Writing Center Observation #4

I watched a really great session this morning. The student knew and requested the tutor I observed today. He later told me he had been working with her for two or three semesters. She had come in for help with the second draft of an English 102 essay on "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin. She already had a well developed first draft that had been graded by the professor. The tutor started by reading the first draft and discussing the professor's feedback with his student. They discussed the issues she wanted to work on and he asked if she had done any work yet. She said yes and took out a second draft. They worked primarily with this draft.


He read the second draft aloud and asked her questions as they went along. They did work on some minor grammatical issues like subject verb agreement but the majority of the work was on higher order concerns. He made really great suggestions as they went along, but he did it by asking questions in such a way that the changes she made were her ideas.

There were two things I was most impressed by. One was just my overall impression of his skill as a tutor. The suggestions he made were insightful and valuable. I don't think I would have thought to make some of the suggestions he did. But at the same time, after he made the suggestions I wanted to smack myself on the forehead because they seemed so obvious. The other thing that really impressed me was that they covered everything from top to bottom, intro, thesis, body paragraphs, and conclusion. By this time he had already helped her improve her paper quite a lot. But then, after I thought they were done, he said, "So let's take another look at that thesis and see if we can make it stronger." And then he did. He had already helped her beef up her thesis, but then they went back and made it even better.

He listened to his student. They talked the entire time. They had a good rapport. He never seemed bored. He always knew what she was talking about and was ready with a good response. When we talked after the session he told me he'd never taken any education courses and that he had no plans to be a teacher. I think he absolutely should be.

I think I'm a pretty good writer. And while I know I have room for improvement, and I need more practice, I also think I'm a pretty good tutor. But this guy was GREAT. In the past I've shown my drafts to friends and to my wife. But I never even considered going to the writing center until today. I've watched three other tutors, one that was pretty good, one that was just okay, and one that I thought was really pretty bad. I don't think any of them would really have helped me in any substantive way. I absolutely know the tutor I watched today could help me improve my work. I plan to visit the writing center and ask for him. I almost wish I could bring him papers I've written for other classes, even ones for which I was already given an A.