The Last Blog...

Oh wow, if I had to start this semester over knowing what I do now, I would have been able to avoid quite a few sessions where I was unsure of what to do. When I signed up to be a tutor, I really had no idea how difficult it might be to explain the actual process of writing to students for whom it does not naturally come to. Explaining grammatical and writing procedural ideas in a clear way so that students understand and can do it themselves without relying on a tutor’s prodding, is a necessary part of effective tutoring. I felt that this class was able to give me effective techniques in order to achieve this goal and make clear to students information and techniques that I inherently understood. I wish that at the beginning of this semester I had already been more familiar with MLA and APA style so that I could speak more confidently about it to my students. Strangely enough though, I thought that the order our classroom lectures went in oddly paralleled my experiences in the writing center, so well in fact that the lessons were fresh in my mind the sessions that the particular subject happened to come up. I also wish I had realized how it is okay for me to not know all of the answers. At the beginning of the semester, I felt terrible when I was not extremely familiar in the subject matter of the paper I was reading. For some reason I felt like because I was the “instructor”, I should not have to ask clarification questions of terms and concepts because I was expected to somehow “know all”. However, after our many classroom discussions on this subject, I now realize that it is actually a good thing to ask such information seeking questions of the student. By them having to explain their topic in detail to a tutor, they might actually come up with better ways of stating their points or come up with added information that can go into their papers. Other tidbits of information I wished I had known would have had to do with certain grammatical principles that I had always known how to write myself, but did not actually know the rules for. This was especially true concerning the rule for semi-colons, which has not only helped my students but also my own writing. Knowing how to verbalize rules that I have never had to before allow me to explain them to students in a way that made sense and could be done without going through multiple examples. Overall, I felt that the information I learned from this class truly helped me to clarify my advice given to students and gave me added information that I would not have had before. I never imagined that the varied needs of individual students would require so many different approaches in a session and would need such pragmatic responses by the tutor. The large variety of the sessions I have had, have all focused on different subjects with a vast expanse in differing problems. I think that I am a better tutor now due to this course.

20/40 Hindsight

If I could go back and start this semester all over again (kidding, really) I would hope that someone would explain in agonizing detail that I don’t have to know everything before tutoring someone else. Those first few tutoring sessions of the semester convinced me that I knew virtually nothing—I panicked every time I had to pull out the reference manuals or look something up on the computer. I was the great impostor, taking up space in the WC. But, hey, nobody can know everything, right? Even the greatest tutors have to run for backup once in awhile; I’ve witnessed it! :)

Secondly, I wish I had known MLA better. I thought I had a pretty good grasp of it, yet was always second-guessing myself. This class was really my first exposure to APA, Chicago, Turabian, et al, and it was a given that I would need help with those. But MLA? I have an English degree! I should have known it! These past couple of weeks I feel like I have tutored with the MLA and APA reference books open at all times. Sometimes the more you know, the more you have to double check. Perhaps if I took MENG 6610….nah.

One last thing: I was not prepared for how taxing tutoring can be. It’s deceptive; you sit in a chair, you have a conversation, you occasionally lift your (purple) pen. But it can wear you out. I have a whole new appreciation for tutoring and teaching. It’s been a great experience for me.

I hope you all have a great break! See you in the WC! Bring food and stories!

In retrospect ...

What I really wish I had known is that my kids were going to get sick the day before the bib essay was due, so I could have left myself a little more time to revise ... ah, well. As Robert Burns wrote, "The best laid schemes o' moms with kids ..." No, I don't think that's quite the way he said it, but that's probably because he never was a mom with kids. Ummm, let's move on.

So, this semester (for me) has been more about what I'm glad I learned than what I wish I'd known -- the learning process itself has been just as useful as the things I've learned. Like Tamar said, it's been incredibly useful for me to eavesdrop on other tutors' sessions, picking up styles, techniques, and really great questions to ask. Having tutored before as an undergraduate, I felt fairly comfortable jumping into tutoring sessions, but my perspective was so much different this time around. I appreciate how much I've learned about APA style -- at the beginning of the semester, I wanted to pass the APA papers off to someone else, but now I feel like I have a fairly good command of APA (as long as I've got a pamphlet or handbook in front of me!). I have also worked up more courage to deal with "global" issues (not warming--though I recycle). It's always easy to deal with sentence-level issues--punctuation, comma splices, and the like--since that's what students expect to deal with when they come in. But it's only been the past month or so that I've really learned to ask the right questions to help students work on organization, transitions, thesis, and complexity of arguments. And, surprise surprise, those are the papers that I've really had the most fun with--the ones where you engage the students in a meaningful conversation about their paper, and they actually appreciate the help.

So, I guess those are all the things I wish I'd known...except I don't, because the process of discovery has been what has kept me motivated and excited about tutoring this semester.

(One more thing--a little side note to Michelle. Don't be afraid of sharing your nerdy nerdy stories here...you've got to know you're in excellent company among writing tutors. For example, when I was thirteen I thought I would die happy if I could just read Lord of the Rings over and over again for the rest of my life. Then, of course, I read Jane Eyre and thought I would die happy if I could marry Mr. Rochester. Now I'm thirty-two, married to a fellow English major, and working on lining my basement walls with bookshelves --and terrified that there still won't be enough room for all the books. Aaarrggghhh!)

Now

I wish had I known how to help someone on a subject that I know very little about. I learned in class how to better handle that kind of situation, and after, I was able to apply it in the many bio-med tutoring sessions that we had the following week. I wish I would have had those techniques at my disposal a week earlier when the computer kid came with a paper on the different types of music downloading formats.

I wish I would have known about the convience of the purdue website. I learned about it here at work, not in class, but it has a lot of helpful information on it that applies to writing and teaching about writing. There are a lot of really useful techniques that I have learned over the course of the semester that have improved my tutoring. For example, asking questions to clarify ideas. I wish I would have known earlier on to ask "What is the main idea you want to get across?" at the beggining of tutoring sessions. That particular question has done a lot more good for moving the session in the right way than what I used to ask, "What are you most concerned about with your paper?" It's not that the latter question isn't good, but an overwhelming majority of students are unprepared to answer that question at the beggining of a session. Knowing the student's purpose, before reading the paper, allows me to find ways they can better achieve that purpose as I read through it with them. This allows me to formulate thought provoking questions that lead students into better fullfing their purpose for their paper.

I still don't feel very comfortable with my own ability to use correct grammar. Therefore, I wish I could know more about grammar, for my own knowledge and so I can better help others with their grammar.

Training

I felt pretty prepared for tutoring this semester, but there were a few things that I wish I had known, so I guess I will impart my wisdom to all future class members. First, be prepared to tutor the first time you step foot in the writing center. I thought I might have an opportunity to watch other more experienced tutors work with students, but I walked in one Tuesday night and a student came in asking for help and I was thrown in. I wasn't quite sure what was going on, but I stumbled through. There were some awkward moments because no one else was tutoring and so the other tutor and friend sat listening to me tutor. I was a little self conscious about the things I was saying, but I guess it all works out. After that I wasn't afraid to take a session, but I still felt a little under prepared for what I was supposed to say. So, get ready to tutor as soon as you start your shift, you'll probably get thrown into the fire, but it will be good for you.

The other thing you should know about the class, that you will completely ignore, is to just maintain as best you can. There are blogs to write, reading responses, oral presentations, and a final paper. Tutoring starts to get crazy the last week of class, and you have to turn in your giant paper. If you have been maintaining everything throughout the class and staying on top of all the work, including doing research for your essay you will be fine. Just remember, that last week when you think you might have time you won't. But most people procrastinate, so don't worry. You won't be alone.

The last thing you should be aware of is your fellow tutors. We learn a lot of theory in class and we do assignments that are supposed to teach us how to be great tutors, but the best way to learn is to just watch the other tutors work. Steal how they talk, steal how they tutor, steal the pointers they give. If you have a chance to just sit and watch for a bit, take it! You will learn how to make an hour long session into twenty minutes. You will learn how to talk about language. The best teachers are the other tutors in the room, and they can offer some of the best training.

Good luck to the future tutors. If you want to swap crazy stories about the Writing Center we can all get together for coffee. Anyone know a cute little place around here?

Universal Issues

I wish I had known how to better limit a tutoring session when the center is busy. I am a pushover and tend to let other people control things (although I secretly hate this), so I have felt like I am unable to direct and control the session more. However, I know that the student should be in control, but it would be nice to be able to tactfully end a session if we are out of time or if there are many people waiting.

I have learned one technique from Greg, who is awesome (except that he likes to steal all of the purple pens, even while I am using one). I have heard him go through a page with a student, then stop when he realizes that there are people waiting. He takes a few more minutes to point out all of the universal issues in the writing. He spends a few minutes discussing these with the student, clearing up any confusion and answering questions, and then he wishes them well and moves on to the next student. I wish I had known about this or seen him do it earlier in the semester so I could have done the same when appropriate.

Another technique is one I learned from Leslie at the Davis Learning Center. She did a great job of sitting in on one of my sessions and then giving me useful feedback that I wish I had heard earlier. She mentioned that one way to conduct a session is to have the student read through the whole paper before commenting on it. She advised me to make small marks in the margins to keep track of places that need help. From there, she said to notice the universal problems or issues, and then address one or two examples of each issue. This allows a better use of time, allows a discussion on what the students needs to focus on, and allows the student to look for these same patterns. I liked this idea because I found it to be a good way to help a student learn to see issues in his or her own writing.

So, now that the semester is over, I have some really great techniques for managing time in tutoring sessions and for allowing a student to learn more effectively. I wish I would have known them sooner!

Last Blog

What do you know now that you wish you'd known then?  About tutoring now versus tutoring in September, of course.