Flow Chart to Figure Out Bartholomae

Flow Chart

I finally sat down and figured out my tutoring session flow chart. I hope you enjoyed the little visual aid. Here is what I usually do when working in the Writing Center:

1. “Hi! I’m Gabrielle.” I have to resist the impulse to say, “…your waitress for today.”

2. “Go ahead and find a place where you feel comfortable and I’ll join you in a minute.” No, I’m not giving a massage.

3. I write the pertinent information in my folder, and then I sit by the student at the table.

4. “Okay. What assignment are you working on?” If I see the assignment in print I let out a sigh of relief. I don’t want them to work for hours on something that doesn’t fulfill the teacher’s requirements.

5. “How do you feel about the paper? Is there anything in it that worries you?” Sometimes they will point to a possible problem in the paper.

6. “What can I do to help you?” I need to know what they expect from the tutoring session.

7. “Reading out loud can help us find problems in the essay.…” I want them to know that I use this technique on my own papers. Well, now I do. I haven’t always read my essays out loud: it was too embarrassing. Now I know it is worth it. My children would probably benefit from learning the technique as well.

8. I watch for a problem to teach them about, something that seems to happen a lot in the paper. I explain it then show them how to fix it. Later, when I see the problem again, I point it out: “There, it happened again, like up there.” Eventually the writer sees the problems themselves, and knows how to fix them.

9. We finish the read through, and I reassure the writer. No matter how good a paper is, no matter how experienced the writer may be, everyone seems to want me to tell them their paper is okay. I make sure to tell them the strengths of their essays. Then I review what I taught them.

10. “Come back anytime!” I want to make sure I don’t scare anyone away. I try to make sure I let them know their visit to the Writing Center was time well spent.

Bartholomae Essay

I finally conquered Bartholomae! I had to work so hard on this essay. I had trouble understanding what he was saying. It took me days just to get through.

At first I hated the paper. He seemed to be describing a “social caste system” for writers, one where he was at the top and “basic writers” were at the bottom. When I finally figured it out, I have to admit I liked what he was saying. He took ideas from the extremes of Freire and Murray and created a balance somewhere in the middle. He noted that writing students need information about the discourses they are heading for. They also need to practice writing, even if the results aren’t that good. As long as they move out of their comfort zone, their commonplace, and set out towards the target discourse, they are headed in the right direction.

It took a lot of work to find where he actually said it, but I’m glad I found his message.