Let my fish loose.

I think I may have stepped over the line in one of my last sessions with an ESL student. She was in modern dance and had to write a proposal on a dance project to direct and choreograph. For the most part, it was a good paper. Her thesis was strong and it had interesting background information as to why her idea for this dance was important to her and how it applied to other people with the same kinds of problems. But one of the main problems she was having with the paper was with describing in detail how the dance would take place. I talked with her a long time about it so I could make sure I understood what it was she was trying to do. Eventually I was able to understand what she was trying to accomplish with her dance. So I began helping her with phrases she could try and asked if that worked for her. But shortly after I merely began dictating to her what to write so it would make sense. I was telling her where to put it and how to put it. Immediately after realizing what I was doing (taking over her paper), I attempted to digress a bit and said something akin to, "Or you could write something like that." I felt pretty bad knowing that this isn't really how people learn. She knew what she was trying to say. But she didn't need someone to tell her what to say. At this point I tried assuming the role of a coach by encouraging her and insisting that she try and write it on her own and that I would proofread it when she was done.

And so that was how we proceeded from then on until her paper was finally finished. The end product was something I knew she was more satisfied because she had worked on it while I merely coached her.

I think a good way to tell if you've crossed the line during a session is just to pay attention to the way the student is reacting to you. I got lucky during my session because if I hadn't noticed what I was doing, I think she would've just gone on writing what I was telling her to write.

I've also wondered if maybe I'm crossing a line by always reading the student's paper out loud for them. Is this something I should have them doing more? When I do read it I try to ask questions as I go along to keep the student engaged. But it reminds me of the essay by Emig about how we need to read things at our own pace to comprehend them as oppposed to hearing it read out loud by another person. I feel this way I'm able to give the best advice to the student but I'm not sure if they need to be reading it out loud more or not.