My first tutoring observation at the writing center.

In my first observation, I felt a little awkward because the tutor had two tutees. They were kind of looking at me like why are you here? I felt like they might have felt that I was going to take time away from their session. So I introduced myself and let them know I was just there to observe. The tutor was an older woman who had an interesting tutoring approach. She introduced herself and was very alert and friendly. The tutees were both students whom English was not their first language, and didnt know the meaning to alot of words. 
            The first student was from China, and she came to get tutoring to interpret a poem she was reading for poetry class. The second student was of middle eastern nationality and had to write a paper for history class.  Why I found the tutors methods interesting was that she found a way to use the definitions of words from the dictionary to define it under her own way, such as using curse words and sex as analogies to get the student to understand the words she was trying to understand.  The student as well as I really enjoyed her comedic behavior, but she was able to get her point across very well.
              Needless to say, the student will always remember what she learned because the experience was fun and interesting. The second student was not prepared to sit with the tutor for more than 15 minutes, as she believed it shouldn't take too long to help her. The opposite was obvious because she had many errors in her paper, in terms of grammar, spelling, and her thesis. The she told the tutor that she had class in 15 minutes. The tutor informed her that she had many errors on her paper, and in order to thoroughly help her, she needed the whole period, if not more than one. The tutee then told her that she had been to the writing center numerous times in reference to this paper throughout the week. The tutor then asked, if you were here, why weren't the issues in your paper addressed? The student looked perplexed and confused and said that she thought the paper was ok but she knew there were still issues because even though the tutor before never addressed it, her professor did. She explained that this was the tutor she had been using for a while, but the reason she was here was to get a second opinion and input on her final draft. The tutor then explained that if the student doesn't feel comfortable with the input she was receiving, that it was her right to ask for another tutor that she feels would be able to help her. The student then gave her a time of when she could come back to thoroughly go over the paper and they rescheduled for her to come back to go over it.   
          I found that the methods the tutor used were both collaborative and teacher centered, and I agree with this approach, being that the student she was able to help really needed help in learning about the meaning of words, and reading in between the lines of her poem. 

Blog 1: Writing Center Videos

     Based on the videos we watched in Prof. Cooper's class, I realized the potential problems that need to be addressed or noticed when tutoring in the writing center. First, we should be aware of the the body language of the tutee. We need to engage the tutee by our own body language, tone of voice and show them that we are willing to help them. Also in today's world, cell phones are a big distraction. It needs to be made clear before the session begins, that if the tutee has a phone out that we should put it away during the session. No need for digital dictionary, because we should have a paper one handy. This also goes for the tutor, we need to be paying full attention to the student and his/her paper's issues. If a student persists and continues to use their phone we should suggest that they come back to us at another time that is less stressful on them so that we can focus better on their work.
    When dealing with a student who has a negative attitude toward their paper, professor or even us, we need to help the student to calm down and assure them that we can help them by trying to focus on the assignment. We do this by letting them know that regardless of how they feel right now, the assignment is still due, also letting them know that they wouldn't be here if they didn't care about their grade they wouldn't be here.
      Never do the assignment for the tutee. Let them know that you are there to assist them and give them ideas and suggestions on how they can help themselves. If a tutee feels like you are doing an injustice to them by not "re-writing" their assignment, you can advise that if they do not feel comfortable they are free to choose another tutor.
      In the subject of plagiarism, if you see that the student has not given credit to their sources, advise them of the consequences that the professor can place on them if the paper is not edited and sources are not credited.

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Welcome to my ENG220 Blog!!