The homestretch
November 17, 2004
What is there to say?
Life in the Writing Center is now a comfortable routine. Saturday the ESL student I was tutoring stayed and worked beside me on a computer for the next hour and a half, asking my help whenever she needed it. It was nice. Another of my ESL students told me the other day that the paper we’d gone over a couple time together received an A. That was very cool, too.
I know that being a tutor is making me into a better writer. I can see the difference in my own papers. The essay we had to read by Bartholomae keeps cropping up in my mind. I’m intensely aware of my writing coming out more and more in “Educationese.” I’m using words I didn’t even know three months ago! “Zone of proximal development” and “summative assessment,” what? I wrote a term paper this past weekend that sounded SO SMART. (Sometimes I feel like an imposter.) I used some things I’ve told students to use. I’m looking at this thing and wondering where to even start, and I thought, well, I’d at least put the headings I needed down. Then I started organizing what needed to go under the headings…next thing I knew I had an outline. Imagine that! I’ve got another one due today I haven’t even started. Think I’d better try that outline trick again.
My head is too full to have anything profound to say. I do a little better writing; when I try speaking these days, I can’t even form a sentence. I keep telling myself that plenty of people have survived the Education department. So, I’ll take up more space when I’m not thinking about my classroom management plan. Later days. Blog on!
What is there to say?
Life in the Writing Center is now a comfortable routine. Saturday the ESL student I was tutoring stayed and worked beside me on a computer for the next hour and a half, asking my help whenever she needed it. It was nice. Another of my ESL students told me the other day that the paper we’d gone over a couple time together received an A. That was very cool, too.
I know that being a tutor is making me into a better writer. I can see the difference in my own papers. The essay we had to read by Bartholomae keeps cropping up in my mind. I’m intensely aware of my writing coming out more and more in “Educationese.” I’m using words I didn’t even know three months ago! “Zone of proximal development” and “summative assessment,” what? I wrote a term paper this past weekend that sounded SO SMART. (Sometimes I feel like an imposter.) I used some things I’ve told students to use. I’m looking at this thing and wondering where to even start, and I thought, well, I’d at least put the headings I needed down. Then I started organizing what needed to go under the headings…next thing I knew I had an outline. Imagine that! I’ve got another one due today I haven’t even started. Think I’d better try that outline trick again.
My head is too full to have anything profound to say. I do a little better writing; when I try speaking these days, I can’t even form a sentence. I keep telling myself that plenty of people have survived the Education department. So, I’ll take up more space when I’m not thinking about my classroom management plan. Later days. Blog on!
posted by Anonymous at 9:48 AM
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