Tips and Tricks (or Treats)

What are we talking about when we discuss tutoring tricks? We are talking about means of invoking the student’s voice. But, how do we encourage them to write without telling them what to write? There are several tricks that I employ on a daily basis. Some of these I have developed through experience, others I have adopted form suggestions left by previous tutors. The fist of which is asking the student to repeat an unclear sentence in “their own words” (a phrase I loath because no one owns words.) Often times the student will convolute their statements in an attempt to use a formal voice, however they can sometimes lose the meaning in the process. Oddly enough, when the paper is turned over and they are asked to rephrase the sentence out loud to the tutor, the student constructs a sophisticated yet uncomplicated sentence. The brain is a troublesome thing, is it not? Another trick (of my own invention) is underlining a phrase or clause that needs revision and asking the student to tell me what needs fixing. When you isolate the area, it’s easier to identify the glitches, and typically they spot the issue within a few seconds. Another tip I could offer concerns thesis statements. I’ve seen tutors help students hammer out solid thesis statements without reading the paper first, but I’ve discovered a method of strengthening thesis statements that requires fewer supporting paragraphs needing revision. I suggest reading through the paper and returning to the thesis statement when you have established what it is that the paper discusses, rather than creating a thesis statement that is irrelevant to the student’s argument. I used to approach the thesis first, and in my inexperience, I would suggest changing every paragraph in the body of the essay. Oops. Other than that, I don’t know that I have much else to say that isn’t common knowledge to every tutor. In fact, much of what I have discussed may be anyway. I want to talk a little about my favorite impending season! (Even though American pop-culture has made a travesty of the whole festival… All in favor of publicly stoning Stephanie Meyer, say, “Aye!”)

Is everybody else as thrilled as I am for fall? The season when nature makes its final displays of beauty before it dies for four months. I just bought eight monstrous pumpkins to carve twisted and vicious facades into, and one of them is over sixty pounds! It makes the great pumpkin in Charlie Brown look like an acorn! Is anybody else a little nostalgic for the Halloweens of their youth? I miss the days of being frightened and running through the streets, crazed with sugar, tormenting other children. The last few years have disappointed me greatly, watching my nitwit friends indulging in the same inebriated shenanigans they do every other weekend, only this time, they’re dressed up as slutty pirates or zombies. Does anybody know a way to recapture the epicness of All Hallow’s Eve? This year I wanted to wear the skulls of forest animals and dance around a bonfire, but everyone else thinks it’s “weird.” Is it me? Or does anybody else think that some nice pagan frolicking would do the trick this year? Any thoughts?

Checklists and Reading the Paper Before Discussing It

Like Eric, I’ve found it helpful to read the student’s entire paper (when possible) before deciding what input to give. This helps me focus on the most important parts of the writing pyramid (i.e. structure, thesis, etc.) rather than getting caught up in comma-splices and minor typos.

The process usually goes like this:

• After asking questions and understanding what the assignment is all about, I ask them if I can read their paper out loud. Most of the time it isn’t a problem. I can think of only two instances where they asked me not to read it out loud.
• Before I start reading, I hand them a pen and say, “When someone else reads your paper, it’s a lot easier to see mistakes. If we come across anything you want to change, go ahead and mark it on the paper.” I’ve found that most students can catch a good amount of their own mistakes when I do this. By giving them the pen we put the responsibility for revision in their hands.
• If we come across a pattern of errors they aren’t aware of, I’ll make a small mark on the paper. I explain to them at the beginning that I may do this and that it simply indicates a small issue we will come back to after reading the entire paper.
• Once we’ve finished reading the paper and I’ve seen the conclusion, it’s a lot easier to judge what we need to spend time discussing. I simply move up the pyramid, covering wherever the biggest gaps are.
• If there are problems with structure, thesis, or the conclusion, I’ll make sure they understand the basic concept and help them see what exactly it is they want to talk about. If it’s a smaller matter, like grammar or comma misuse, we go there instead.
• Once the most-important things are covered, we’ll work back through the markings on the paper. If there is a recurring pattern, we’ll cover that.

This has really helped me avoid spending too much time fixing comma splices and verb repetition early in the paper only to discover there is no central idea of conclusion later on. It also helps the student see that structural issues are the most important and not too worry too much about things like comma placement, etc.

            

            Another thing I’ve found useful is the trick Gabby uses. This was mentioned in class a couple weeks ago. Basically she will ask the student what they need in their paper (or if the professor has a list of what he or she will be looking for, use that) and create a checklist for the student. After reading the paper, the tutor can check off each of the items or spend more time going over them with the student. This helps both the tutor and the tutee stay on track and focus on the most important parts of the paper.

Tricks

I don' t know that I have any neat tricks that have not already been discussed. I use what I think will help each student the most. I talk about the intro paragraph and thesis as the movie trailer. It provides the gist of the story and enough of a hook to make you want to see the rest. I will grab a dictionary and look stuff up if I'm not positive how to spell something or if it's the correct word. That provides a good example of using resources. I use the purple punctuation pattern papers in almost every session. Once I point out a comma error pattern, I'll pull out one of those sheets to explain the ways to use commas and give a copy of that sheet to the student to take for reference.

The best thing I think I do for students is to help them see the reason why we do things a certain way in academic writing. When I explain that a nonessential clause/phrase/word is offset with commas as an indicator to the reader that it is not the main subject or verb of the sentence, students get a little aha moment. When I explained today the reason why a ENG 2010 professor required this student to complete an annotated bibliography, and how it would benefit her later to have some notes on each article she collected, she seemed to change her attitude towards the assignment and stated that she saw how that would be helpful.

The main thing I've learned is to be flexible and open to the needs of this student and this paper. I try to not have preconceived notions of what a student will need help with before I have talked to them and read the paper. It would be very easy to decide that all students need help with comma usage, but looking too hard for comma usage could obscure the bigger picture of organization and thesis development.

Tricky Shaun

Tricks I have learned.

            I have to admit I stole most of my tricks.  Clair’s paper diagram (the one that looks like a little man with his arms up) works great.  One thing that I started doing with students who were disengaged was to have them fill out their own brown paper.  Since they know the professor will read the “in this session we focused on the following:” section, they are always very thorough and have to pay attention. 

            I have to use tricks to get them to write on their paper.  Often I catch myself making all the notes and corrections. I often tell them I have bad handwriting so they will write.

            Melissa showed me how to turn the session into a kind of scavenger hunt.  You take the assignment paper and circle all of the requirements and then ask the tutee to circle the place in the paper where they fulfill the requirement.  This trick is particularly useful for finding thesis statements. 

            A trick that I love, but the tutees never want to do, is outlining the paper after it is written.  I like to draw an outline with spots for the thesis and transitions.  This helps the student see if their paper is lopsided, chaotic, or redundant.  Usually the tutee looses interest in this pretty quickly.  Does anyone have a trick to help them appreciate the outline? 

            One problem I have not found a trick for is quickly describing when to use a comma before a coordinating conjunction.  The tutees get lost as soon as I start talking about complete sentences with subjects and verbs, and if I start writing down for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so, they feel overwhelmed.    

               

Summarization, Verbalization & Sentence Templates

Many times students want me to make sure they have completed their assignment correctly and that they have satisfied every last requirement. However, I do not really want this responsibility to rest only on me and I do not want the students to feel that they are free from this obligation. The best way I have found to help them decide if they have met each requirement is to read the paper and have them sum up the primary topic in one or two words in the margins. Once this has been done for each paragraph, they can look back at the words we have underlined in the assignment description and see what may be missing, what needs to be developed in more detail, and what they have done well. It takes more time for them to complete this task than it does for me, but it gives them a strategy to use when they do not have time to visit the writing center and helps make them more independent writers.

Another method I use when tutoring, similar to Eladio, is having students verbalize what they are struggling to write. Although it is probably common sense for us, many beginning writers have not thought of this strategy. When they are drawing blanks I tell them that when I have been working on a passage for too long with unsatisfactory results, I pretend that someone is in the room and I am explaining my ideas to them as if they are completely unfamiliar with the topic. This always makes my writing sound more natural and understandable. Then the student tries this strategy and the light bulb turns on. They usually seem so surprised that they have not thought of this trick and relieved that something finally works

For some students, this strategy gets them closer to what they are trying to write but they still seem unsure and lack confidence when it comes to getting anything down on paper. In this case, I pull out a handout that I keep in my folder with sentence templates from They Say, I Say. Using this sheet makes it so that I can give students ideas about how to articulate their thoughts, show them how to adapt certain phrases for their writing purposes, and prevents me from handing them all the answers. Tutees really like these templates because it gives them a pattern to work from. Students who are new to college and have not fully developed their writing skills just want to know what to write and how to do it. Although these templates are just a sampling of ways to write, they are a starting point that the students are more than happy to have. And, as we discussed in class, these templates help them to convey the “so what” factor and shows them a way to complicate and add depth to their work.

My Thesis Trick

I have found that students struggle with coming up with a good thesis statement more than I had ever imagined. It is very difficult for them to boil down their entire essay to a sentence or two. I sympathize with this sentiment. I mean, if we can say what we are going to say in one or two sentences, why do we need to write four, five, or twenty pages. Well, because we have to back up our argument, of course. But as a student, I understand the frustration and the anxiety over thesis sentences.

In order to help student come up with a good, solid thesis statement, I have come up with a trick that works quite well in most cases. I usually do not address the thesis until the end. When students tell me this is of particular concern, I reassure them and tell them that we will definitely address that concern, but that we should read the paper first. Then I proceed to reading it.

Once we have gotten through the entire paper, I tell them to imagine they have to tell a friend about what they have written in a way that tells them what they are arguing and why it is significant, but that they only have one or two sentences to do it. Usually, they are able to come up with a pretty good thesis statement this way, and at times they find that the thesis they came up with after this little exercise works better than the thesis they originally had. Other times, they will notice that they did not actually have a thesis at all. After doing this, though, the usually understand not only how to come up with a good thesis sentence for the particular paper we are looking at, but the larger concept of a thesis statement as well.

I am not sure this is the most original trick, and I am sure I am not the only one doing this, but I have found it very useful and the students I have tutored also seem to like this approach. It does not work for everyone, of course, and when it does not, I look for another way to explain the concept. Generally, though, it is really quite effective.

Things I Do

Well, one of the first things I do when a student brings a paper in is look at the introductory and conclusion paragraphs. This is a good way to get a feel for the purpose of the paper. It also gives the student a chance to remind him or herself of the need to answer the "so what" question. A good thesis actually creates the theme of a paper. For example, the theme of a paper usually follows closely to whatever premise the writer has decided to attempt to prove valid or invalid. A writer might be trying to disprove a claim that nice guys finish last, so the theme of the paper would be the laws of attraction and why bodybuilder Jersey shore type guys are a waste of a girl's time.

Another really excellent technique is to let the student read the paper out loud. I know some students will naturally be opposed to this idea, but it's a great way to get the tutee correcting his or her own mistakes. While this is going on, I put small marks on the paper in places that need to be revisited later. I'll admit when I first started this job, I had the tendency to begin correcting every little error I could find, but now I've learned to ask a lot of questions about the paper before any proofreading begins. The students seem to react to this in a more positive manner as it lets them know that we're actually working together to honestly improve their writing ability.

If a student is having some difficulty thinking about how to reword an awkward sentence, I try to get him or her thinking by asking more questions. Most of the questions revolve around getting the tutee to be creative in the way he or she expresses themselves while encouraging him or her to err on the side of conformity. And by conformity, I mean the student needs to say things that are understandable and easy to read.

Greatest Song Ever

The best trick I have found when tutoring is to read the whole paper before “fixing” anything. This is not always feasible, as some papers are very long, or because some papers have major zombies right from the get-go. The thing I try and do with most short papers is read the whole thing with the student and make little marks on the page to remind me of things we need to talk about. This makes the process go much faster. When I first started tutoring, I would read through, line for line, and discuss issues as I saw them. This took way too much time, and my sessions were a lot longer than they needed to be. By reading the paper as a whole, I can easily see patterns that need fixing as well as get a feel for the big-picture issues like organization and whether or not there is a strong Thesis. If I notice the student has an issue with punctuating introductory phrases or dependent clauses, I can discuss the rules for these after we finish and the student will often catch the rest. This helps the student learn and practice a rule, rather than just “fix and forget” the problem.
A tip I use when explaining punctuation is that a period is like a stop sign. It makes the reader stop and pause. Then, I explain that a comma is like a yield sign. The reader, upon encountering a comma, must slow down, but can continue without stopping. A colon is like a gate. The reader can’t just keep going, but must realize that something big is coming after it. Lastly, I explain that a semicolon is like a rolling stop. It is both a stop sign and a yield. In driving, rolling stops don’t exist and so they shouldn’t be used much in papers either. They are very hard to pull off, and more likely than not, you’re going to end up getting in more trouble than it’s worth. You might as well stop if you can. This seems to help the students realize that semicolons are hard to use and not worth the risk. If you don’t know the rules, you probably shouldn’t try it. This is a fun analogy to use and it seems fairly effective. Every student I have told this to seems to understand the idea and what punctuation actually does for a writer.

As has become my tradition, I will include an awesome youtube video. Here is perhaps the greatest song ever written - but for a writing setting, it could be considered a run-on sentence. Watch and Enjoy!

Tips

What I have found most useful during sessions is to just think out loud. This is very hard to do, but if you can master it, you will be so much more efficient and helpful. From my won experience, I have found that when you immediately stop reading and sit in silence, it becomes extremely uncomfortable for both sides. By simply saying what you are thinking about, you take the silence away. I believe that silence breeds insecurity in tutees. When you stop reading, the tutee knows that you are thinking about something, and if they do not know, they will probably jump to a worst case scenario, such as you judging them. If the tutor just starts rambling on about something, at least the tutee will know what you are saying. Known unknowns are scary. This does not mean that you should just ramble on about any random subject. I think that anything you say about the paper is perfectly acceptable, so long as it is positive or constructive.

Another thing that I have found useful is to ask questions, even if you understand the material. This tip is extremely helpful when looking at analytical or argumentative papers. Even though a certain statement might be widely known and understood, it is always good to make sure and explain how or why it is the way it is. Do not feel afraid to ask the tutee "why or how does this relate?" Asking questions such as this is the best thing you can do for a tutee that is writing an analysis or otherwise. By asking questions, you call on their own knowledge to improve the paper. You give them no answers. This means that they improve their paper by their own means. That is the tutor's job.

Tricks and Tips!

So what's the best trick you've figured out in tutoring? Some clever way to explain thesis? Some brilliant way to demonstrate transitions?

What Stand-up Comedy Can Teach Us About Transition Sentences

Comedian Jim Gaffigan is standing in front of a sold-out crowd at the Comedy Improv in Houston, Texas. His set of jokes dealing with laziness and staying in bed has done well. He has the audience in his hand. All that's left now is to move into his final set of jokes. This final set is the one he is best known for and it always kills. The only problem?

It's about bacon.

This is a broad leap. How does one go from talking about bed to talking about bacon? Most people don’t naturally associate the two. He needs to shift the dialouge. He needs a segue.

In short, he needs a transition sentence.

So how does he connect these two paragraphs in the dialogue of his stand-up act? First, he tells a small joke about breakfast in bed. Then he says this line:

JIM G: Of course, what makes breakfast in bed so great is the fact that you’re lying down and eating BACON, the most beautiful thing on earth.

That's it. The crowd cheers and he launches into his bacon bit. Beds are never mentioned again. The remainder of the set—about five minutes and 20-odd jokes—deals only with bacon. Very few people even notice the transition. But it--and a dozen like it--was there.

Comedians are professional transitioners.

I've had many tutoring sessions where the tutee asks me to look at transitions. I've had even more where they didn't, but we ended up talking about them anyway. Transitions are a big part of that evasive, etheral writing ideal everyone seeks--the pot of gold at the end of the writing rainbow--Flow. Students seem to know they need to transition, but they don't know how to write one.

And that's why we should look to the comedians.

Now, it's obvious that the transitions comedians use aren't exactly subtle. Gaffigan has another bit where he talks about Waffle House, a chain of breakfast restaraunts similar to IHOP. Before this bit he does a bit on babies and changing diapers. Here's the transition he uses:

JIM G: Speaking of diapers, I went to Waffle House last night.

Not subtle (and in this case, that's part of the joke). But it's there. And that's the most important part. Many students seem to think a transition has to be some profound, brilliant statement that is far beyond their capacity to ever write. It isn't. It's simple. It can often be done in less than ten words. All we have to do is connect one idea to another.

Which is what comedians do. They are great illustrations of how to transition.

More examples:

Going from jokes on marriage to jokes on camping:

JIM G: I married a woman who loves to camp. I am what you call "indoorsy." My parents never took me camping. You know why? Because they LOVED me.

From camping to hammocks:

JIM G: I'm indoorsy. The only thing I like to do outside is lie in a hammock. It’s hard to do anything once you get in a hammock because you can’t get out. It’s like a giant net for catching lazy people.

From hammocks to bed:

JIM G: Of course, the hammock is just the outdoor bed.

And then from bed to bacon:

JIM G: Of course, what makes breakfast in bed so great is the fact that you’re lying down and eating BACON, the most beautiful thing on earth.

And finally, just because it's funny, this bit:

JIM G: I even like the name "bacon." You can’t tell me the success of Kevin Bacon isn’t somehow tied to his name.

“Who’s in this movie?"

"Kevin Bacon."

"Hmmm. Sounds good.”

Again, the most important part of a transition is that it's there. Many students miss this. I propose that a better way to teach this isn't through cracking open the old tome of English grammar and composition, but by opening up a YouTube page and spending some quality time with Jim Gaffigan, Mike Birbiglia, or Brian Regan.