Once upon a time...
I love hearing stories; I love telling stories. I don't know why it is, but stories make things more personal and memorable...
So... ONCE UPON A TIME... I was having a hard time deciding what I wanted to do my bibliographic essay on. I kept changing what I wanted to research. It was kind of like when I started choosing my major. It depended on when or whom I was talking with how I would answer what my major was going to be. My answer varied from day to day. I finally decided on a major and I have a consistent answer now: "I am going to be an English major with an emphasis on professional and technical writing; and a communications minor."
Anyway, my choosing of my topic for my bibliographic essay was like that--- I couldn't decide. But I finally went to the library and did some research on, basically, my top three standing ideas for what I wanted to do my essay on. It was a lot of fun. I love getting lost in a library with millions of books all around me. (Is it funny, by the way, that I like the smell of books?--shrug--) I was also thumbing through our textbook and came across the article/chapter titled "telling tutor tales." Has anyone read it? It is really fun. It is set up like one of those choose-your-own adventure books where you choose the ending of the story.
I think that I'd like to do more research on telling stories in tutoring sessions. How do you know when it is appropriate or applicable to tell a story? How long or how short should the story be? What do other writing centers say about tutors telling stories in sessions? What advantages to telling stories have? What disadvantages? etc... It hasn't been a huge epiphany for me, like the one Katie had, but it makes sense for me to do research on telling stories. I am such a big reader, and I love hearing stories. I had a friend in high school that would tell the best stories. She'd collect funny stories and share them with me in either a note or in person and make me laugh.
The stories that I am suggesting to tell in tutoring sessions aren't just random ones though, like the ones my friend would tell me. Tell stories that are applicable and helpful; use them to create a connection with the student; use them to explain a concept…"I had your teacher and he likes it when you..." or "I took a class similar to yours and I did this…" ---use these kinds of phrases to begin your story, whether it is fiction or true, instead of saying "Once upon a time." I guess you can start your story with once upon a time, especially if it was a while ago, but it might sound funny.
So... ONCE UPON A TIME... I was having a hard time deciding what I wanted to do my bibliographic essay on. I kept changing what I wanted to research. It was kind of like when I started choosing my major. It depended on when or whom I was talking with how I would answer what my major was going to be. My answer varied from day to day. I finally decided on a major and I have a consistent answer now: "I am going to be an English major with an emphasis on professional and technical writing; and a communications minor."
Anyway, my choosing of my topic for my bibliographic essay was like that--- I couldn't decide. But I finally went to the library and did some research on, basically, my top three standing ideas for what I wanted to do my essay on. It was a lot of fun. I love getting lost in a library with millions of books all around me. (Is it funny, by the way, that I like the smell of books?--shrug--) I was also thumbing through our textbook and came across the article/chapter titled "telling tutor tales." Has anyone read it? It is really fun. It is set up like one of those choose-your-own adventure books where you choose the ending of the story.
I think that I'd like to do more research on telling stories in tutoring sessions. How do you know when it is appropriate or applicable to tell a story? How long or how short should the story be? What do other writing centers say about tutors telling stories in sessions? What advantages to telling stories have? What disadvantages? etc... It hasn't been a huge epiphany for me, like the one Katie had, but it makes sense for me to do research on telling stories. I am such a big reader, and I love hearing stories. I had a friend in high school that would tell the best stories. She'd collect funny stories and share them with me in either a note or in person and make me laugh.
The stories that I am suggesting to tell in tutoring sessions aren't just random ones though, like the ones my friend would tell me. Tell stories that are applicable and helpful; use them to create a connection with the student; use them to explain a concept…"I had your teacher and he likes it when you..." or "I took a class similar to yours and I did this…" ---use these kinds of phrases to begin your story, whether it is fiction or true, instead of saying "Once upon a time." I guess you can start your story with once upon a time, especially if it was a while ago, but it might sound funny.
posted by Kassie at 3:46 PM
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