bibliographic essay

I want to write about “emotionally charged sessions”. I think it is important for tutors to realize the different situations they will have to tutor in. There are so many stresses for college students, so there may be frustrated students that come into the session. A tutor should know how to listen to the tutee’s problems as well as make the best use of their time. As a writing tutor this topic alone is very important to understand because we only have 20-30 minutes with each student. And, as the semester continues, students will feel more stress, but there will be less time to deal with each student as more people come into the writing center. A tutor should know how to listen and be supportive without giving advice. While this topic seems easy to understand, it is extremely difficult to apply. Consider, when we talk to friends, we listen sympathetically and then give input. Our input may range from personal opinions and experiences to learned psychological help. This kind of input comes naturally, but we have to combat this in a tutoring session because it is not appropriate. While we may only be stating our opinions-not forcing ideas onto the tutee-the tutee may feel pressured to take that course of action. And, even if the advice is innocuous, we do not have the training to be advising someone. Sending someone to the psychological counseling center is always a backup, and we know that we can reschedule sessions, but I think that this type of formula is too simple. I know that if I were to open up in a tutoring session, I would be expecting or even longing for that listening ear. So, if a tutor simply says I understand and then tries to move onto the topic at hand, I would feel offended or even lonely. Simple formulas cannot teach us how to be compassionate as well as professional. Tutors need to learn how to handle delicate situations like this without giving moral/ethical advice.

I would really enjoy talking about a few different situations that tutors will commonly deal with. I would also like to dive into those situations to explore the different reactions or possibilities. There are many ways to approach sympathetic listening while maintaining professionalism, and I want to elaborate on those ideas. I also want to show why certain reactions are incorrect, and I would like to discuss the incorrect reactions and showing better alternatives. In writing this paper, I hope not to simply restate what we have learned from the articles in “A Tutor’s Guide” or in the ethics module. I hope to explain the reasoning behind these decisions, and I think that this would be beneficial for other tutors.

Analyzing

How do I think when I think analytically? I suppose I never really thought about it before the last reading assignment. I guess when I first approach an analytical essay, I think about the basics: Symbolism, time period, history, etc. After I think and write those ideas down, I’ll think about what I am analyzing and what it means to me. Does it relate to me? How? Why is the meaning so important? Then, I think about the author’s view. Why did the author write this story? Why did she write the way she wrote? I’ll probably research the author’s life a bit to see if her life could have some play in what she wrote. Then comes the hardest part, in my opinion: Looking at how another reader could view it. When I read something, I assume that everyone came to the same conclusion as I did. This part usually ends with me calling up random friends and family to ask their opinion. Yes, the cheater way out of it. I guess the big question I ask myself is “So what?” The author must have had a reason to have written the story. She chose the scenery, the steps each character makes, and the words each character says. There’s a reason behind it.

Witty Title

Actually, the reason I became a Writing Tutor was my freakishly annoying tendency to correct people's spelling during instant messenger sessions and online when I played World of Warcraft. I figured, hey, I'm more or less in the habit of doing this, so why don't I do it during a tutoring session? Sadly, I'm slowly turning around to the realization that I'm not supposed to be a proof-reading machine for the benefit of other people. That's not the point of the Writing Center. But I guess old habits die hard, so it's still a learning process on my part.

Anyway, how do I think about a problem? I suppose that depends on the level of interest I have concerning the problem. Generally speaking, however, whenever I am approached with a problem, I usually try my best to understand the problem and the situation in its completeness. This means looking at the problem from all points of view and try and discern the nature of the problem. A problem is like a puzzle to me sometimes. The most important thing, for me, is to assess the situation. Whether it's how to crack open an enemy encampment with minimal losses, or whether it's construct a persuasive argument, the important thing is to understand what your problem needs to be "solved" and what materials you have available.

If you enter into a problem without a full understanding of the situation, you can easily be blindsided by something unexpected, which oftentimes causes the entire thing to blow up in your face. So therefore, I try to encourage my tutees to have the fullest understanding of the situation before going on. After you come to understand the situation, the next step is to assess the tools you have available to you. If you attempt to assault a heavily fortified base bristling with artillery defenses, you're not going to accomplish much with a bunch of melee attackers. In the same way, it is important to go into a paper with a fuller understanding of what you have available to you: vocabulary, case-studies/personal examples, source information, etc. Where your tools are lacking, they can always be bolstered by reinforcements or additional information and knowledge. Finally, once you know the situation completely, and have the tools available, your last task is to exploit your problem. With a full understanding of what needs to be done, and the tools necessary to accomplish whatever task is at hand, you now know how to take advantage of the enemy's weakness and ride your way to a clean victory...or a solid...paper?

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bibliographic essay

I've been doing ALOT of thinking about this monster assignment these past few weeks and I've decided that I am going to do my research on the different learning types that students have and how they affect writing. I know for myself that I am very much a visual learner, and if somebody shows me how something is done, whether it be academically related or not, I usually can pick it up very quickly with very little or no complications or misunderstandings. I am very much interested in seeing what kind of information is out there regarding how other writing centers have handled these and learning tactics I can use to better myself as a tutor.

Thinking Analytically About Thinking Analytically

This is perhaps the most meta topic this semester, and, more than likely, the most difficult to talk about.  You are all here for a variety of reasons, and while you might all think it was because you're good writers, I'd wager that there were other things that marked you as a potentially good tutor—and one of them had to do with the way you think about things.

So here's this week's freakishly-meta prompt:  when you think about a problem you're writing about, how do you think about it?  What kinds of questions do you ask?  What kinds of questions do you try to avoid?  How do you push your thinking on subjects?

Bibliographic Essay

I haven't procrastinated this Colossus of an essay, but I haven't exactly started, either.

Since the beginning of the semester, I've been playing with a few ideas. Although I know Cameron's writing on this subject, I've been considering focusing on ESL students. I've also considered the rhetoric of tutoring and Linda Flower's cognitive theory of composition as possible topics.

My muse, as yet, has been silent in regards to this bibliographic essay. I just don't know yet. However, earlier this semester, I learned a useful lesson about researching: Rather than trying to bend sources to an ambitious but somewhat untenable idea, it's far better to allow an essay to grow naturally out of the research itself. I'm going to go into serious research mode late this week, and after I peruse the jungle of academic publications, I'll have a clearer idea of what to address in my bibliographic essay.

Preliminary exploration of Linda Flower's theory yielded surprisingly meager fruit; considering what I found on JSTOR, I doubt whether I could find sufficient sources to construct an entire bibliographic essay on her -- unless I have to really REALLY dig deeply. In the interest of time, however, I'm trying to simplify.

Preliminary searches of tutoring rhetoric yielded nothing in journal searches. There's plenty of information on rhetoric, plenty on tutoring, but nothing on rhetoric and/in/during tutoring. Although I am tempted to examine tutoring in an classical, Aristotlean light, I don't want to do anything remotely pioneering. I just want to get a good grade.

ESL tutoring is my back-up. I'd like to explore tutoring specific to Chinese students, investigating how Chinese grammar contributes to the common errors they make in English, and how, in the light of Chinese cultural traditions, how tutors can have the most productive sessions with these students. But again, I still can't make a definitive commitment at this time.