Veni, Vidi, ARRR! (I Came, I Saw, I Plundered)
Alright, having a few face-to-face tutoring sessions under my belt now, along with a couple of VERY difficult online submissions, I suppose I may be able to find some comments.
First off, I need to learn to speak gooder. I keep stumbling and tripping over myself, looking for the right words to explain to the poor, confused tutee why I feel that their organization might be a little off. I'll tie this in when I talk a bit about my writing experience, but we'll leave it at that for now.
Second off, while working with the online submissions doesn't bother me, I much prefer face to face sessions. I thrive on communication and contact (even if I speak dumbspeech good, yes?), and not being able to have a good give and take conversation with my tutee about their paper makes me feel more like I'm dictating or lecturing than tutoring. I don't know nearly enough to lecture.
Third off, my personal writing history is biting me in the proverbial buttocks again. This requires just a bit of a digression, so bear with me. You see, jumping in the Wayback Machine and setting the dial to an indeterminate time in the late '80's would not only let us see just how cool people thought they were back then and just how wrong they were, but would also show us a young Derek who was just starting to seriously write for his classes. He wrote very well for his age, everyone agreed, and therefore his silly instructors didn't give him any feedback on his performance in English and composition classes. They all figured that since he used articles and prepositions correctly in his writing, he didn't need to learn how to actually explain how to use articles and prepositions! This lovely little pattern continues literally all the way into the first college courses I took. I would turn in writing assignments, they would come back with all kinds of compliments, but I really never felt like I was learning anything, especially about exactly how to explain our illogical kleptomaniac of a native language.
However! Steps are being taken to painfully wrench those nasty teeth out of my tender bits. Obviously, I now have peers and professors who understand what I'm trying to learn. I don't particularly want to learn how to be a better writer right now. I'm far more concerned with learning how to make others better writers. I'm kind of thinking I came to the right place for that.
Dear God I need internet at home again. Claire's looking at me funny and that just ruins my train of thought.
First off, I need to learn to speak gooder. I keep stumbling and tripping over myself, looking for the right words to explain to the poor, confused tutee why I feel that their organization might be a little off. I'll tie this in when I talk a bit about my writing experience, but we'll leave it at that for now.
Second off, while working with the online submissions doesn't bother me, I much prefer face to face sessions. I thrive on communication and contact (even if I speak dumbspeech good, yes?), and not being able to have a good give and take conversation with my tutee about their paper makes me feel more like I'm dictating or lecturing than tutoring. I don't know nearly enough to lecture.
Third off, my personal writing history is biting me in the proverbial buttocks again. This requires just a bit of a digression, so bear with me. You see, jumping in the Wayback Machine and setting the dial to an indeterminate time in the late '80's would not only let us see just how cool people thought they were back then and just how wrong they were, but would also show us a young Derek who was just starting to seriously write for his classes. He wrote very well for his age, everyone agreed, and therefore his silly instructors didn't give him any feedback on his performance in English and composition classes. They all figured that since he used articles and prepositions correctly in his writing, he didn't need to learn how to actually explain how to use articles and prepositions! This lovely little pattern continues literally all the way into the first college courses I took. I would turn in writing assignments, they would come back with all kinds of compliments, but I really never felt like I was learning anything, especially about exactly how to explain our illogical kleptomaniac of a native language.
However! Steps are being taken to painfully wrench those nasty teeth out of my tender bits. Obviously, I now have peers and professors who understand what I'm trying to learn. I don't particularly want to learn how to be a better writer right now. I'm far more concerned with learning how to make others better writers. I'm kind of thinking I came to the right place for that.
Dear God I need internet at home again. Claire's looking at me funny and that just ruins my train of thought.
posted by Anonymous at 9:17 AM
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