Live Tutoring Session #3

The third and final live tutoring session went very well, again. I left the session feeling very satisfied with the work I'd done with the student I was paired with. Strangely enough, I was again fortunate to work with a highly motivated student who displayed a great attitude throughout. This student was very well prepared and had a substantial amount done as it pertained to the research paper assignment. I was initially shocked by the student's work (quality/quantity) and his confidence while we spoke about the assignment. However, I must note that even though I felt good about the session as a whole, I walked away feeling as if I cheated the student because of the time constraint period we worked under. I felt as if I could've helped the student even more, as we were in deep discussion moments before the session ended.

Firstly, as mentioned above, this student was highly motivated and had a great amount done as it pertained to the assignment - this really laid the foundation for a productive, effective, and efficient session. Additionally, the warm welcome I received from the student made me feel very proud on a personal and professional level, as I was greeted with a huge smile and the words, "thanks for coming in to help me out". The student had an eagerness in his voice and body language to learn which really leaped out to me. Nevertheless, as it pertained to the actual physical copy of the student's work, which was an extension of the annotated bibliography assignment, it outlined how his research paper will be structured. The student outlined the contents of his intro, body paragraphs, and how each of his five sources will be incorporated throughout. While I was reading the student's outline, I was taken aback by his level of writing. I was was even more surprised by the way the student articulated his ideas to me while we were discussing about his topic choice; "the positives of stop and frisk". The only stumbling block that the student highlighted to me was his inability to create enough 'writing' for the final piece. More specifically, the student was worried about the 1000-1500 words requirement. Having reviewed his outlined, I quickly noted to him that the shouldn't be a problem, as the contents in the outline will require him to go over the words requirement.

While we continued our discussion about the positives (and negatives) of stop and frisk, I asked the student if he had a copy of his annotated bibliography. Unfortunately he didn't have a physical copy with him, but instead, he used his phone to access it online (blackboard). There, I reviewed the summary of all his sources to see how they will support his thesis, as well as to help him generate enough writing for the final piece. Three of the five academic articles spoke not only about the positives of stop and frisk, but they also highlighted many negatives. After reflecting on the annotated bibliography, I told the student that everything is in place for the final piece to be a success. I told him because some of his sources highlighted both positives and negatives of stop and frisk, we should work on creating a supporting sentence for his thesis that notes to his audience that there are arguments from both sides regarding the stop and frisk practice. So we went on to create a few sentence templates to use as a support for the thesis statement. One of them read along the lines of, "Even though stop and frisk is a positive police practice, there are many citizens that are opposed to the immoral and forceful actions of random police searching". I told the student to review all of sentences we created and choose one that he feels most comfortable with. That was the final activity we were able to work on as time expired on the session...
 
Reflecting on all three (live) sessions, I can say that I was able to work with some great students - all of which were very respectful, motivated, prepared, and confident as it pertained learning. I felt a great amount of satisfaction with the work I'd done, and could genuinely say that all the students I'd work with felt equally the same. I will forever be grateful for this opportunity to tutor first-hand students that I share so much in common with, having been in their position not that long ago. Teaching and learning writing goes hand-in-hand; its a never-ending progression.

Live Tutoring Session #2

My second live tutoring session went very well. I came away feeling quite accomplished in the work I'd done with the two students I worked with. Being that it was my first time working with two students at once, initially, I was a bit overwhelmed. However, because I was fortunate enough to work with two very respectful and cooperative students, the session literally flew by as we engaged in revising and improving their pieces.

Firstly, I was paired a student that had an injury to his writing hand, and before I began working with the student, the professor wanted to correct/check the paper for himself to see if he understood the handwriting. Nevertheless, after the professor corrected the paper, the session began. The professor had left a comment that read, "Good job! Just work on your concluding sentences in your body paragraphs". While silently reading the paper to myself, I found it difficult to understand the student's writing. Because of this, I regularly stopped to asked the student, "what is this word? "or "can you read this sentence?". I also noticed the glaring omission of concluding sentences as noted by the professor in the body paragraphs - both paragraphs ended with just the examples and evidence, but no connection to the student's general claim/idea. Overall though, the paper was very well written; illustrated great structure and support throughout. After reading, I told the student, let's work on constructing concluding sentences. The student had a general idea about concluding sentences, but was having problems thinking of how to start the actual sentence. I noted to him that, a concluding sentence(s) can simply tie his example and evidence to his main idea (claim) stated in the introduction. We both worked together and created a few sentence templates to choose from. One of them read along the lines of, "This personal experience is an example of the 'new-age' thinking/mindset that men should take-up more responsibilities at home... it goes along way in insuring the household chores is equally shared and in-end could potentially result in a healthier relationship".

During the last third of the session, I was paired with another student who had came in late. This student was a bit less prepared than the first student. The student only had an introduction and part of his first body paragraph constructed. Nevertheless, I read the piece and it flowed quite well - had a well written thesis and the contents in first paragraph connected well to the claim made. I then asked the student, as it pertained to the rest of the paper, 'why did you stop'? - 'are you having problems constructing the rest of the piece'?. The student said to he did not have any problems constructing the rest of the paper, he simply didn't get time to finish. He then showed me an outline he had created in advance to help him during the writing process. Like the first student, the only issue he had was concluding his body paragraphs; that final sentence(s) that ties everything together. While trying to work with both students at once, I thought it would've been a great idea for student 1 to share the notes we had complied with student 2 since it pertained to concluding sentences. It also helped that I didn't have to worry about going back and forth with both students, instead we all three bounced ideas off each other to solve this issue.

Overall, this tutoring session was very efficient, effective, and enjoyable. I was really surprised with the level of writing both students displayed. So much so, I was tempted to asked both students the reasons for them being in 099 - I resisted though. Both students were highly motivated to learn and I have no doubt that they'll do well in the CATW exam.

Education Losing T R A C K

Where's education going?

It seems like there's a hidden agenda below the surface, separating away from the moralities education intend to serve. The systematic ways in which the public education system is headed, by the claws of major corporations, is hindering the progress (and future) of  students and teachers alike. More importantly, these agendas are not only affecting those within schools, but the fundamental principles of education is increasingly losing it's primary purpose and objective(s). Investors and grassroots education pioneers are divided in their visions for the future. On one side, there's large powerful corporations like ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) who are out privatizing schools, with a primary objective on turning the public school system into a profitable business. On the other side, there's grassroots education pioneers who are out fighting against this an uphill dilemma, in which they're significantly outnumbered. Surely there's something drastically wrong with this scenario.

The general idea behind these corporations out privatizing schools is simply disturbing, especially with their priorities being solely on filling their pockets. As an aspiring educator, I feel quite strongly about the field of (public) education drifting so swiftly away from human-like moralities and principles that the upcoming generation of students will be reliant on as they seek to increase their intellect. The question looms then: How long until something is drastically done to stop these people from doing more damage?




 

Live Tutoring Session #1

My live tutoring session went very well. I thoroughly enjoyed working with the student and felt a great deal of satisfaction with the work we did during our time constraint session (20 mins). Firstly, the student displayed a great attitude throughout and welcomed all my advice regarding the revision of his paper. Additionally, I felt he was very motivated to improve the paper as he asked me several questions regarding specific details he could/should work on. In regards to the paper, I personally felt it was well constructed, but had fundamental mistakes throughout. The student had written about the "Positives of Gentrification" and had a clearly stated thesis, but his mistakes came with having too many direct quotes; which were not paraphrased and analyzed, as well as a lack of critical thinking. Additionally, there were minor mistakes with the MLA formatting as well as a few grammatical errors. However though, the paper had great ideas throughout, many of which I felt were simply misplaced and needed restructuring.

When I asked the student about his usage of so many direct quotes, he responded by saying, 'he thought that's what makes a great paper - having many direct citations'. I told him not necessarily, especially with the specifications of the assignment. However though, being that it was the first paper assigned to the class, I felt that the professor may have used the assignment to gauge the writing abilities of his students, so I understood the fundamental mistakes. Nevertheless, I left the student a goals-list as a reference to use when revising his paper. Some of the details included:

1.  Direct quotes - introduce, cite, paraphrase, and analyze them. Add critical thinking where necessary. *Refrain from using too many (ideally 1 per paragraph) 
2. Topic sentences - sentence that introduces the focal point of the paragraph 
3. MLA formatting - seek assistance from MLA guidebook (online or text)
4. Paragraph structuring - do not overload information into one large paragraph - divide thoughts and ideas evenly throughout
5. Reflect - look over paper when complete or as you write along to avoid spelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors

Expectations and Questions for Tutoring

Expectations:
I expect the two students who I'll be working with to have questions/issues for me to help address regarding their essays. 
I'm slightly nervous, but at the same time I'm quite confident in my abilities to assist both students. I'll adjust to each student's individual needs and apply the techniques discussed in class accordingly.  

Questions (student point-of-view):

• I'm having problems understanding the assignment, can you help me?
• Can you help me with my thesis?
• Do I support my thesis well enough?
• How's my sentence(s) and paragraph(s) structure?
• Is my citation correctly formatted? 
• Can you check my grammar and punctuation?
• Does my essay read well?

Tutoring Session Observation #4

My fourth and final observation was again completely different from my previous three observations (Seems like I start each blog with the same theme). Firstly, the session was even shorter than my previous observation (3rd observation 30-35 mins), something I thought might-have been impossible to replicate. It lasted just under 30 minutes but that was in large part down to the student's particular reason for visit. The student came in for help regarding her thesis statement for a five-page essay comparing two novels. Furthermore, her primary concern was wanting to know if her thesis was applicable to the assignment instructions. Without being too negative, I thought this session was the least effective of the four sessions I observed. I was left very disappointed with how the session panned out, and I went away feeling a bit sorry for the student, as I was in a similar position just a few semesters back. The tutor displayed OK body language at best, as well as an OK attitude throughout. His tone was very loud, bordering on frustration and he seemed somewhat tired.

The student had not composed the 5 pages yet, as she wanted to know if the thesis would work, hence her reason for visit. The draft had just an introduction with her thesis and snippets of a first body paragraph developing, just over 1 page in length. The tutor firstly set about by silently reading the introduction to himself followed by highlighting the thesis. He then asked the student to show him the assignment instructions to see if it would applicable. He simply stated to the student it would not work, and that she will need add a supporting sentence or reconsider her direction/views pertaining to the topic. The student reacted by having initial problems as she didn't know which direction to set out. The tutor recommended her to do "Pre-Writing" instead of simply sitting at the computer beginning to construct the entire essay at once. He said writing down general ideas about both texts and planning the structure of the paper would help in putting the final piece together. The student simple nodded, and before I knew the session was over. It seemed to me though, the student went away still a bit confused as suggested in her expression, but that could be just speculation on my behalf. Overall, I was not impressed at all about the session. I thought the tutor could've done more in helping the student with simply throwing out some ideas or asking further questions. It just seemed meh....

Tutoring Session Observation #3

My third observation was completely different from my previous two observations. Firstly, it was much shorter than the previous two sessions, it lasted roughly 30-35 minutes. Secondly, the tutor was very straightforward in his approach with the student, being very bold and loud throughout (I think this was because of his familiarity with the student as they didn't even greet and share names). The first thing he said to the student when we were walking to the cubical was, "Nice to see you again....how's it going?" I immediately recognized that the student was very comfortable working with him as they shared a couple of jokes and had good chemistry. The tutor displayed great body language throughout and generally speaking he seemed very friendly & somewhat funny...

Nevertheless, the student came in for help regarding a scholarship essay in which she wanted general feedback; if it checked off on the criteria, sentence structures, vocabulary, punctuation, word choices etc. The tutor firstly asked the student if she had a copy of the guidelines to constructing the essay. Unfortunately she did not, so the tutor then asked for us to follow him into the computer lab. In the computer lad, he then asked her to check on the website for the essay guidelines. While sitting at the computer, the tutor and student reviewed the guidelines and matched it to the contents in the paper. While reading the paper, the tutor also highlighted grammatical errors and word choices throughout. The student seemed to be in a rush for her class and that could've been the reason the session did not last the 1 hour duration. Finally, before the student left, the tutor recommended the her to come back to the writing center before submitting the final draft to double check on completion.

Tutoring Session Observation #2

My second observation was completely different from my first. Firstly, I was invited into the lounge in which the tutors reside and met with the person whose session I was paired to observe. The tutor had already been given the student's sign-in sheet, which listed the reasons for visit to the writing center. Before going out to meet with the student, the tutor showed me the sign-in sheet and shared a joke regarding the reason the student listed, which read, "fix essay". The tutor then jokingly said to me, "this might be a long session". The student came in for help regarding an ENG 102 essay in which she did poorly. Having written "fix essay" on the sign-in sheet, the tutor asked the student to state her specific reasons as for problems with the essay. The student highlighted that she may have had misunderstood the assignment instructions because her professor identified her thesis to be non-related to the topic(s). English was the second language spoken by the student, and her communication was very difficult to understand at times whilst sitting a bit distanced.

The tutor firstly set about by reading over the assignment instructions, followed by the student's essay. She then immediately stated her understanding for the possible reasons for the professor's comments and the grade given. The tutor then asked the student if it was possible to re-do the entire essay, because she will have to fully understand what the assignment is asking before constructing a new thesis. The student was completely willing to re-do the essay as she seemed very bothered by the grade. Additionally, the tutor was very helpful, kind, and displayed great body language throughout. She was also very encouraging as the student, again seemed very troubled by the grade. The tutor then explained the essay instructions in-depth until the student fully understood. One of the biggest problems that arose was that the student had not read an assigned reading prior to the assignment being given, so she automatically found herself behind. It could have also been a reason as for her misunderstanding of the assignment instructions.

Nevertheless, the tutor recommended the student to incorporate aspects of the essay and use it in the revised draft as she found some interesting points throughout. The tutor also encouraged the student to revisit the writing center before submitting the second draft or if she encountered any problems in route. (I personally felt with English being the student's second language, the particular assignment may have been a bit too complex to grasp at first).  

Tutoring Session Observation #1

During my observation at the writing center I connected some of the theories found in, "Tutoring Writing" to the session I sat through. Both the tutor and student demonstrated "Collaborative Learning" and "Talking and Writing" theories to achieve the goal initially set out prior to the session's initiation. The student came in search of guidance as it related to his short essay 'pitch' as a tour agent for his Introduction to E-Business class. Furthermore, the student asked the tutor for specific help as it pertained to the structure of his paper as well as the vocabulary and punctuation throughout. The tutor firstly set about her job by silently reading the paper, followed by stating her initial reaction to the student. The tutor then re-read the paper along with the student to identify the main points of correction that she thought was required. They went over each sentence focusing on choice of words, punctuation, and general flow. There was good communication between the pair, with the other lengthy silent moments. Additionally, the tutor was very friendly as it pertained to helping the student with the occasional moment of laughter. Overall, I thought it was quite an interesting experience observing such a session and I look forward to another soon.