What's the point of wishing about the past?
Of course it would have been nice if i knew everything when i started tutoring. That would certainly alleviate a lot of stress in my life. It would, however, also have been very very boring. Learning is one of the most exciting parts about tutoring and going to school. Why would i want to rob future tutors and students of the most exciting part of their job/education?
Maybe some of you think I'm joking, but I really mean it. I started this semester with very little knowledge of not only tutoring, but writing in general. The process of learning may be stressful, painful, and, at times may seem completely irrelevant, but taking short cuts only leads to punctuated, perforated knowledge.
My one piece of advice for future students would be this: Plan ahead and DON'T LET IT GET TO YOU. Some of us have busy lives. So busy, in fact, that it seems ludicrous, ridiculous, absurd, and stupid. Between work(one job or three), relationships, any church responsibilities, and attending class lectures, who has time to write ten page papers? So what does one do? Resign oneself to the fact that life is absurd and focus on one thing at a time, that's what. To future students: enjoy the experience of learning; don't let deadlines and professors freak you out.
One may think: "That's all and well Mr. Kyle, but I am going to get A's in all of my classes this semester. I can't very well be so lax as you suggest." Did I ever say anything about being lax? Look back at the first part of my advice: plan ahead. Make sure you figure out what you need to do, and when you need to accomplish it. Organization will make life much much simpler. This is the key to a successful everything: work, school, what-have-you.
OK. I'm only at about 300 words. Sometimes I really wish i had more flowery speech. That's something to recommend future students develop: flowery writing (in other words, saying something that should only take five words in two or three sentences). I have been confounded so many times because i tend to write short and to-the-point paragraphs and sentences. I feel so put upon when required to take my 500 words and turn it into an 800 word essay. I have already made my point, what more is there to discuss? Assignments should be graded on content and coverage instead of length. In all fairness, professors do have to give students a general idea of what they want. But couldn't they explain what needs to be covered instead of stating how long a paper needs to be? This ties into teaching process and not product very nicely. How about we focus on content and fluency, not length and word count. Alright. I think I'm pretty much done ranting about that. Ooh, I'm at 486 words now! Huh. 486 is all one word. I was kind of hoping it would count as three. Oh well.
Maybe some of you think I'm joking, but I really mean it. I started this semester with very little knowledge of not only tutoring, but writing in general. The process of learning may be stressful, painful, and, at times may seem completely irrelevant, but taking short cuts only leads to punctuated, perforated knowledge.
My one piece of advice for future students would be this: Plan ahead and DON'T LET IT GET TO YOU. Some of us have busy lives. So busy, in fact, that it seems ludicrous, ridiculous, absurd, and stupid. Between work(one job or three), relationships, any church responsibilities, and attending class lectures, who has time to write ten page papers? So what does one do? Resign oneself to the fact that life is absurd and focus on one thing at a time, that's what. To future students: enjoy the experience of learning; don't let deadlines and professors freak you out.
One may think: "That's all and well Mr. Kyle, but I am going to get A's in all of my classes this semester. I can't very well be so lax as you suggest." Did I ever say anything about being lax? Look back at the first part of my advice: plan ahead. Make sure you figure out what you need to do, and when you need to accomplish it. Organization will make life much much simpler. This is the key to a successful everything: work, school, what-have-you.
OK. I'm only at about 300 words. Sometimes I really wish i had more flowery speech. That's something to recommend future students develop: flowery writing (in other words, saying something that should only take five words in two or three sentences). I have been confounded so many times because i tend to write short and to-the-point paragraphs and sentences. I feel so put upon when required to take my 500 words and turn it into an 800 word essay. I have already made my point, what more is there to discuss? Assignments should be graded on content and coverage instead of length. In all fairness, professors do have to give students a general idea of what they want. But couldn't they explain what needs to be covered instead of stating how long a paper needs to be? This ties into teaching process and not product very nicely. How about we focus on content and fluency, not length and word count. Alright. I think I'm pretty much done ranting about that. Ooh, I'm at 486 words now! Huh. 486 is all one word. I was kind of hoping it would count as three. Oh well.
Labels: what I wish I'd known
posted by Kyle Rollins at 3:04 PM
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