My initial reaction to online tutoring was "wow that's a good way to get involved considering how much technology impacts college students." Think about it. Many college students prefer online classes to meeting in person. I am not one of these people but i know many students really like taking their classes online. An online tutoring option is a good idea.
However, i think that it would not be beneficial for me as a client or a tutor. As a whole, students spend way too much time in front of the computer anyway, and some face to face interaction in a writing center helps break up the norm. I think that personality is very important and it is much harder to show your personality online. Also, you hear frequently that nonverbal communication is very important and i feel that it is crucial in a tutoring situation. So basically my assessment is that it is a good option to have because some people's personalities would probably be more comfortable in this situation.
Carlson and Williams make a good point when they say "the premises for online tutoring are noble - to improve access to campus writing centers and to narrow distances between students and tutors. Time constraints, proximity, and introverted personalities often keep students from attending tutoring sessions" (285). Time management is very important in a student's life and often times a person's schedule will not conform to our operational hours, 9-6.
After class i decided that i kind of like online tutoring, although it is not something i would want to do everyday because i hate reading from a screen. I like the idea of being able to sit and think about something for a little bit without them staring at me. There seems to be a little less pressure in an online environment. I still conclude that there will be a bigger communication barrier online. I also think it is important to first build a very strong writing center before a successful OWI can be build.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Article
In the assigned article, Matthew Ortoleva asks when it is appropriate for a session to become textually based. This is an age old question that will likely exist as long as there are writing centers. I think this is something that the individual tutor needs to decide for themselves. I doubt there can ever be a guideline to go by. Each session and client is unique and the tutor should just use their judgement.
Ortoleva discusses the "back and forth movement." I think this is a good compromise between the client and tutor. This way both parties wants and needs are fullfilled.
I can relate to the students being concerned with their grade and the "right now" scenario. It it very typical of our fast pace Americanized society to want the quick fix and solution. We often claim that we'll just fix it good enough to function for now, but we will come back to it later to look over the long term possibilties. This rarely happens. This applies to much more than a college paper. How many times have you just stuck tape on something and claimed you would fix it later? or just put five dollars of gas in for now but you will fill up later?
My solution to the consultant's issue with helping a science or engineering student is to have them meet with the subject based tutor prior to meeting with the writing tutor. This would relieve any stress from the writing consultant to worry about content or format and would enable them to focus on the writer. If this is not a possiblity, maybe this is the time to strictly work with the text.
I had a session a few weeks ago with an OT student. Since i was unfamiliar with the process of a paper such as hers and many of the terms and processes, i aske several questions about the content. I pointed out that not everyone will be familiar with the jargon used in her paper so a short description may be beneficial. She seemed very accepting of this advice and commented that it was not something she had thought about before.
Matthew's decision to make the tutoring session with Karen text based seemed to be sufficient. Karen had brought a sixth or seventh draft of this paper to the writing room and said that she was to the point she could not catch her own errors. I think this is a very good stage of the writing process to help the client with the text of their paper. This scenario is much different than the most frequent scenario that takes place at our writing center. Most of the time a client comes in with a paper that they typed up late the night before and haven't even read over it since they typed it.
Ortoleva discusses the "back and forth movement." I think this is a good compromise between the client and tutor. This way both parties wants and needs are fullfilled.
I can relate to the students being concerned with their grade and the "right now" scenario. It it very typical of our fast pace Americanized society to want the quick fix and solution. We often claim that we'll just fix it good enough to function for now, but we will come back to it later to look over the long term possibilties. This rarely happens. This applies to much more than a college paper. How many times have you just stuck tape on something and claimed you would fix it later? or just put five dollars of gas in for now but you will fill up later?
My solution to the consultant's issue with helping a science or engineering student is to have them meet with the subject based tutor prior to meeting with the writing tutor. This would relieve any stress from the writing consultant to worry about content or format and would enable them to focus on the writer. If this is not a possiblity, maybe this is the time to strictly work with the text.
I had a session a few weeks ago with an OT student. Since i was unfamiliar with the process of a paper such as hers and many of the terms and processes, i aske several questions about the content. I pointed out that not everyone will be familiar with the jargon used in her paper so a short description may be beneficial. She seemed very accepting of this advice and commented that it was not something she had thought about before.
Matthew's decision to make the tutoring session with Karen text based seemed to be sufficient. Karen had brought a sixth or seventh draft of this paper to the writing room and said that she was to the point she could not catch her own errors. I think this is a very good stage of the writing process to help the client with the text of their paper. This scenario is much different than the most frequent scenario that takes place at our writing center. Most of the time a client comes in with a paper that they typed up late the night before and haven't even read over it since they typed it.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Things i forgot to say in the last one
As i was reading through blogs i remembered that i forgot to mention a few things in my blog about our reading yesterday...
1)i thought it was a really good idea to have the tutor do the mechanical part of the writing process, such as typing or taking notes, so that the LD student could think without any distraction. actually this sounds like a good idea i need to find a typist so that i can just think and they can do the mechanical part!
2) I also feel it would be a good idea to have the writing center tutors include a representative sample of the non-traditional population campus. This would be effective in many schools. For example, Ivy tech would likely have more adult tutors than we would because the number of adult students is probably much higher. (i don't know this as a fact but my mom went to ivy tech at age 49 to buffer an old associates degree and she said most of her classes were people her age)
1)i thought it was a really good idea to have the tutor do the mechanical part of the writing process, such as typing or taking notes, so that the LD student could think without any distraction. actually this sounds like a good idea i need to find a typist so that i can just think and they can do the mechanical part!
2) I also feel it would be a good idea to have the writing center tutors include a representative sample of the non-traditional population campus. This would be effective in many schools. For example, Ivy tech would likely have more adult tutors than we would because the number of adult students is probably much higher. (i don't know this as a fact but my mom went to ivy tech at age 49 to buffer an old associates degree and she said most of her classes were people her age)
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
reading response 8
Honestly, i don't have much to say about this reading selection. I agreed with most of what it had to say and felt a lot of it was common sense such as, students with learning disablities "need more specific help than other students" (292). The biggest thing i feel writing tutors, and anyone who encounters students with learning disablities, should keep in mind is to avoid making any assumptions. Do not assume they know or do not know something. Actually, i think all assumptions should be cast aside in the writing center setting. I also stress that it is unlikely we will even know that a client has a learning disablity.
I found the case study about Barb to be intriguing. I am very unfamiliar with the concept of spatial learning and am interested in learning more. I should also point out that i know very little about any learning disabilities. This is something i feel that I should be more informed of.
I thought that the session between David and his writing advisor went very well. Asking David such direct questions really seemed to stimulate a whole new line of thinking for him. I would tend to worry that i would be insulting if i asked "obvious questions" but i feel that they did it in a very effective manner. The method of keeping David's mind off of the paper that he was worried about worked well. I think a big problem with students with learning disabilities, or any student, is the fact that they get overwhelmed easily and early in the writing process. By the tutor doing this, David was able to focus only on what was happening in the session at that particular moment. (245)
I am glad that Neff included the section entitled social interaction because i know that many people with learning disablities lack an understanding of personal space. The possible solutino that is listed seems like a very sophisticated and professional way to handle the situation.
I would like to see some specific training for tutoring students with learning disabilites. If i were handed the task now i would feel very inadequate.
I found the case study about Barb to be intriguing. I am very unfamiliar with the concept of spatial learning and am interested in learning more. I should also point out that i know very little about any learning disabilities. This is something i feel that I should be more informed of.
I thought that the session between David and his writing advisor went very well. Asking David such direct questions really seemed to stimulate a whole new line of thinking for him. I would tend to worry that i would be insulting if i asked "obvious questions" but i feel that they did it in a very effective manner. The method of keeping David's mind off of the paper that he was worried about worked well. I think a big problem with students with learning disabilities, or any student, is the fact that they get overwhelmed easily and early in the writing process. By the tutor doing this, David was able to focus only on what was happening in the session at that particular moment. (245)
I am glad that Neff included the section entitled social interaction because i know that many people with learning disablities lack an understanding of personal space. The possible solutino that is listed seems like a very sophisticated and professional way to handle the situation.
I would like to see some specific training for tutoring students with learning disabilites. If i were handed the task now i would feel very inadequate.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Reading Response 7
I am going to jump on the bandwagon and agree that my biggest cultural preference is the format and concision of a typical academic essay. Frankly I acquired this taste from getting many returned essays in middles school that said “too wordy, be more concise.” My personal opinion used to be that style and argument were the most important points in writing but now I have become “one of them” and have adapted to my linear ways of writing.
When I see what appears to be a cultural difference in an ESL students writing I usually take note of it and bring it up in discussion. Often times the clients have asked me “how do you say this here?” Generally, I just give them my answer and explain it to them. The decision of whether or not they want to change it is entirely up to them. The biggest thing I have noticed is that in trying to say one thing the ESL students typically end up saying the opposite. In this case I bring it to their attention and ask them to clarify what they are trying to say. If I find that they are in fact trying to describe the opposite I make them aware of it.
The most important things to be aware of and watch for are the differences between a mistake and an error. I believe this to be a very crucial part of not only ESL tutoring but of all writing sessions. I personally am well known for my typos such as “were” instead of “where” or “their” instead of “there”. This clearly does not mean that the tutor should assume I don’t know the difference but perhaps think that it is a typo and double check with the client at the end when the more important subject matter has been dealt with.
When I see what appears to be a cultural difference in an ESL students writing I usually take note of it and bring it up in discussion. Often times the clients have asked me “how do you say this here?” Generally, I just give them my answer and explain it to them. The decision of whether or not they want to change it is entirely up to them. The biggest thing I have noticed is that in trying to say one thing the ESL students typically end up saying the opposite. In this case I bring it to their attention and ask them to clarify what they are trying to say. If I find that they are in fact trying to describe the opposite I make them aware of it.
The most important things to be aware of and watch for are the differences between a mistake and an error. I believe this to be a very crucial part of not only ESL tutoring but of all writing sessions. I personally am well known for my typos such as “were” instead of “where” or “their” instead of “there”. This clearly does not mean that the tutor should assume I don’t know the difference but perhaps think that it is a typo and double check with the client at the end when the more important subject matter has been dealt with.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Reading Response 6
First of all, my favorite clients so far have been my international students! However, they have been upper level students who were in English 201 or Gen 099 rather than an ESL class. I had such a good session on Monday with a guy from
In my personal experience, ESL students are much more cooperative and eager to hear the ideas of the tutor. They seem more invested in actually learning the process rather than just “fixing” it this time for their paper. However, I must admit I have been lucky and have had very few reluctant clients. (The few I had were annoyed because they had to be there just to pass their paper).
Bruce talks about a student’s first time in the writing center on page 33 in the second paragraph. I can easily relate to this because I have never actually been to a tutor before, although it would probably benefit me to visit a Spanish tutor, and I assume I would be nervous and apprehensive about going to get help from a tutor. I found the final sentence of that paragraph to be a bit odd. It reads, “Just by walking in the door, students are admitting to themselves and everyone there that they need help” (33). I thought that was a little deep considering that this is tutoring; it is not an alcoholic support group. This is not to say that I don’t agree that clients need help or that tutors don’t offer those clients support, I just found it odd.
I think that ESL students are not the only people that “have no idea what a writing center is or how it functions” (34) and this worries me. ESL students may come from a country where there are no writing centers, so that is excusable. On the contrary, American students, especially college age students, should be well aware of a writing center and its purpose. I think one of the main reasons that this is not occurring is because of the PR for writing centers or the lack thereof. Writing rooms want their mission to focus on the student rather than the text yet today I saw a sign in the library that read “who needs help with a paper?”
Bruce talks about the importance of making a plan with the client. I admit to forgetting many of the methods we discuss in class, due to nerves or what have you, this is one method that I stand by and always use. I also agree with him about compliments and how paying attention to the client, in this nature, can help the student feel at ease. I am a firm believer, and follower, of compliments. They go a long way and can help people cheer up a little bit. I know I always enjoy a compliment, even if it is just about my earrings or necklace.
On page 36 Bruce discusses time management in a tutorial and how setting a plan will save time. I used the same argument in my observational analysis. However, I am unfamiliar with the clients who “come to the writing center with specific requests in mind” (36). I have yet to meet this student. So far when I have asked the client for their personal goals of the current paper, I have merely received the response, “I don’t know. My teacher just said I had to be here.” My ESL clients, on the other hand, usually have a better plan of their goals.
I also agree that writing tutors should “not attempt to fix every phrase just because it sounds different. Sometimes, these variations can be refreshing, if not poignant, and leaving them intact goes a long way toward preserving the student’s voices” (36). I tried very hard to keep some of **Slavik’s (my international client) original phrasing but still keep them grammatically correct. The story he was telling sounded really exciting from a Russian narrator’s point of view. If he would have been writing for a creative writing class I would have been hesitant to change much of anything.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
reading response 5
I really liked our revision activity in class. Before I went to last week’s class I held in my hand a very “cookie-cutter” essay that was lame and boring. In fact when I was trying to revise it I was boring myself. During class time I mainly focused on the adding method of revision. I compiled a very long and critical list of questions and comments. I wrote them as if this paper was someone else’s. I asked questions using “you.”
In my fast write I defended each comment or edited my work to answer the aforementioned questions. I ended up walking away with a completely different idea and approach to my paper. I am much more pleased with it now.
On another note:
This week I tutored a former ESL student. She was from Turkey and was working on a paper for 098. At first I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to understand what she was trying to say or that I would not get my ideas across to her properly. After a few minutes I found that we related quite well. At one point she said that she thinks it is interesting that people are generally more familiar with the grammar for their second language than they are with their native language. She said that she could read a Turkish essay and notice an error but would not be able to explain why it is wrong. I told her that this also occurs frequently in English writing because we are so tempted to say “I don’t know why it is wrong but it is because it just sounds wrong.” The session ended up going very well and we accomplished a lot. I was afraid that I would put too many words in her mouth but she came up with everything on her own and I just aided her.
In my fast write I defended each comment or edited my work to answer the aforementioned questions. I ended up walking away with a completely different idea and approach to my paper. I am much more pleased with it now.
On another note:
This week I tutored a former ESL student. She was from Turkey and was working on a paper for 098. At first I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to understand what she was trying to say or that I would not get my ideas across to her properly. After a few minutes I found that we related quite well. At one point she said that she thinks it is interesting that people are generally more familiar with the grammar for their second language than they are with their native language. She said that she could read a Turkish essay and notice an error but would not be able to explain why it is wrong. I told her that this also occurs frequently in English writing because we are so tempted to say “I don’t know why it is wrong but it is because it just sounds wrong.” The session ended up going very well and we accomplished a lot. I was afraid that I would put too many words in her mouth but she came up with everything on her own and I just aided her.
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