21, 2014
1:00PM

Today I observed my first tutoring session in the writing center. The tutor I observed assisted two Chinese-American students who came in together for help with the same assignment: a 750-word essay describing how they learned English.

At first I thought the session was a little quiet, there were some awkward silences. But the tutor I observed worked well with her students and they both left acting as if they appreciated her help. It certainly seemed to me as if they were back on track with the assignment.

The Writing Center - What I Expect

I'm a student in ENG 220 - Seminar in Teaching Writing at LaGuardia Community College. As part of our class requirements we have to visit four sessions in the school writing center and blog about what we observe. Since I haven't visited the center yet this blog entry is about what I expect to observe when I go, and what I expect it to be like.

I've visited the writing center as part of my ENG 101 class. Our professor brought us there to show us where it was and so that we could observe a brief presentation by Bert, the director of the center. I have taken a class with a professor who was a supervisor at the writing center, and spoken to students who visited the center for help, although I've never gone there my self. My expectations for what it will be liked are based on all this, as well as the material we've covered and discussions we've had so far in ENG 220.

I know that the sessions are one-on-one between one tutor and one student. I expect most of the tutors to be English or Ed majors who are good writers and who are genuinely interested in helping other students with their written assignments. I'm not sure how effective I expect them to be. In my experience, many people who mean well don't actually know how to talk to other people without coming off as condescending. Writing is a particularly sensitive topic because it's a representation of one's self, one's thoughts. Criticism, even well-meaning constructive criticism is often not well received.

I know I've done it myself. A classmate of mine asked me to take a look at something he had written. I thought it was pretty good, and I gave him feedback regarding what I thought were minor concerns. There were a few spelling issues, some punctuation issues. Some of his wording was a little repetitive. I asked him questions about word choices he made and told him about similar issues I had, and told him what I tended to do when I encountered similar errors in my own writing. I thought I did a decent job but I know he was offended. I still don't know what I said or how it was I said it that was too much. But there was something.

Another thing I expect to be an issue for tutoring sessions is student attitude. Some students I've worked with at LaGuardia who have asked for help have actually expected me to do their work for them, or have asked me for help the day before an assignment was due and handed me a draft that was... really... extremely... definitely not ready.

I'm interested to see how the tutors I observe in the lab overcome these two issues that are my primary concerns about working as a tutor, at least right now. I expect I'll also witness things I haven't foreseen at all. I'm just as, if not more, interested in the unforeseen issues as I am in the ones I anticipate.