Good or Evil?
I say it's equally tough. Perche? (Italian)....
Sure, we all like to see a good paper. Most would say that it gives us less work. But the thing that becomes obvious as you think about it is that a good paper becomes tougher to criticize. Do you just say it's all good? Sometimes, we try and look for even the most insignificant thing and use that to "help" our student. Why do we do this? Could it be that we as tutors feel that we need to bring something to the table when we are tutoring? I feel so. Since we are "the all-knowing tutor", we feel that we need to do something. I know I did this when I first started tutoring. This is wrong on so many levels. Not only are giving ourselves a false sense of pride b/c we correct a (non) mistake but we are also changing a student's work that is probably very acceptable as it is. Is there ever a case when there's a perfect paper? I doubt it. But I have seen papers which are close to being 100%. I feel the tutor needs to acknowledge the student when he or she has written a very good paper. Let the student know that he or she has written a paper that you don't see hardly any errors. We as tutors need to encourage our students. If we encourage them, their confidence will skyrocket and their writing will improve b/c they will be more dedicated to writing.
A bad paper is easier in the sense that there are so many errors that you have plenty to work with. While this does give you plenty to talk about with the student, sometimes the paper may be have an overwhelming amount of mistakes/errors that you may not have time to get to everything. A bad paper can be stressful obviously but it gives us a great chance to help teach a student who is need of writing help. A bad paper may require multiple visits from the student. From my experience, I say three visits from the student is quite the norm.
Personally, a good paper is nice to see. Not just b/c, for the most part, you may not have to work on it so much but b/c it's also nice to see your student write a paper. I have regular students that come in to see me, so each student and I have built trust as time has gone by. I feel very proud when I see their writing improve.
Sure, we all like to see a good paper. Most would say that it gives us less work. But the thing that becomes obvious as you think about it is that a good paper becomes tougher to criticize. Do you just say it's all good? Sometimes, we try and look for even the most insignificant thing and use that to "help" our student. Why do we do this? Could it be that we as tutors feel that we need to bring something to the table when we are tutoring? I feel so. Since we are "the all-knowing tutor", we feel that we need to do something. I know I did this when I first started tutoring. This is wrong on so many levels. Not only are giving ourselves a false sense of pride b/c we correct a (non) mistake but we are also changing a student's work that is probably very acceptable as it is. Is there ever a case when there's a perfect paper? I doubt it. But I have seen papers which are close to being 100%. I feel the tutor needs to acknowledge the student when he or she has written a very good paper. Let the student know that he or she has written a paper that you don't see hardly any errors. We as tutors need to encourage our students. If we encourage them, their confidence will skyrocket and their writing will improve b/c they will be more dedicated to writing.
A bad paper is easier in the sense that there are so many errors that you have plenty to work with. While this does give you plenty to talk about with the student, sometimes the paper may be have an overwhelming amount of mistakes/errors that you may not have time to get to everything. A bad paper can be stressful obviously but it gives us a great chance to help teach a student who is need of writing help. A bad paper may require multiple visits from the student. From my experience, I say three visits from the student is quite the norm.
Personally, a good paper is nice to see. Not just b/c, for the most part, you may not have to work on it so much but b/c it's also nice to see your student write a paper. I have regular students that come in to see me, so each student and I have built trust as time has gone by. I feel very proud when I see their writing improve.
posted by Joel Cardenas at 7:51 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home