I had a fairly good time with the readings this week, as I found them to be insightful and helpful to myself as a writer and also a potential tutor. Steve Sherwood's article about cencorship brought up yet another scenario I had never considered. As I got through the first couple pages I found myself asking is this guy for real? I just can't imagine someone being so openly biggoted and at the same time not having the sense God gave a billy goat to know why it might be a good idea to tone his sexist opinions down a bit. It is not only sexism that would give me this kind of reaction, but basically any opinion based on pure ignorance and not intellectually thought out or researched, if necessary.
I felt Sherwood's pain in trying to decide whether or not to "allow" the student to write exactly what he felt, as the student brazenly wanted to do. As the student pointed out, we have a right to feel however we please and to be able to express these feelings through speaking or writing. It is a fine line that divides what is gutsy and inspired, and what is ill-informed and inapproriate at times. As Sherwood pointed out, many times students look to their tutor as somewhat of an authority figure and completely trust his judgement. Sometimes it is hard when the shoe is on the other foot and YOU are the one in perceived control when trying whether or notto guide students in a "safe" direction.
Toby Fulwiler's guide to revision is something that I, myself as a writer, benefited from reading. Sometimes when you've known how to do something for so long, you kind of forget the fundmentals that made you good at the thing in the first place. Does that make sense? I felt like this essay brought me back to some things about writing that I hadn't thought about in a really long time and are relevant to writers of all levels, as these provocations are the greatest hits of writing and revision. I recently had a very respected teacher of mine comment on the fact that I don't do enough revision to my papers because she knows I can do better. I silently agreed with her, as I have known it has been true for a while but just didn't know quite what to do about it. Fulwiler's article kind of breathed new life into my lost knowledge of how to revise my own papers and so I felt like I learned something myself, as well as a new strategy in helping others. It's so weird, the parallels between two seemingly unrelated circumstances coming together for the greater good.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
class 9/23
I had a fairly interesting day in the writer's room already this week. A student that I know from one of my classes came in and asked my advise on a few loose ends that he wasn't quite sure about. I was apprehensive at first because I felt that since he was on relatively the same writing level as I am that I may not be the best of help. However, I found that he was focusing on very specific usage rules, which I just happened to know already and whether or not he took my advice, I felt good that I could answer all of his questions confident that I knew what I was talking about!
The reading this week regarding the scenarios in the first section are fun to read because I sort of look at them as a choose-your-own-ending book and figure out what I think is going to happen and what I would do in the same situation. They were interesting in a way that are fun to read and what I consider using good tools from which to learn. Most of the scenarios are culture based, which I haven't had the opportunity to experience so far. It is good to have a sort of anticipation about what to expect when trying to help a myriad of clients from different backgrounds.
Collaboration is the key to creating a good result in tutoring according to Lunsford, who has experience writing for this focus in her own teaching experience, and extends this knowledge to the writing center and how it helps students. I have not noticed a lot of study groups in the center that enlist the help of a tutor. Groups like these usually set up their own study groups and talk amongst themselves. It would be beneficial to work with a couple students at a time to utilize this method, as far as a peer group is concerned. In my personal experience, I don't feel that I write better having been in a peer review group, but I understand that everyone is different and it is important to know that what works for me may not necessarily work for everyone.
In keeping tradition with what has been stressed since the first day of class, Brooks' essay focuses on making the client do all the work. I have found this to be the most challenging part of enbarking on tutoring for myself and most of the tutors that I have observed have a tendency to not follow this method, though I know they were trained differently than we are being trained. I will most likely read this essay again in order to help myself in this situation, as I know it will come up frequently. I think it will be difficult to try to direct a client in a different direction when all he wants you to do is proofread his paper.
The reading this week regarding the scenarios in the first section are fun to read because I sort of look at them as a choose-your-own-ending book and figure out what I think is going to happen and what I would do in the same situation. They were interesting in a way that are fun to read and what I consider using good tools from which to learn. Most of the scenarios are culture based, which I haven't had the opportunity to experience so far. It is good to have a sort of anticipation about what to expect when trying to help a myriad of clients from different backgrounds.
Collaboration is the key to creating a good result in tutoring according to Lunsford, who has experience writing for this focus in her own teaching experience, and extends this knowledge to the writing center and how it helps students. I have not noticed a lot of study groups in the center that enlist the help of a tutor. Groups like these usually set up their own study groups and talk amongst themselves. It would be beneficial to work with a couple students at a time to utilize this method, as far as a peer group is concerned. In my personal experience, I don't feel that I write better having been in a peer review group, but I understand that everyone is different and it is important to know that what works for me may not necessarily work for everyone.
In keeping tradition with what has been stressed since the first day of class, Brooks' essay focuses on making the client do all the work. I have found this to be the most challenging part of enbarking on tutoring for myself and most of the tutors that I have observed have a tendency to not follow this method, though I know they were trained differently than we are being trained. I will most likely read this essay again in order to help myself in this situation, as I know it will come up frequently. I think it will be difficult to try to direct a client in a different direction when all he wants you to do is proofread his paper.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Hey guys!
I apologize for any of you that have read most post already and realized that I had no idea what I was supposed to do so here goes my second try! The article by Christina Murphy was interesting from the perspective that I had never thought to compare what psychoanalysts do to what a tutor will do in a writing center. The role that the client fills is one of vulnerability and, therefore, the tutor is looked upon like a therapist rather than simply a consultant. In some cases, it is necessary to get to know the client in order to better help him with something that can be as intimate as writing. I especially like the comparison on page 98 about substituting tutor and student for therapist and client.
Of course, it is important to have the type of personality that is engaging and approachable to help a client with their writing, as it is difficult to ask for help. Also, you really are in the position of a therapist as Murphy points out on page 98, referring to the things that need to occur for psychotherapy to be successful. Incidently, they are the same things that make a tutoring session successful.
The essay by Annie DiPardo was written very well and was researched very thoroughly. I happen to dislike reading case studies more than anything and this one was actually interesting, as I found myself really being interested in Fannie and the outcome of the study. As the introduction promises, the reader gets to know and care about what happens to Fannie along the way, and in the future. Not only did Fannie's writing skills improve, I believe that Morgan became a better tutor in the process. The essay's message relied heavily on the importance of getting to know the client and what is important to them, the place in life from which he is coming. Had Morgan not delved enough into what was important to Fannie (e.g. land), in her personal life, then she would have never been able to obtain a grasp on the place Fannie was coming from in her writing. Fannie had a hard time expressing herself, verbally, as well as literarily, which contributed to her image of being shy, although she was not. This is an important essay in the sense that for every one Fannie, there are hundreds just like her that slip through the cracks and drop out before they even really get started. A good raport with clients is paramount in making sure clients stay comfortable and interested.
Of course, it is important to have the type of personality that is engaging and approachable to help a client with their writing, as it is difficult to ask for help. Also, you really are in the position of a therapist as Murphy points out on page 98, referring to the things that need to occur for psychotherapy to be successful. Incidently, they are the same things that make a tutoring session successful.
The essay by Annie DiPardo was written very well and was researched very thoroughly. I happen to dislike reading case studies more than anything and this one was actually interesting, as I found myself really being interested in Fannie and the outcome of the study. As the introduction promises, the reader gets to know and care about what happens to Fannie along the way, and in the future. Not only did Fannie's writing skills improve, I believe that Morgan became a better tutor in the process. The essay's message relied heavily on the importance of getting to know the client and what is important to them, the place in life from which he is coming. Had Morgan not delved enough into what was important to Fannie (e.g. land), in her personal life, then she would have never been able to obtain a grasp on the place Fannie was coming from in her writing. Fannie had a hard time expressing herself, verbally, as well as literarily, which contributed to her image of being shy, although she was not. This is an important essay in the sense that for every one Fannie, there are hundreds just like her that slip through the cracks and drop out before they even really get started. A good raport with clients is paramount in making sure clients stay comfortable and interested.
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