Tertiary Observations

Today's tutor at the writing center was great! Originally I came in early to observe and when I arrived I found three other classmates waiting to observe also. The receptionist told us we would have to wait for someone else to arrive and then only two of us could be seen. Fortunately, I had my copies of our one act play and I didn't have time during the week to get another persons opinion so I signed up for tutoring. He was great. His specialty are plays and he was very informative. He concentrated on Higher Order Concerns for the most part and chose to run the session with the Talk and Write method which completely makes sense considering it was a one act play. He gave great eye contact and body language by leaning in to read aloud and facing the person he spoke to. He didn't offer false praise and explained in a manner respectful to the writer and his position as the tutor. When he was done with me he turned to my two classmates and they had their plays evaluated. Again, he applied the Talk and Write method offered advice such as:

• describe further action
• state explain then state explain
• describe characters further
• confusion in word play
• write out statistics 
• rewrite narrator into script  

Overall, it was just what we needed. 

Secondary Observations

One of the many compelling motivations to attend La Guardia, for me, has been the wonderfully diverse environment we get to share with students and professors alike. With this in mind, how should we attend to the needs of our fellow students who are at the beginnings of their journey with the English language and who turn to us at the writing center for a second opinion? Today, as I sat in for my second observation at the writing center I had the opportunity to make note of this process. The student arrives, we exchange brief introductions, and we all take a seat. The student informs the tutor that her assignment was a summary of a movie and she was encouraged to make connections to self in her written response. She also informs tutor that she is in need of grammatical corrections. The tutor, who is displaying excellent body language, proceeds to address grammatical challenges line by line for the balance of the conference. If grammar is a lower order concern for both native speakers and ESL students then was this last meeting time well spent? According to our classroom discussions the primary target strategy is to address higher order concerns of structure instead of grammar. It could be we lapse into the pitfalls of grammar check by donning the "correcting errors" hat which in turn becomes the "being an expert hat" and eventually completes the cycle with "usurping ownership" of the paper as explained by McAndrew & Reigstad (Tutoring Writing, 17,19). Both tutor and student meant well although when a student seeks out support she is basically asking for help. If we can not help them in building a stronger paper then we are hurting them.  

Initial Observations

The strategy of Talking and Writing was evident in my first observations in the writing center. The professor guided the tutor throughout the hours long session. He did not feed her the words but coaxed her words from her by asking questions. It was interesting to observe how the process unfolds as a third party.When we are in the moment of writing we do not realize how much usable material we come up with. Her line of thought was not faulty however, the tutor was instrumental in keeping her on topic paragraph after paragraph. When she was at a loss, attempting to remember the appropriate word choice he did not give her the word but asked "What do you call it when we can't sit still, we drum our fingers, we talk to ourselves?". She responds, "We feel anxious?". Now he has, by asking questions, let her be the owner of the word choice. The only writing he did was to show her the parts every essay should have namely: thesis with hook in topic paragraph, at least three supporting paragraphs, and a closing paragraph which he illustrated in diagram form to help her visualize how it should flow. The most time was spent on the the topic paragraph because all her ideas seemed to be bunched together and considerable teasing out/organizing had to occur for her to write topic sentence/supporting/ support/support and close. Eye contact was consistent on behalf of the tutor. The student would roll in and out of participating in conversation with the tutor while thinking through what she was writing as she was writing.  

What constitutes a good tutoring session? Lots of things. The tutor keeping in mind that he or she has been in the past and will be in the future on the other side of the desk, so to speak, is most important. Understanding that writing is very personal most of the time and controversial depending on perspectives expressed must be considered. Then there is the break down of higher order verses lower order concerns. Assisting the student in maintaining a general format of topic, supporting, supporting, supporting then closing. Suggestions on the direction of research may be helpful when the student in stumped.