'shirley, I' do Not, understand Thee"!

Hello Blog!

What kind of whacky grammar rules was I taught? Well, the grammar rules that I learned were not so whacky as they were confusing and degrading. I learned grammar through the “Shirley Method.” I do not know how many people have heard of this method before, but it was torture. I did not understand a word of it and I do not think that it helped very much in teaching me how to write effectively.

                For instance, I never learned the correct place to put a comma. I just thought that it came after a natural breath in a sentence. I know that the “Shirley Method” teaches comma rules, but I just never learned them because no one ever taught me. When I went to middle school, I transferred schools so that I was in a different town that used a different curriculum. Every student there had been learning the stupid “Shirley Method” ever since they were three years old (that may be a slight exaggeration, but it felt this way to me), so by the time I started going to school there, no one ever explained the rules to me. They just started chanting off “Subject, verb, direct object, indirect object, complete thought. Is this a sentence? Yes. Rule Four. Blah, blah, blah….” I had no idea what in the world they were talking about. Sure, I knew what a subject was. Yes, I have had some practice with verbs. Hey, I even know what adverbs, adjectives, and prepositions are, but I did not understand the chanting business.

                They also labeled everything. Possessive Pronoun Adjective was labeled “PPA.” Say what? I did not understand and no one explained it to me. I had to guess on everything. When one does not understand the material and is guessing from what they think they understand, all kinds of crazy grammar rules come to surface. When do you use an exclamation point? You use it whenever you want to strongly express something. That meant that I used exclamation points profusely. In reality, exclamation points should almost never be used in academic writing and sparingly in creative writing. Let’s be honest, most things in a paper are not truly worthy of the explicit signature of an exclamation point. What about writing an organized paper? It must be a five paragraph essay, of course. Wrong answer. Your thesis must list your three points exactly. Wrong answer. Your thesis must be one sentence and must be the last sentence of your introduction. Wrong again. None of these things are true. Sometimes they work, but they all recall a set in stone way of writing an essay. The truth is that an essay calls for a paper that can have as many paragraphs and points as one needs to as long as the theme of the paper is thoroughly explained. Theses should be at the beginning somewhere and should be fairly short, but there is no rule that says it must be in a specific place on the paper and contain one’s points exactly word for word. As long as a thesis statement tells the reader what one’s paper is about, that is enough.

                Whacky and confusing grammar rules were an extensive part of my training. Perhaps it was a good thing that I did not know the “Shirley Method” as well as everyone else. This lack of knowledge may have helped me in the long run so that I am now more flexible and loose in writing my essays. All I know is that sometimes what is taught in schools is not always what is correct. Sometimes it is just whacky.

Belated Blog 4: My Writing Journey

Belated Blog 4: My Writing  Journey/Shelley Williams/Engl 3840

Just Write Now—[and] Then—Back When

My earliest “success” with writing was in junior high for a small poem called “The Eagle” that was likely my attempt at something haiku-esque. It got published in some little junior high publication.  Still in junior high, I also got a 1^st place award for a poem called “Love Isn’t Visible.”  Poetry is my first love, and like Dickenson, I desire to be pithy when possible, and I sometimes succeed, other times not so much, but I also share with her the scribbling of a poem on anything available—a scrap of paper, paper napkins. I’ve probably even used toilet paper, and I am certain paper towels. When I've been blue, I've even written love notes to myself like fortune cookie notes that I hide to find later when I need them, and I usually have found them when I most needed them.

In high school, as a freshman, I wrote a little skit and titled one of the characters “Cactus Prick” and was called on it because it used the word “prick.” I had no idea what that meant then.  Later in college, I’d write a poem about Alan Ginsberg that used the “f” word, (because he did, and how could I write about hearing him reading at U of U without it?).  In last year’s Epiphany, the staff was supposed to submit work, and I submitted that piece, which was dumb considering my audience, but I didn’t feel like I wanted, nor had the time to, pop off something new.  I withdrew it and my other stuff.  No one “got” them, and I suppose I learned that everything needs to be written and perhaps submitted from some sense of “present moment” immediacy and audience awareness that those poems didn’t have anymore.  After all, that’s the beauty of poetry--its ability to put you into a moment of time with freshness of images and/or voice.

While a graduate student I had served as the poetry and publication editor of USU’s literary journal (at that time called Crucible, which had most often been published as a special edition of the campus newspaper.  With the help of fellow graduate student colleagues, we were able to get a grant and produce a hardbound copy for the first time in a long time.  My interest in poetry was dashed a bit when I tried to take a 4000-level course my Freshman year called Modern Poetry, which I retook later, having skipped class so many times because "The Wasteland" was just too hard to digest as a freshman. Once I was in an M.A. program, I took the poetry writing course twice.  My major professor, the now-deceased Kenneth Brewer, a former Utah Poet Laureate, liked my work about half the time and said I had a natural sense for line breaks, and the other half of the time he felt I wasn’t putting forth my best effort and was just doing “exercises.”  That’s a pretty accurate assessment—at least halfway.  After all, that’s why I like poetry—it can be just an exercise to get me thinking in a new direction, terse or not, or it can be a full-blown epic poem on the death of my first dog (my longest poem to date though I did not write it for either of those classes because it hadn't happened yet).

We also were able to submit “blind” submissions to the journal the year I was publication and poetry editor, and I did that with a personal narrative called “Safe on the Edge” about my own father’s disappearance and death (found six months after his disappearance [right here in Ogden]).  A peer grad student said it was “confessional,” but the way she said it made me feel like that was a slur.  I took second place, so I guess it worked at the time.

I read a paper at a LSU/Texas A&M Conference of Language and Literature while a grad student (the only one selected from USU, maybe the only submission).  Even after these few published items, I used to struggle with calling myself a writer as I wasn’t widely published, nor had I tried to be so.  I essentially use writing as a way of thinking aloud on paper, of discovering what I think.  I think, therefore I write.  And I’ve discovered, that’s okay.

I journal and enjoy it and spawn many poems from it, though I go for long periods of not writing at all. Often I just get too busy living that I don’t write or my writing is restricted to note-taking (I believe Sarte said something about doing/choosing one or the other—living or writing), but I am most at peace when I am doing both/and (how’s that for almost ending on a conjunction?).  I used to tell my students (that I taught as a TA and also a semester in 2000 as an instructor in a misnamed program called SUCCESS) that you have to know the rules to break them. I still believe that.  Poetry will always be my first love for that reason—anything is possible--from formal rhyme meters to form poetry, to blank verse, (etc., [as I am being too lazy to look up or name all the kinds of poetry there are]). I’ve heard and agree that poetry is like pornography—it’s hard to name it, but you know it when you see it.  I know poetry when I write it; I write it to know it in my life.  Writing is a way I can find myself and my place in this world. It helps me examine my life and my heart, and the unexamined life or heart is always worth re-examining.

Arguments

Matthew Kunes


It is a truth universally acknowledged that everyone is wrong on the internet.


I was recently trawling through a long series of comments on a fan blog, when I came upon another epic-sized argument concerning morality, religion, and God. Naturally, the argument quickly became heated, with nearly all so-called sides using dubious logic and dogma to prove their points.


Of course, they all billed themselves as friendly, aloof, and respectful, but the content they produced seemed to belay their claims.


What is it about internet communities that fosters this kind of backwards, illogical arguing?


One of the causes is, I think, immediacy. The writing process is, well, a process, for a reason. Taking time away from writing, and then coming back for revision, helps reveal weak spots and strengthens my writing.


Members of a forum don't have that luxury; in order to stay relevant, they need to post replies within hours, if not minutes; if they wait too long, the conversation naturally moves on, or rages on, to other topics, or dies altogether.


Another cause may be the culture engendered in the internet to shoot first and ask questions later. Many posters in such an argument tend not to really read up on opposing points of view, and even when they do it is only to find more ammunition for their argument. Education is all about asking questions, but most internet flame wars are fueled by the kind of naïve simplicity that does not question it's own base assumptions. In the above argument, for instance, the following assumptions were asserted as base fact, in no particular order: Morality cannot exist without religion, religion has only caused harm to the world, science cannot prove anything and is therefore not as useful as religious truth, evolution as a theory cannot be proven by the scientific method, and so on.


(I specifically have no comment on what particular side I agree with).


In any case, this particular argument was very amusing to read through, especially since I can sympathize, to a degree, with all sides of the debate.



The internet may not be the perfect forum for discussion, but it sure is fun to watch, isn't it?

Blog 7

I’m kind of stressed out right now, so this blog post may turn out pretty bad. Please bear with me. I’m taking eighteen credit hours this semester AND working, so I feel like I’m playing a constant game of catch-up. Don’t ask me why I’m taking so many credits. It just kind of happened that way. I normally take fifteen credit hours per semester, since I have the ability to take classes tuition-free because of my scholarship. One is usually an honors class, for my Aletheia requirement, and the rest are normally business classes. Sometimes during registration I get into this optimistic/idealistic/unrealistic mode and I may sign up for another class that I don’t really need but want to take anyway, or agree to help out with a university organization that I’ve been asked to join. I forgot what eighteen credits felt like, and now I feel like going back in time and kicking my over-excited, ambitious self. But becoming a writing tutor was a really pleasant, unexpected surprise. I walked into the Writing Center with a recommendation and walked out with a job. It was really great, and I definitely appreciate the extra income. When I’m not helping students with their papers, I’m usually working on homework for the tutor class or for another class. I hope the other tutors don’t think I’m anti-social because lately I just don’t have much time for conversations. On Friday, I applied for an internship through the Walker Institute (thanks for your help Matt & Claire!), which I hope will lead to a political/financial internship here or in Washington D.C. I’ve lived a pretty sheltered life, so the possibility of living on my own in Washington D.C. is both exciting and frightening. I also want to apply for a summer internship with Goldman Sachs or Zions Bank. Goldman is a lot more competitive and their application deadline is in November, so I’ll be focusing on them first. I met one of their recruiters at the Goddard School’s Business and Industry Night last Wednesday (hooray for inside contacts) so hopefully she’ll remember me when my application shows up on her desk. Studying for the LSAT and the GMAT is another thing floating around in the back of my mind. I need to take them this summer, the plan being that should I choose to pursue a JD/MBA, I will have both scores to bolster my application to graduate school. Oh, and I also want to try out for WSU Orchestra in the fall of next year, so I should start practicing again soon so that I have something decent to play at the audition. So now that you know about my big plans for the next year or so, I think I will end this before I start to ramble again.

Getaway.

Right now I am thinking about the European trip my husband and I are planning next year. Ever since I graduated from high-school there is nothing I wanted more than to get away; to get lost. I crave unfamiliarity and strangeness. I want to find myself not knowing where I will sleep at night or where I will be the next day. The absence of security; something I have had my whole life. Financial security, emotional security, physical security. Although it provided me with a pleasant and happy life, it did little for my growth and understanding of the world. There is something about Europe that has always called to me. The allure of the landscape, the diverse cultures, the rich history, the people. As I immersed myself in my education, I found the challenge of escape daunting. There was never a right moment. Before now, I was not financially stable, I was in a steady relationship, and I was knee-deep in schoolwork. It did not seem as though I would ever make it to Europe. 

However, after getting married in June, my husband and I found ourselves stable enough to dream. We finally decided that after next summer, when he graduated with his BA degree, we would be Europe-bound for several months. I would postpone my degree, and pick up right where I left off when I got home. Our first destination will be Ireland, and then we will make our way to the mainland. We are going to head up to Scandinavia while the weather is reasonable, and eventually make our way down along the French Rivera to the coast of Italy while the beaches are still warm. From there, we will infiltrate the mountainous areas in Europe, and spend the rest of our time bumming from city-to-city, doing our best to see all the splendor of Europe. We may have to make some adjustments to hit up festivals such as: La Tomatia in Spain, and Octoberfest in Germany. Needless to say, we are ecstatic with this decision. We spend all of our days researching all things Europe. We are aware of our station in life, and the uncertainty of the future. This motivates us all the more to pursue our dreams.

Blog 6: Learning Styles

Concerning learning styles, I’m not sure that they are as easy to identify as they seem. My own learning style is definitely Visual-Verbal. I’ve been a bookworm all my life. As a kid, looking for answers to whatever I felt curious about, I would sooner read a book than ask an adult. Seeing things written out offers me the best form of clarification, even when it’s just me writing things down in my planner.

I have a professor that I think may be either Auditory or Visual Non-verbal, because her teaching style is certainly not supportive of learning styles like mine. She talks a great deal, but does not use a PowerPoint to help us to follow along, and due to her thick accent, you have to listen very closely in order to distinguish what she’s actually saying. Otherwise, the cryptic symbols and equations she draws on the board will remain a mystery. I find myself learning more from the text book than I do from her. I don’t mean to complain, but I can see how frustrating it might be for someone with a certain learning style to deal with an educational system that focuses mainly on one or two learning styles.

The other day, I tried identifying a particular tutee’s learning style. At the beginning of the session, she picked up a pink colored pencil and giggled, saying how much she liked pink. She would draw arrows and diagrams of what was I talking to her about, so I took a chance and suggested that her style might be visual non-verbal. She agreed with a non-committal “maybe”, and then said that she really wasn’t very good at drawing and she normally wrote things out. I wasn’t sure what to say. Aren’t visual non-verbals usually good at drawing? I really have no idea since my learning habits don’t necessary align with that learning style.

I think that since learning habits can be so diverse, it is not valid to sort people into exactly one learning style. They may have a greater part in one style and a lesser part in another style. I’m not planning on becoming a teacher, but to those in the class who are, I think it would be a very good idea to implement a variety of styles into your teaching to help support the wide variety of learners that you will encounter.

Let's Blame the Previous English and Language Teachers! (Blog 8)

I do not even remember any crazy grammar rules I was taught except being able to use any antecedent for any pronoun. For example, I could write “A tutee should edit their paper before coming into the Writing Center to avoid wasting my time,” and I would think it was correct because that is what I was taught. I was never marked down for incorrect pronoun-antecedent agreement until my internship as a writing tutor here. When Claire first showed me what I was doing wrong, I was in extreme disequilibrium about why it was wrong and how to not do it anymore. Hell, I did not even know what an antecedent was.

It took me awhile to learn how to address this error in my own paper and even longer when taking grammar quizzes online for practice. I am normally a perfectionist, so I got frustrated with myself because I did not pick up on the concept quickly. Also, with my mother being an editor, I would like to think I inherited her perfect grammar usage, not just her style. C’est la vie, I guess.

 After about a week or so of taking the online quizzes, reading the grammar book Claire let me borrow, and continuously revising my papers, I finally grasped how to properly do pronoun-antecedent agreement. I also could talk tutees through how to do it in their own papers, so I was elated. Now, I know it is “A tutee should edit his or her paper before coming into the Writing Center to avoid wasting my time” or “Tutees should edit their papers before coming into the Writing Center to avoid wasting my time.”

It is really amazing to me how many times I see others, especially the developing writing, make the same grammatical mistakes I made. I am almost certain that many of the grammatical mistakes writers make are due to the way they speak. I know that this is due to my culture. As a Washington, D.C. urbanite, I speak in slang ninety percent of the time when I am with my friends and about sixty percent when I am around my family. This used to be problematic for me because I wrote how I talked and thought in my mind. This is definitely the case with pronouns and their antecedents. So, when I have seen these types of mistakes in tutees’ writing, I let them know that they are not stupid but human. Also, the only way to get good at a concept is to practice it for the most part. Tutees seem to be grateful to know this and be given tools, such as online grammar quizzes for practice, so they can become better writers and be able to sharpen their skills.

Now that I think about it, school boards should make English and Language teachers, especially Advanced Placement instructors, take writing courses. Not only will it increase their own knowledge, but they can pass it on to those they teach, so years down the road, their students will not look like they have never had any type of correct grammar exposure.

Evaluations

Hello, blog!

Once again, I have no idea what to talk about. What’s on my mind is something that I do not think that this blog needs to know about, so I will talk about something else.

This week is evaluation week…dun, dun, dun (onomatopoeia for“Surprise! Something bad just happened.”) For one week out of the semester, every student that comes into the Writing Center gets to fill out an evaluation of the tutor that helped work on his or her paper. That is a little scary. I do not really like having someone else, especially a peer, “grading” me, maybe even judging me. I do not like that aspect of evaluation.

However, there are some very good parts of being evaluated as well. The best and, in my opinion, the most important, is the fact that we get to learn from other people about how we can improve ourselves professionally. The evaluation asks questions about our friendliness as well as questions about our style as tutors. Did the student feel like he or she was helped? Did the student feel greeted in a professional, yet pleasant, way? And on and on it goes.

I think that if I were a student coming into the Writing Center and the office assistant asked me to fill out this survey, I would probably respond, “Ok, whatever,” but in my mind I would be thinking, “Good God, another survey??!!”  How accurate are the evaluations that are filled out? Are they biased? Did the student even take the appropriate amount of time to fill out the evaluation and truly think about what was put down? If I were in their shoes, I do not think that I would take the time to really fill out the evaluations to the best of my ability. However, it’s one of our only ways to get an idea about what students really think about us tutors. Valid or not, at least it gives us a general direction to look to for improvement.

Based on the three sessions that I have taken so far today, is there anything specifically that I have noticed that I may need to work on for myself? After placing myself in the students’ shoes, perhaps I need to work on the overall focus of the paper a little more. I talk a lot about using what I know rather than paying close attention to content, but I am starting to change my opinion. If I do not pay attention to the content of the paper, how am I supposed to be able to effectively look at the overall theme and evaluate what needs to be modified regarding the thesis, introduction, and conclusion? Sometimes I like to go through the paper paragraph by paragraph and label each section, especially if the student specifically asks me about organization issues. However, I still find myself reading through a paper, getting to the conclusion, and realizing that I have not paid any attention to what the paper is about. This is a problem.

Evaluations can be good or bad, it just depends on how you look at it.

What's on My Mind? Lamarckian Evolution (Blog 7)

On Friday, Claire had us watch what I thought was a riveting TED Talk by Vilayanur Ramachandran titled, "The Neurons that Shaped Civilization." The video explored the ways in which mirror neurons learn and adopt behaviors they both experience and see. To be perfectly honest, I think this video should be one of the first things shown to all students in the 3840/5840 class.

While I cannot claim to be skilled at scientific study or exploration, I am nonetheless drawn to science in how it explains the natural world and the nature of humankind. Essentially, all the tutor training theory we have gotten thus far can be traced back to this one seven minute video. The very first day of tutor training we did an activity where we could all experience an "Aha!" moment. The "Aha!" moment is explained by Ramachandran as a phenomenon of Lamarckian evolution. The child (student) can observe the parent (tutor/teacher) doing or demonstrating a particular action and then understand how to perform the same action themselves. This "Aha!" moment mimics the examples outlined above. We played a game where we observed peers giving several answers to a question until we understood their methods and then mimicked them for ourselves.

Similarly, the one-on-one tutoring methods we have been taught to enact also relate back to this one explanation. We point out an error in the students writing and demonstrate how to correct it one, maybe two, times. Then, we hand the skill over to the student who has been using their mirror neurons to adopt our actions. They then practice the skill for themselves thus cementing the action and observational reasoning in their brain for future use. In doing so, the Writing Center acts as an education hub of academic Lamarckian  evolution. The tutors act as the parent in evolving the necessary academic skill of writing among the student body. The organization of the Writing Center seems to have drawn on historical phenomena of growing evolutionary skill and adapted it to the world of higher education.

While I can understand how many people who find comfort in the Humanities may be intimidated by the language and subjects explored by Ramachandran, I can nonetheless stress the importance of this video on the psyche of the tutor. It gives scientific rather than statistical validation to the job we do. While I do not aim to undermine the statistics presented in the classroom, I find the seven minute video more compelling in examining and evolving my current and future teaching techniques.

Potpourri 2

                What’s on my mind? You may regret asking that one…

                I am at the point of the semester where I am starting to feel the weight of finals beginning to press down. This, in addition to the cooling and darkening days, tends to make this a pretty miserable time of year. This then drains my energy and makes schoolwork harder, connecting back to the beginning in a loop of anxiety and miserable moods. I get through it with no problems, but I wonder if I will always be able to cope with the looming deadlines. I am impressed with the students that have families and children while being enrolled full time. I know that I would not be able to juggle all of that and still dedicate the proper amount time each needs, because I absolutely must have my decompression time.

                Everyone has their own ways of blowing off steam, and I am pretty stubborn about having time to do mine. I have, on several occasions, irked friends and family by refusing invites and cancelling plans because I am not properly relaxed from the work or school that dominate my time. It’s not that I dislike going out and being around a lot of people, but it is rarely relaxing and is as energy consuming as working. I will go through anti-social phases where all I want to do is read horror novels or play Japanese Role-playing games straight through a weekend. I am a bit of a jerk about it sometimes, because I know that when I get my slack time it makes my work and social interactions better.

                My chill out time has been spectacular this weekend, as I have watched two Doctor Who serials from the 60’s that were considered lost forever. It is really odd to think of a time before home video of T.V. shows, but as this was the stuff of science fiction in the 60’s, many of the older episodes of DW were lost or destroyed. The two that were found came from a station in Nigeria that had rebroadcast the show when it was still a British colony. A stack of film cans, sitting in a storeroom for 45 years, were discovered and released on iTunes last weekend. It is strange to think that the film copy was the only one for decades and now there are thousands of digital copies all over the world in a matter of days. I love thinking about stuff like that, but it makes my head hurt a bit tonight…

Gary Lindeburg

Blog 6: Stranger

Preston Carter

I have just finished reading The Stranger by Albert Camus. It is the first existentialist work I have fully finished reading. It is a great book, and I hope to read much more of Albert Camus’ work. The Stranger has a number of interesting social critiques as well as its major existentialist overtones. It is a beautiful work of the philosophy, and it is one of my favorite pieces thus far.

            The book has left me wondering about a number of things. I notice that the existentialists seem to formulate some sort of response to the main problem which they encounter. And, for me, each response always seem insufficient, like some desperate attempt to justify living after realizing its hollow core.

            For Albert Camus, I suppose it is the recognition of the absurd, the existentialist problem, and then the response which is the first step to becoming an absurdist. With the recognition, one must sufficiently acknowledge and respond to the problem of absurdity. It would seem that one must do so with authenticity and sincerity.

            But, why does this make someone a hero? How does this make someone superior to any other?

            With Nietzsche, in a summarized version, the superman responds to the world by saying yes to life. The superman lives for the aesthetic experience and for the prosperity of man. The superman pushes culture forward, rejects morality, and triumphs over the rest of man.

            But, here we are assuming evolution has a direction. We are assuming that there are some measurements by which we can compare a man to another man. Sure, we can suppose these, and we can look at the world within the scope of some particular value or virtue, but the process can only quickly unfold itself. The goals of most existentialists are to break down systems and show their worthlessness, but afterwards, they all tend to proceed to try and rebuild a new system.

            I wonder if there are any philosophers who push the existentialist implications to their end. From there, there is no point to proceed; no point to continue living but no point to end life either. A true nihilist feeling and an apathetic loneliness. Perhaps there is nowhere to go. Maybe it is required of social animals to return to society, to begin justifying life another time. To desperately try to create meaning.

            For anyone who has come to the existentialist conclusion, it would see that this is the only option. The only option is to create meaning. Because we aren’t The Stranger; we aren’t indifferent to our death. The indifference of the universe only pears on us for brief moments and not for our entire existence. We have relationships which we care about; we feel them to be more than superficial. We feel that happiness is worth something. And eventually we reach the end of our thought; we do this time and time again. Pondering the universe until our mind cannot comprehend until we comprehend just enough to know that there will be no end. Until contradictions and paradoxes start caving in on themselves. And it all returns back to Socrates who we see to begin our tradition of thought.

             Last week I pointed out to a student that they seemed to learn best whenever they wrote something down. Often times they asked me to repeat what I had said for them to write it down on the separate pads of paper. I told them that this is a good learning strategy to keep up, and I suggested that they write a number of the things down on their paper.

Stressed Out

Preston Carter

Blog 7

            The most emotional student that I have dealt with was under a great deal of stress when she came in. I could tell that she was hurried as we sat down for our session. She came into the Writing Center only a few minutes before a large paper was due. She had just started working on it that morning, and she was worried about getting a second bad grade as her first paper had not received a grade that was to her standards. Due to the amount of stress she was under, I decided that I get right down to business and work through the paper with her. I think she appreciated this attitude, and we were able to cover a lot of ground quickly.

            We discussed the formatting issues; we talked about organizing, structure, and syntax issues. There were a few times where she was a bit angry while I took too much time explaining something, but in the end it was a productive session. She learned a lot during the session, and I left her with the bulk of the work to do on her own. She was a bright student and understood the concepts we discussed. At the point where I felt she could be more productive on her own and that we had already discussed the major questions she had with the paper, I told her that I thought the revision process would go faster with her working alone. I told her that this will also allow her the practice needed to instill some of this information in her memory.

            There are other types emotionally charged sessions which I have only heard about, but this session was actually very productive. I am the type of person who likes working hard after procrastinating; I become much more focused with an impeding deadline than I am otherwise, depending on the work. I was able to help this student work on her paper, and at the end of the session I suggested that she bring her paper by earlier in the writing process for a more relaxed session.

Moving East & Moving Forward

A lot of things as usual are on my mind. I guess the anxiety of moving back home after my divorce and graduation this spring comes to mind. As happy as I am getting that poison out of my life, I am afraid to start over. Being an only child, I have always been taken care of, even when my one, or both, of my parents were not around. Someone was always there to take care of me, whether it was financially, emotionally, or physically.

Well, no one is taking care of me this time. Especially after my two and a half month stay over the summer with my mother and her new wife, moving out, and stay the remaining weeks with my in-laws, I would rather not go there again. So, I have begun my apartment search for a one bedroom or studio apartment, hopefully under a thousand dollars a month (yes, it is that expensive in Maryland sadly). I definitely want one in safe neighborhood, though, and a balcony, walk-in closet, and spacious kitchen. But, first things first. I need to save up money, so I volunteered to take on a second tutoring job, even though my schedule is extremely daunting already. So, I now go to class five days a week, work seven days a week, observe in the Children’s School two hours a week, tutor at a local middle school a few times a month, and I am the secretary and treasurer of an organization on campus. Not to mention I still homework, essays, projects, readings, and exams to do as well. But, my freedom and independence later is worth my exhaustion now.

As I was saying before I went on my mini tirade, I am moving back to my home state. Most likely, I will be driving my 2001 Hyundai Sonata with my two best friends, Dani and Kyle, across the country, traveling thousands of miles during the course of a week. I think I am either insane or just will need that long of a break from reality. I think it will be fun though.

So, while I am saving money and building my credit score (since I never had a credit or a need for credit until this past summer), I am getting together my résumé and searching for potential jobs that I could make at least $25,000. So far, I have a lot of daycare and preschools on my list. If the worst happens, which would probably be working retail again, I will move with someone who has a bedroom and bathroom to spare until I can be fully on my own.

I am just trying to remain positive about my situation. Life gave me lemons, so I am painting them gold. I guess that is just my Piscean optimism rearing its annoying head again. With that, I am not spending another frivolous penny – except for my trip home in two months and my birthday this February – and will be asking for money for my apartment and stuff to go in it for Christmas this year. It will be hard, but I know I can do anything I truly set my mind to…I actually feel a lot better after writing this blog post. Go figure.

Metacognitive Dissonance

That title sounds impressive, but it isn't that great. Also, I feel like I mixed up blog prompts, so this is my learning styles one since I already did a good slacker prompt. Basically, learning styles are something that I learned a lot about in my undergrad as well as my time as tutor (while helping Claire prepare workshops/presentations on ACT prep and College Prep). We talked a lot about them, and I even presented at the Rocky Mountain Peer Tutoring Conference on "Metacognition and the writing process." We talked about zombies. It was fun. Anywho, I am very much a kinesthetic learner, always bouncing my leg or fiddling with a pen. I have to keep my hands occupied or I can't focus. I am also a heavy auditory learner. While my hands are busy, they can't be busy taking notes. I don't take notes very well. I've learned strategies for it, but it just doesn't help me. I used the same notebook for 2 18-credit semesters because I took so few notes. I listen and understand. Some students are unsure of their learning styles - they have a metacognitive dissonance. That's fine. It's understandable. We, as tutors, need to help guide them to metacognitive clarity. If they are able to figure out how they learn, they will be able to better understand what they're learning. -Eric

Learning My Learning

As was suggested, I tried directly discussing learning styles with a student. This particular student, “Martin” came to me with a brainstormed paragraph outlining a paper for a 2000-level class in the humanities. We talked through his ideas, and he made notes extending his paper and his thoughts. I said, “You seem to learn well through reading and writing things down.”

            

“Naw,” he said. “I usually never write things down. I just think about ‘em a lot.” I laughed, and told him that I often do my first draft in a similar fashion. Both of us would think through our ideas and have a lot of the work done mentally before we ever even sit down to write. He had never been told that this is a valid method, so long as the writer actually gets out of his / her head and sits in front of the computer.

For other students, who are not so obviously verbally oriented, I will sketch out diagrams or basic pictorial representations of a concept. Sometimes it helps. Sometimes students are just too overwhelmed with their academic survival to think about and process the concept of learning styles. However, if we just inject a couple of thoughts about learning styles, students may begin to think about the topic when they have time and are cognitively prepared for the sort of self-reflection involved. 

Personally, I have a verbal learning style when it comes to academics. I like to read, think, and when possible discuss topics before diving into writing. The problem is that I too often get drawn into the research and reading. I can get so far away from my original idea, with so many connections that I get lost down the rabbit hole in the weeds, as Dr. Rogers might say. Recognizing my own learning style, and the strengths and weaknesses of it helps me stay focused and productive in my studies.