Third Tutoring but First One on One 

This morning we had the opportunity to revisit our initial ENG101 classroom. Although I was hoping to reconnect with the student I tutored the first time, I was satisfied to help today's student because she was really starting from scratch. I have learned this semester that the beginning is the ideal time for intervention.

Through our conversation we realized she had created the bibliography but it was inaccessible due to e-challenges. The good news was she had done some reading. The bad news was she didn't take notes or highlight or have a solid grasp on what she was writing.

While we spoke I realized she needed clarification on the meaning of social justice and how to connect that to her topic of child abuse. We created a cluster chart where the main circle at the top of the page held "Social Justice for Children". Through conversation and referring to the assignment we discovered she had an interest in "Mass Incarceration". We added that in a sub bubble connecting it to the main bubble after, through questioning, she made the connection between the side effects of child abuse and the potentially negative psychological repercussions of enduring this trauma and the risk of jail time. This chat helped her make connections between these two topics where she showed interest while taking a step back to contemplate the question “Why should society car”.

When our time was up she was “free writing” her first paragraph by referring to her cluster. I gave her my email address in case she would like to share her progress with me. I also complemented her on selecting such important material to discuss. I explained I may be biased because I am a childhood education major and a civic leader who is very much interested in her subject matter. Perhaps if more people wrote or discussed these issues further positive change could crystallize.      

C O L L A B O R A T I O N

As the title implies my second tutoring session on Monday May 12, 2014 was a group session made of two ENG099 students who through collaboration not only helped each other develop their essays but aided me with tutoring practice.

We employed a read aloud method where each student read their work while the other student and myself listened. I requested participation by asking them to make some comments on each others work after they read. The first student who read had already developed an introduction and three supporting paragraphs but was missing a closing paragraph and had a minor challenge in ensuring supporting sentences matched topic sentence. The second student had about a page of writing but it was a solid block of ideas that needed teasing out. His major challenge was that he was writing as though he agreed with the piece but he didn't. He had mixed feelings about it and was afraid to follow his own opinion. I explained to him that as long as his summary was on point he had the right to his own opinion.

In an attempt to aid student B, who needed to tease out his thoughts, we employed clustering. Through conversations with him I was able to write his topic in a circle at the top of the page and then orient his ideas with examples under the first circle while connecting them by a line to the topic again.

While these events were in action, student A was revisiting supporting sentences and adding to a paragraph.

   

Paulo Freire: Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Last night I had Congressman Joseph Crowley explain to our community board that Social Security was going away forever. According to him it will be reduced by 2.5% until it is completely gone. When I told him that my husband, who is a disabled US Navy veteran, and I are raising four children on social security his answer was there will be scales of course and we are teaching people how to eat better to avoid illness. Funny how he doesn't know that poor people are over weight because they can't afford to eat more expensive healthy food but I guess not experiencing poverty would make one offer such high handed resolution to telling an entire populous who have been paying for social security all their lives that money is gone. Deal with it! He also went on to explain that Social Security was never meant to be used to live off of. I'm so glad he clarified that little misconception. Now, I wonder what he is going to do when the Baby Boomers start dieing of starvation. Oh wait, he doesn't care because he won't be one of them.  

How doe this relate to Paulo Freire?

Freire posits, "True generosity consists precisely in fighting to destroy the causes which nourish false charity". What Freire is saying here is that we should not sit back and accept what the one percent dish out as excuses as to why the poor are being given consistently the short end of the stick. Apparently, CC also believes that cutting social security will resolve our economic challenges as that was stated as part of his defense. I guess ALEC, who can and have overturned congress, are not at all responsible for the disastrous state of our economics because we should never expect those with money and power to behave in the interest of the majority. It's all that waiters fault or that housekeepers fault for only working double shifts. If they expect to eat when they get older they better add a third job. Don't we have evidence proving that heart disease stems from lack of sleep? Well, it doesn't matter anyway because now we are expected to die of starvation because Social Security is silly and getting rid of it is going to fix our economy. We are going to teach you to eat better so you don't get sick="false charity". More people need to come together to speak at this table especially those who are not expected to eat. It is considered "generosity" to engage in "fighting" this because we become victims of those in power.    



    

After being exposed to the realities of ALEC and the charter school movement the outstanding questions I'm left with include 1. How do we stop them? and 2. How can I open a school that is :

• public-so that it is free to attend
• private-so that it is free from the demands of testing mania

If Florida has been able to walk away from this ludicrous testing that serves to make people rich and not to better the educational situations of our children then why can't New York? What does it take to get rid of it? Where are the names of the New Yorkers in charge of this system of education without actually having experience within the system. At the very least we need experienced educators to have a voice in whatever meetings are going on behind the scenes raping our public schools of funding and collecting funds from our tax dollars to do so. 

This should read as headlines everyday until it is resolved. Who gave ALEC permission to speak for the ninety nine percent of our populations? That body should be made to stand trial for the funds being stolen from the poor and the power given to the rich at the cost of our children and America's future.

Initial Collegiate Tutoring Session

That was awesome! The young lady I was paired with had a draft but she was torn when it came to her thesis. We used our conversation to figure out which side she preferred. She read her thesis aloud and noticed that she was weighing in heavier on the anti gentrification side of the argument. We revisited her thesis to help it fall in line with her stance and then narrowed down to her three supporting thoughts. The mapping of her initial paragraph was structured by the time we were done. It felt great to help someone cut through the wilderness that is brainstorming.

Also, from a writers/student point of view it could be that there was too much structure. Where does the space for creativity fall when every sentence is guarded? Why would we limit a counter argument from students who we think are not as advanced as others? Just because their writing skills may leave something to be desired it does not mean their thoughts aren't worth reading.

I was lucky enough to have a second person sit with us. It was a little awkward because one was for while the other was against. However, they were also able to help each other by discussing possible points to write in their counter argument paragraphs.

The second student had already written her paper and it was corrected by the professor. A case of responding too late but I used to do the same thing. We addressed some of the professor's comments and then moved onto a three way conversation about counter arguments where they exchanged some views they could each use.

Methods Applied: Talk and Write-
                            Clustering-Once she chose her side we had to reorganize her arguments and began by                                   drawing anti gentrification in a circle in the middle of a page. Then her arguments and                                     supporting arguments began to take their positions around that bubble. One of her                                         supports was the loss of neighborhood culture which was also bubbled and connected by a line
                            Conversation
                            Collaborative Learning

Hat Switch

Introductions will be friendly while keeping body language such as smiling and not slouching in mind to convey interest which certainly won't be hard considering how excited I am! Thanking them for their time and explaining my position as a peer taking a 220 course and hoping to be of some help to them. Then we'll discuss the parameters of their instruction as well as what readings they have done to deepen their understanding and reflect that in their papers.

During our initial encounters with peers I expect to find students who like myself will be at varying degrees with their papers. Some will be done while others will still be constructing outlines and/or trying to tease out their ideas from rushed pieces. I will be employing the "talk and write method" repeatedly while asking questions.

As the session progresses during the read aloud we will listen to what has been read while keeping higher order concerns in mind such as thesis, ideas, structures, topic sentences, etc. A quick symbol next to areas that need extra attention so we may revisit and/or expand it will help keep us on track. If we are fortunate enough to have a group of three then we'll remember to keep one person on task with a writing assignment that is no longer than ten minutes.

We will be closing by thanking them again for their time and making sure they have some kind of action plan for their papers to guide them through revision. I will be sharing my email address in case I could be of any further assistance or they just want a second opinion as their papers develop. This is going to be fun!

Quandary Observations 

The tutor requested the professor's criteria for the essay. He then reads essay in silence while the student waits. The silent reading continued for about fifteen minutes. His facial expression and body language didn't respond to the text at all and you could tell the student was getting nervous because she started shaking her foot. The silence is nerve wrecking because the longer we take to respond the more errors the student assumes in their work. It might have been better to ask her to read her essay aloud as in the "talk and write method". The long silence of reading someones work merely builds anxiety while speaking and writing together makes both partners in a dialogue which serves as corrective critique.

Once the conversation was underway his first words were "The main issue is you don't recognize literal tools". Maybe it's just me but shouldn't the first comment be positive? At the very least an encouraging comment on the topic to ease the stress of the student. The student offers " Professor asked me to write again so I'm trying to focus on my thesis."  This observation was interesting. The tutor felt the student didn't want to hear about the HOC's but I didn't get that sense from her. She did offer explanations and informed the tutor "that is what the professor wanted" when the tutor would point out an HOC concern but it may have been teased out of her more if she read it aloud. At this point he launched into LOC corrections which ultimately placed him the light of the "know it all taking over her paper".

Of the entire session the ending was the most unsettling. The tutor said, " In terms of content based stuff your weary of going against what the professor said." When would any student feel comfortable going against the direction of the professor? The student asks for help with citation and the tutor responds, " If he didn't give it to you, you could only guess where he got it from". However, I thought all she wanted was a general idea of how to cite correctly. Why not offer Purdue? He wraps up with "You should come back with the professors comments" and yet we know all too well the odds are low to none she'll have time to return to writing center.