My Strengths

Because I have wanted to copy edit since high school, I have taken many steps in my academic career to fulfill that dream, which have greatly increased my knowledge about grammar, good writing, and the English language in general. This knowledge has proven to be very helpful when it comes to tutoring (especially ESL tutoring) because quite frequently these are issues that students are very concerned about. So, as a result of my strong writing foundation, I can tell a student when they need to use a comma and why. This skill is particularly useful because, instead of just telling them to change their papers, I can explain to them why they need to and even give them examples. However, even I know my limitations. There have been times when a tutee has asked me about writing rules, but, while I know the answer, I have had a difficult time putting the concept in words. In such cases, I know that I need help explaining the issue properly and turn to computers, books, and even my fellow tutors for help.

In addition, I am good at sharing the information I do know in a way that makes the student feel comfortable and supported. Even if I have to explain the most basic aspect of writing, such as what a fragment sentence is, I can do so without being condescending. In such an environment, tutees are more receptive to what I am saying and are often quite eager to learn about the mistakes they are making. I am able to provide such a comfortable atmosphere because I remember the many times I have felt uncomfortable in a learning environment and how much that hindered my ability and responsiveness to a topic.

Getting caught up on readings discussions

Sometime before next class meeting, please discuss at least three insights that you've gained from the assigned readings, by relating them to either your work as tutors or your experience as a student. Try to use a variety of the readings--not just 3 insights from one piece. Roughly one solid paragraph per insight minimum--but of course feel free to write more if you choose.

Why I would come to the writing center

The primary reason I would come to a place like our writing center is based on the fact that such places have so much knowledge that I may not have access to otherwise. For example, in the case of our writing center, there are countless books on writing from MLA formating to writing about literature. One could probably find many of these books in the library as well, but the difference is that they are all in a relatively small space, making them easier to find.

In addition, the tutors in such places provide additional knowledge that can further help students work through problems. However, in the writing center atmosphere, this knowledge is passed along in a less stressful and more welcoming manner as compared to the classroom. Tutors convey this information in a way that makes the student's concern primary without passing judgment or being condescending. Such an environment makes learning more enjoyable and rewarding.

The only downfall I see with coming to our center to see me is my lack of knowledge about computers. With technological requirements for English classes increasing, more students are going to come to the writing center with technical issues that I cannot help them with. I hope that after I create my own portfolio, I will become more comfortable with students' computer issues and be able to help them more. However, once I do gain the proper knowledge, our writing center will be the ideal place for students to come who need assistance with their e-portfolios in addition to the more standard academic papers.

Elephants as a writing center metaphor

As I have mentioned before, I admire elephants more than probably any other animal simply because of their instinctive tendency to care for each member within their herd. As soon as a baby elephant is born, its mother chooses several allomothers (the equivalent of babysitters) to help her care for the new calf. The mother and allomothers work together to ensure the safety, health, and care for the new little one, guiding and teaching it until it is able to stand on its own and take care of itself.

This idea of raising the calf within a strong, inter-connected community works well with the ideas behind the writing center. As tutors, we are here to help new students adapt to the world of writing. Each tutor is like an allomother, who is responsible for a tutee's development during a session. By discussing tutees' writing and working with their specific needs, we, as tutors, have the ability to help them stand on their own in academic writing contexts. Just like elephant mothers and allomothers, we will not give up on the tutee until he or she can make it on there own.

But that is not to say that once the tutee has developed the proper writing skills that we will just stop helping them. Even after the elephant calf can stand on its own, it remains in the herd, which provides support, protection, and companionship for each member. Similarly, we will welcome tutees back to the writing center even if they are excellent writers because we can provide assistance, support, and reassurance that is often neglected in academic writing classes.

ESL Students

It's important, I believe, to remember how intelligent the ESL students who come to the lab actually are. Today I had a student who had a very detailed technical paper involving double capacitators and whatnot, and he needed help with his English. Well, I know the English, but he knows the electronics, so we truly had to work together to understand each other. I try to imagine how hard it would be to go to a university in a foreign country and write papers in a foreign language and I'm amazed at what the ESL students have accomplished.

I'm very aware of the "don't write on the students' papers" rule, but I don't know if our writing center rules help us to help the ESL students in the best way possible. Instead of writing on their papers, I've taken to writing out examples on a separate sheet of paper (instead of, for example, a chalkboard). This way, I can explain things to the student and they can keep the paper for reference. If this is against the rules, please tell me now!

Ali mentioned that we need a separate lab for ESL students and I agreed; I had just been thinking the same thing myself. Wishing won't make it happen, I know, but at least we can put the idea out there and maybe one day we'll have an ESL lab.

I would say that most of my tutoring experience here so far has been with ESL students; they're smart enough to know when they need help. Out of respect for them and what they're trying to do, I want to help them as much as I can.

Using metaphors

John was right on the money in regards to using a student's interests to help him or her with writing. Just this morning, I had a tutee come in who had some major organizational problems. His outline was pretty much just one big mess of quotes and factual statements.

While I didn't use this student's interest to help tutor him in writing, I did use a metaphor which he was familiar with: building a house. I explained to him that the thesis (which he didn 't have) was the foundation of a house-that no matter the how sturdy the rest of his materials were, it wouldn't stand without the foundation. The great thing about this whole process is that I was explaining concepts to him in very straight-forward, concise manner (this is big for me, since my inability to do this is my biggest weakness).

Another benefit of incorporating the tutee's interest is that it allows us to personally connect to the student. Establishing that connnection is especially beneficial, considering most of the students that will be walking through our doors are going to be feeling very very insecure about their academic abilities. Establishing a rapport can alleviate a lot of that anxiety, and provide a substantial amount of support in so little time.

Response to Bryan's portfolio idea

I really think Bryan's portfolio theme - superheroes - is an excellent idea. It's obvious from spending time with Bryan in the writing center that creating comic books are a passion of his. It's great that he can take something he's good at and incorporate into another area of study.

I think this is something we can teach at the writing center when students come in for help with their own portfolio ideas. We could ask them, "What are you good at?" and let the response guide us. Maybe a student is good at basketball, or photography, or hiking. There are certainly aspects of any of those activities that could lend itself to the creation of a portfolio. A hiker goes on a journey, a photographer composes a photograph, and basketball players must practice to if they want to win. These are common threads that are applicable to many different disciplines, thus they'd work well as portfolio themes.

But back to Bryan's theme. I think the creation of a new superhero for each aspect of the portfolio is wonderful. Right now in another class, we're reading Saussure for Beginners. It tries to break down a complicated subject into easily digestible chunks by adding illustrations and humor. I think Bryan's portfolio might work along those same lines.

Bryan's portfolio idea is probably the most ambitious of the bunch, but given his artistic background, I'm sure he can pull it off.

Response to Ember's Idea

Hello all-
I think we are supposed to blog about another person's idea for his/her portfolio, so I decided to go with Ember's. I like how you are taking the common idea of a map and putting a spin on it. Out of your two ideas (the skiier and the mission), I liked the idea of the downhill skiier on his way to summer vaction. That idea contributes to our understanding of writing--there are a series of steps one must take in writing in order to create the ideal piece of writing, which is exemplified in your idea of the skiier having to make stops along the down-hill slope, eventually reaching their ultimate goal of summer vacation.

Another idea could simply be that you map out the course of an academic school year or maybe just a semester. You could have the beginning of school relate to the beginning of a paper, both of which can seem daunting and frustrating. You can have the first test relate to the first draft of a paper, fall break relate to a breakthrough in the paper, and so on. I don't know if that would really work, but it's a thought.

I really do like the idea of you putting yourself in the student's shoes because if your portfolio is ever used as a means for students to learn about writing, then they may be able to connect with your overall message of writing as a journey through their personal experiences.

So, those are my thoughts. Good luck!

Awkward Tutee

So Bryan and I had a very weird tutee come into the center on Wednesday. The kid was a freshman working on his first assignment for his English 103 class, the gist of which was to write a four-to-six-page paper on an issue within a community of which you belong and some possible solutions to the problem. First, the kid was rather unresponsive to our questions; he would just say "I don't know" to pretty much everything. After some time and some prying, though, we were able to get some ideas flowing.

The issues we had with his writing abilities were just things that are typical of most freshman trying to delve into college writing: coming up with ideas, developing those ideas, organizing, etc. What was difficult for me in this situation was the tutee himself, not so much his problems with writing. Overall, he was just very awkward, and his hygiene wasn't exactly up to par. He definitely ate a scab in front of me and Bryan... Anyway, this social problems and some of his comments (like "No one wants me in their community" and "I don't have many friends") made me worry about how well he is adjusting to college life and how happy he is here. Now, I understand why he is having difficulties at college, as I mentioned above, but I don't think it's my place to tell him this. At the same time, I hate to see someone in his situation, even though I do realize that's the way life is. I guess I am just wondering if there is someone on campus that could help this kid and if I should direct him there. The overall question is do we as tutors have a responsibily or even simply the right to go beyond helping tutees with their writing when we know there is a larger problem going on?

Question

Dr. Fishman-
John and I are sitting here in the Writing Lab puzzled yet again by the assignment. Is the "memo" mentioned on the schedule the blog posting you were talking about where we describe what our portfolio is going to be, or is it a physical piece of paper that we are supposed to hand in?

Thanks,
Ali

Strengths and Weaknesses

My strengths as a tutor? I can understand assignments (or at least help make them less obtuse for the students), empathize, spot grammatical mistakes, and just in general help with making the writing sound better.

Having the students read their papers aloud really helps them. They actually do catch some mistakes that way, plus it emphasizes that we're here to work with them, not for them. Lots of times when I was an undergrad I would go to my professors and ask them how to improve my work, how to get better grades in their classes. And it worked. So, I'm not afraid to ask for help; I've always gotten good results from it.

Weaknesses as a tutor? Fully explaining the whys of grammar. I know the rules, but sometimes it's hard to explain them to others. It just requires practice, I suppose. At any rate, I'm expecting a crash course in it this semester.

First Tutee!

Well, today business is booming at the writing center. Two students in as many hours! I was pretty nervous about the first guy that came in, to be honest. Fortunately, Bryan was here and we both helped the student. The rule of not writing on the papers is something I'll have to get used to. I used to teach reading classes at Spartanburg Tech and I'm used to leaving hen tracks all over the papers. But, I was feeling more confident by the time the student left.

Then Ali told me that I'd missed class this morning, and now I'm just embarassed and a bit frightened that I'm in trouble.

Weaknesses in Tutory?

I just realized I published that without catching that typo in the title. How embarrassing.

Some Thoughts on the Process

Somehow I haven't gotten any tutees yet. I have tutored in the past, though, in Spanish, history (don't ask me how), ESL, etc. That was different, though, because there weren't as many rules involving the tutoring; I was simply to help the students. Tutoring Spanish was pretty easy because the students always had a test coming up and we could study specifically for that. Once I got two veterans who were taking Spanish in summer school and were having such a hard time with it that I was called in to work with them every single day. One of the guys went on to get his master's at USC to be a psychologist. He wasn't all that interested in speaking Spanish. He just needed to get the class as a general education requirement. Which is fine with me. Everyone has different reasons for being in a class. The important thing to remember is that it's none of my business.

Probably the most valuable thing that I've learned from being a tutor is to remember that you're tutoring someone who either doesn't understand or doesn't like the subject at hand. You know how you feel when you have to take a class in a subject that you're terrible at and that you hate. Well, for the tutees, guess what? Obviously, we all love writing here in the writing center, but remember that there's a very good chance that the tutees hate it. If we didn't love writing, we wouldn't be here, and if the tutees shared our love of the written word, they wouldn't be in the writing center, either.

Weaknesses in tutory

It's hard to say what exactly my weakness is in tutoring, considering that I have barely tutored anyone at all. Ali, however, seemed to find one pretty easily the other day while I was tutoring an ESL student. Basically, I have a hard time connecting to the student, and an even harder time explaining certain concepts in easy-to-understand terms. Not surprising, since I encountered the same problem in coaching.

After my family moved down here in 2002, I earned extra cash during the summer by coaching at Carolina Panthers Youth Camps. The camps were for mainly 13 and 14 year old players who were making the transition from Pop Warner to high school football. That transition is tough for a lot of young offensive linemen, since Pop Warner coaches are neighborhood dads that pass on their own antiquated approach to blocking (a lot of the kids I coached were completely baffled that a lineman is supposed to block with his hands, not his forearms). I had high hopes for my group of kids, and I had this grandiose impression that I would, in just one session, get them to completely discard their old blocking techniques.

Well, imagine that happening, only the complete opposite.

Completley overeager, I took the field for our first session and blerted out a bunch of technical terms I learned at Marshall that these kids had probably never heard in their life. They just stared at me blankly. I had to explain everything to them, and after only one 30 minute session, I was only just beginning to get them used to the idea of a pass set.

Now, I don't know if you guys have spent a lot of time around a bunch of athletes, but they tend to be a little crass (but then again, so are 13 year old boys), and well, I learned by observing other coaches that that vulgarity is actually put to good use. For example, an easy way to convey to a kid what they're supposed to look like in pass set is to tell them to imagine "a bear shitting in the woods." A good way form them to learn hand-placement is to tell them to imagine "giving the defender a titty twister."

I guess I've prattled on and on here, but let me just part from you with this final thought. While I was sitting there trying to explain to this ESL student why he should not use colloquialisms or parentheticals in certain sentences, I kept reaching back into my mind trying to find my own bear-shitting metaphor.

On Weaknesses.

A few months into my stint as a journalist, I got sent to cover breaking news in a nearby town. A worker installing a new billboard had gotten too close to a power line and had gotten hurt. I arrived on scene, got some really good interviews, and then returned to the office to type up my story.

Before then, I had written some really good articles that had brought comments from the community, and, more importantly, my editors. The story I was working on that day seemed easy in comparison. I had an emotional eyewitness statement. The story was going to be at the top of tomorrow’s front page, but it probably only took me 30 minutes to write. Those were the best kind of stories.

“A man was electrocuted Tuesday afternoon,” the story began. “He received first and second degree burns and was airlifted to a nearby hospital.” It, along with a photo of the harrowing ordeal, appeared on newsstands the next day.

That next morning, I got an email from my editor. It was a forwarded message from a colleague at the paper’s big-city company headquarters. “Check the definition of ‘electrocuted,’ the message said.

My editor felt bad for not catching it, and I felt even worse for writing it in the first place. I chose “electrocuted” because it was a more powerful word, I thought, than “shocked.” I didn’t stop to think that the words had different meanings.

After the initial embarrassment subsided, I decided I would ask more questions – of editors, coworkers, anyone. I would also attend as many training sessions as I could. Those training sessions are often boring, and 90% of the material covered may be stuff you already know. But that other 10% is what’s going to turn you into a better writer.

As tutors, we need to be aware of our weaknesses. We need to know when we should ask for help. If we do, eventually, those weaknesses will disappear. Sure, they’ll be replaced with other weak points we never knew we had. But that’s what learning and tutoring is all about. Likewise, we need to be able to recognize when others (tutees and colleagues) are asking for help.

David Halberstam was a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist who covered the Vietnam War, and later sports, politics and business. He died earlier this year in a car accident. A quote of his was pinned over my desk, and it became ingrained in my mind. I think it applies to tutoring as well as journalism.

“I had made myself into a professional,” Halberstam said in 2005, “and had done it, in no small part, not so much by trying to reinforce my strengths as most people do, but by trying to eliminate my weaknesses.”

Strengths, and a plan.

After nearly a week’s worth of hours at the Writing Center, I finally had my first tutee today.

Manesh (I think) brought in his 100+ page doctoral dissertation on methods of providing renewable energy to utility companies (I think). The combination of Manesh’s native tongue and the dense tech-speak of the dissertation made me want to jump out of the nearest window – at first.

After the initial shock of the thickness (both literally and figuratively) of the dissertation in front of me, I calmed down and hunkered down. We went line by line, page by page, reading aloud and suggesting changes of troublesome phrases. Even if we weren’t suggesting changes, the slow reading would have been necessary for me to understand the complexity of the text.

It’s a daunting feeling – knowing that the person sitting beside you is smarter than you. Frightening, too, is the feeling that there’s really nowhere to begin – that your tutee’s mistakes in articles and prepositions are always going to be troublesome for someone like him, a nonnative speaker.

But Manesh caught on fast…he began to notice improper articles and bad (or nonexistent) prepositions before I could ask him about them. He started to smile and, after I told him we should stop for today, said he’d be back tomorrow.

I guess the experience above is an example of my strengths. The task felt impossible at first, but by just doing it, just starting it, it seemed to get easier. I suppose I could have told him, “Everything looks fine,” and sent him on his way, but that’s not what we, as tutors, are here for. Sometimes, it’s going to be almost as hard for us to tutor as it might be for the tutees to accept that they may need help.

Starting that dialogue with your tutee can be the hardest part. Once you’ve made that connection, it gets easier.

Like Ali said below, recognizing tutees’ strengths is an important part of any writing center plan. Not only will this make the tutee realize he or she isn’t doing everything wrong, it will help build your relationship with the tutee as well.

Another characteristic of a good writing tutor is the ability to know when you don’t know. For example, today, Manesh had used the word “optimum,” and I thought he should have used “optimal.” I wasn’t sure why his word was wrong, so we went to dictionary.com – together – and read the definitions. One is much more common as an adjective, so we both agreed it was the best choice. By opening that initial dialogue and building that connection, the tutee won’t see you as an infallible dictator. They won’t loathe you for your mistakes. They won't secretly hope for your downfall. Work with your tutee, not on them.

In short, a simple writing center plan (with much room for elaboration) is this: Start the dialogue, recognize a tutee’s strengths, and know when you, as a tutor, need to look elsewhere for answers.

My weaknesses and experience with tutoring

My academic weakness comes in the form of math. Now, I never had a true problem with math, and to be completely honest, I always excelled in it, but it usually took a great deal of work on my part to do well in it because I wanted to understand every aspect.

When I started taking more advanced math classes, I began to realize that in order to fully comprehend what I was doing and why, I needed help outside of the classroom. In high school, this led me to my math teachers, but in college, I turned to the math tutoring center to work one-on-one with a math major. I honestly only ever needed to go one time (mainly because I took the easiest math classes Penn State offered), but I do remember the tutor being very helpful.

I think the most influential part of that tutoring session was when the tutor had to take a minute to relearn/review what I was asking him to help me with. What I was studying was pretty rudimentary in the math world, and the tutor having to review this basic math showed me that even teachers forget things (easy things even) and that it's okay to let down your guard when you truly don't know something. In the end, I was very glad that the tutor was honest with me about not knowing what I was doing because, after he reviewed it, he was better able to truly teach me.

I think this idea is particularly crucial for us as writing tutors. When we don't know something or don't know how to explain something, we need to be honest with our tutees about our lack of knowledge and then take the time to discover the answer with the tutee. It's much better for us to admit our shortcomings and search for the answer than it is for us to deceive a tutee into believing everything we say.

Strengths as a Tutor and Plan

As I have said before, I have tutored before at Penn State, so I am pretty aware of my strengths and weaknesses as a tutor. I think one of my biggest strengths is my ability to make people feel comfortable, which is very important in the writing center. My philosophy about the writing center is based on the tutee feeling comfortable enough to talk openly about his/her paper, while being responsive to suggestions. Making him/her feel comfortable through conversation or humor sets up this comfortable atmosphere.

Another important strength that I have is my subject knowledge. Through my many undergraduate classes and activities, I have learned a great deal about writing, grammar, and editing, all of which I can use when tutoring. If tutees don't understand when to use a comma, I can teach them how, which makes me feel like I am helping them not only improve the papers they bring to the writing center, but also their ability to write as a whole.

My approach to tutoring, as I briefly mentioned above, is centered on a comfortable learning atmosphere. I never want the tutees to feel uncomfortable, pressured, or incompetent; I want them to feel good about what they have written and confident that they can learn to write better. In each session, I will listen to what the tutee feels he/she needs to work on and give my honest opinion about how to fix such issues. However, at the same time, I will be sure to tell the tutee what he/she is doing right because I think too many times, tutors in writing centers forget to tell the writer what his/her strengths are and often focus solely on weaknesses. Overall, I want tutees to learn that writing can be fun and useful, when they learn the proper steps to take.

Ember's Post

Hi Everybody!

I've read over your posts and realized that I'm still not entirely clear on what it is that we're mapping. Is it the goals of tutoring, or is it the student's journey (in which case an individual map for each student seems most appropriate)? Or, is it my personal journey? I know we discussed this in class, and maybe it's because it's two thirty in the morning, but I cannot remember.

The map could be a lot of things. Personally, I'm trying to put myself in the students' shoes. What would grab my attention? A countdown to the end of the semester! I was thinking of maybe a downhill slope with a little Alpine man headed downhill (think Price is Right), and the goal is vacation. Or, the map could take the form of a quest or a mission, in which the students must complete a series of tasks to collect points and prizes, to avoid being shot, etc.

See you in class Tuesday! (Helpful hint: turn off Auto Text if you write your postings beforehand in Word. This prevents what happened to John's post, no offense John, just trying to help.)

Elaboration on ideas

Having thought more about my portfolio, I am stuck between two ideas--the elephants and the clothes. I am not sure which one will work better because they would both be pretty fun to do. However, at the same time, I am finding it slightly difficult to determine how to thread my reflections and assignments into the portfolio. Each of these ideas is ideal for a writing center website, but I am not sure they are ideal for a portfolio. So if anyone has any ideas about that, I would love to hear them.

My thoughts are as follows. If I do the elephant theme, then I will link the major assignments/lessons to a certain elephant. Then, I can link the smaller reflections/assignments to things in the background, for example decorative flowers or trees. If I do the clothes option, then I will do pretty much the same thing. The major assignments would be attached to the more important pieces of clothing, whereas the smaller assignments will be attached to smaller articles of clothing or accessories.

I do realize that these two options are a little difficult, but I am trying to be original. The whole idea of a journey would work quite well, but what I got from Dr. Fishman is that a lot of people have done that before, and I want to be a little different. If you have any ideas on how to help me, please let me know.