What do I wish I'd known?

That's easy. Listen closely:

THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY IS NOTHING MORE THAN A GLORIFIED RESEARCH PAPER!!!!!!

Yup. That's pretty much it.

Seriously, though, don't stress about this paper. If you're anything like me, you heard the title "Bibliographic essay" and began to hyperventilate. But just because you don't have to stress doesn't mean that you can put the paper off for months. Please do start on it early...and by early, I mean start thinking about it around week 9-10. Pick a topic no later than week 11, so that you have time to get your sources. The actual "writing" of the paper is fairly easy. It's the compiling and sources that take a long time.

I really enjoyed this class. I can say immediately that it was my favorite. It's not easy, but it's not ridiculously hard. Blogging's fun, too. It's been interesting listening to everyone's opinions. In class, the same people comment, and there are several quiet people. Online, everyone had to post something :-) I heard a lot of viewpoints that normally would never have been shared.

Anyway...

I think this class has helped me become a much better tutor. We actually used the textbook (so, yes, you have to buy it. It's not a waste of your money) and the essays contained therein were relevant and applicable. They addressed everything from tutoring sessions where the tutee has disengaged (come on, we've all had those sessions, right? Right?) or sessions where the tutee is having an emotional breakdown because of an outside situation or because they're frustrated with school/teachers/classes. I liked that we could share our own situations and discuss how we possibly could have handled it. For example, I had a tutee who would come in and talk about her childhood abuse in papers. Every session, no matter what I tried, would degenerate into therapy. Yup. Believe me, I loved that.

It's not that I didn't want to help her! But I'm not qualified to do that. NOT AT ALL. I mean, in English I'm very qualified. I don't worry about that. But I grew up in a cookie cutter Mormon family and extended family. The most scandal/drama we've had was when a distant cousin got pregnant before marriage *gasp!*. And guess what? She married him, and they've lived happily ever after (that was several years ago). They have 3 kids now, and they're now the perfect Mormon family. My point (which I somehow digressed from) is that I'm not qualified to help people with their problems, since my life is so pain-free. Nevertheless, I can listen really, really well, so people mistake my politeness for sympathy, and...

Anyway....Good luck in this class. It's awesome.