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.
Monday, May 26, 2014
Friday, May 23, 2014
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.
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.
Friday, May 2, 2014
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?
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?
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