Field Report #1

In the mock tutoring sessions, John and I took turns as tutor and tutee. John went first as the tutor. The assignment I brought in was a discussion board post I had to write on Chaucer’s “The Knight’s Tale”. The assignment was a short one and as a result, it did not take long for John to spot the minor issues in my writing of the summary, questions about the text, and the themes I commented on in “The Knight’s Tale”. The key suggestion he made was to make sure I was formal enough for the assignment. This was in regards to my question where I used contractions in asking about Theseus’ decision to make the battle between Arcite and Palamon non-violent. Although I had made some intentional errors in the writing of the post in anticipation for this session there was little to work on due to the 300-400 word requirement per Dr. Archer’s instructions. Furthermore, the only other issues John could find in my writing were minor grammatical errors. Since the focus of such sessions is supposed to be on the higher order aspects of writing, we decided together not to go in that direction. I found John’s feedback helpful and improved my post without injecting his own style into my writing.

            When it came for me to be the tutor, we worked on John’s resume and cover letter for Dr. Nicosia’s 202B course. Upon looking at his pieces, I noticed his cover letter was very short and his resume while thorough lacked the proper formatting a good resume needs to stand out. I made a few suggestions as to how what to add to his cover letter and then wrote notes on his resume regarding how to sort listed items and how he might create headers for the various parts sections throughout. I also found a few templates online that would be appropriate for the purposes of his assignment and beyond the requirements of the class. Although John was not actually going for the job that he found for the assignment, it was still important to make his materials look polished and professional. By the end of the session, I believe John had learned many of the dos and don’ts of putting together a resume. For example, he did not know that resumes, especially those of someone at his age, should only be one page in length. Overall, I believe this portion of our mock tutoring went very well.

            Some of the concerns I had had going into the mock tutoring were how was I going to deal with awkward silences during the session. I found that while there were moments like this where neither one of us knew what to do next it was not as big of a hurdle as I had expected it to be. The awkwardness usually ended quickly by one of us pointing out a new area of the assignment to work on. As for some of the other concerns I had been worried about before the session started, like having no experience in the type of writing the tutee needs help with, they were not an issue this time around. However, having had this experience, I can now say that I feel more confident that I will be able to overcome any difficulties that may arise during a tutoring session.

Insights on Interviewing

This weeks readings focused on conferences and the interview process. Of the three I found "Power and Talk" the most the most intriguing. In this chapter from Between Talk and Teaching Black explains the many ways in which professors, often without realizing it, take control of the conversation during conferences and make it difficult if not impossible to make meaningful contribution to the conversation surrounding their writing. While the teachers mean well and only want the student to do well, they undercut the students point of view and style in many ways. By over praising one student and complaining about how they "can't read this shit" to another creates an imbalance of power between the teacher and the student in conferences. It creates a barrier in the relationship that makes the writer feel like their ideas and perspective are not as important as the instructors. The point is this: if we are to have an effective conference we have to change the way we look at teaching. Especially the relationship between student/teacher and tutor/tutee.

Brown's "Circular Questioning" and "Interviews and Interviewing Techniques" took a more psychological approach to the topic. While these articles didn't deal with the same type of meeting they both explored the different approaches to the interviewing process. Brown's article  emphasizes the correlation between one person's behavior and anothers and the way we think about human problems. He also talks about two factor questioning which he explains is used to narrow or broaden focus as needed. He also goes on to explain problem definition, sequence of interaction, comparison/classification, and intervention stages of the therapeutic process. It is not hard to see how some of these techniques can be used in tutoring, particularly in respect to the writing process.

Similarly, Madill's piece delves into the mapping of a successful semi-structured interview. Setting goals, staying on track, and letting the interviewee do most of the talking without leading or prompting from the interviewer. Although Madill reiterates the importance of open ended questions she admits that for those of us just starting out it can feel awkward and clunky to ask them and that throwing in a few short or even closed questions at the beginning can ease both parties into the strangeness of the interview process. I can see the usefulness of these as well as many of the other techniques discussed in the article as applied to peer tutoring.

Reading Like a Writer

After reading Mike Bunn's essay "How to Read Like a Writer" I have found that I already use some of the techniques he wrote about. For example I already highlight and underline passages in the various readings I do for my classes. Later I'll go back and delve into the portion I have marked and ask questions about what it means and the authors' intentions behind it. I may not examine the why behind every word choice but I often find myself coming up with different interpretations after reading it a second or third time. I also found the section of the where he re-worked his own introduction insightful. Sure we all tweak our writing here and there but I wouldn't have thought to reword or organize the introduction in that way. His doing that made me think differently about how I approach my own writing process. I always knew word choice was important but I hadn't thought what went into it most of the time for quote unquote professionals. It goes to show how even good writers have to think long and hard about what they write and how they write it.

My Take on the Early Readings

Hello all,

     Having read the first few chapters in the Bedford guide for writing tutors as well as the chapters regarding ESL writers and the challenges that come with that group of students. While some of the information in these chapters came as no surprise other aspects piqued my interest in surprising ways. For example some of the exercises in the Bedford Guide seemed like great ways to think outside the box when approaching writing techniques and the various ways to help students notice and correct errors in their writing beyond the basics of grammar and mechanics. I also found the readings about helping ESL students very enlightening. The various methods for addressing the larger issues while still helping with the basics.

     I think my favorite reading so far is "Looking at the Whole Text" because of its various examples of the different needs of ESL students. It hadn't occurred to me  before reading this chapter all the different challenges both the tutor and the student face in a session together. One thing that stuck out to me was the example toward the end about some students being verbally fluent but not in writing or other linguistic matters and vice versa. Without realizing it I had an assumption that if a person is fluent in speaking they would also have mastery of written language but that is not the case. Nor did I realize the cultural implications of the way we do things here in the U.S. Even as I study another language myself at the intermediate level it never dawned on me the various ways an ESL writer experienced or inexperienced faced on a cultural level.

About Me

Hi Everyone,

     Some of you know me and some of you may not. Either way here's a little bit about me. I am 28 years old. I have an associates degree in liberal studies. As of Fall 2018 this is my third semester at PSU Abington. I'm majoring in English and my minor is IST (information science & technology). At this point and time I am leaning toward a career as a librarian. As you might have guessed I am an avid reader. My favorite genres are science fiction and fantasy. On that note folklore and mythology have always been fascinating to me. When I have the time I like to write my own stories involving mythological creatures.

     I am the middle of three children and I have lived in the Philly suburbs practically my entire life. I'm an animal lover (I have 3 dogs and 2 cats). My summers are spent in Cape May NJ and when I am not at school or work I help care for my niece.