3 Suggested Readings

The Idea of a Writing Center
Stephen North
page 32

Responding to Texts
Toby Fulwiler
page 156


A Critique of Pure Tutoring
Shamoon and Burns
page 173

All are from the St. Martin's Guide.

Since I've never taught a class, maybe my tutoring philosophy isn't as developed as Ember's. Watching professors now, I see things that I would do differently, and try to make mental notes that I'll use later.

Thinking about that now, I realize that there are probably 10 other people in those classes making different notes. Everyone has a better way of doing something, so my teaching philosophy might not mesh well with some students.

I think the important thing for me will be to remember that everyone learns differently, and everyone will take something different away from the class. If I can incorporate that into my tutoring philosophy, I will have succeeded.

Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy changed after I taught a class for the first time, and it changed again during my first semester in front of a class, and now that I’m back in school it has changed again. You might think that being a teacher would put me permanently on the side of the teacher, but this has not happened. Instead, while I sit in class as the minutes tick by and all I can think about is getting out, my rebellious instincts threaten mutiny and occasionally take over. The same thing that happened to me in high school happens now in graduate school. I look out of the window, when there is one, and I wish I were someplace else. While I was supposed to be working out my teaching philosophy, these thoughts took over instead. Then it hit me: that’s my teaching philosophy. I can communicate with students because I understand them. I understand them because I am one of them, and will always sigh while I roll my eyes at the clock. I love teaching and learning.

Personal Statements

I was just thinking that we could use a book on personal statement writing in the W.C. I wonder if we have one up there?

Notes from Class, on the Brochure

unity, fulfills a purpose, evidence/support, organization/structure, mechanics/style, grammar

Mission

We Do:
collaborate
improve
id errors
help
make suggestions

We Do Not:
your work for you
edit/proofread
write
fix
grade/evaluate
work on your paper if you're not there
tell you what to do

Tutee's Responsibilities:
bring the assignment description/instructions
come early in the writing process
bring a pen/pencil
set aside 30 minutes
bring/know style guide
know what you want to work on / bring questions
you make the final decisions
you set the agenda for the session

We are not Burger King - you don't get it your way.

We don't do this, but we will do that!
collaborate - tell you what to do; work for you
improve/help - fix
grade - evaluate
no formal assessment
(metaphor: universal 'no' sign with a red pen in it)
make suggestions - tell you what to do

Misconceptions:
-that there is one 'right' way to get an A
-that there is one set standard that applies to all papers for any discipline, for any teacher, for any purpose, any assignment
-the writing center is a fixit shop
-that grammar is the biggest problem

Portfolio Progress

I think I've spent more consecutive hours this weekend fiddling with my online portfolio than I have with any other schoolwork so far this year. Not that that's a bad thing - I'm actually having fun doing it.

Like Bryan, I'm trying to learn some of the finer points of Photoshop. Some things haven't gone exactly as planned, and others have worked far better than I ever thought they would. I won't share what didn't go right, but I'll share one thing that did.

I'm creating a clickable image for the splash page of my portfolio. I wanted to use my own handwriting, rather than a font. I also wanted to make it look like it was written in an old journal. It turns out that black pen on white paper is easily selected with Photoshop's "magic wand" tool. So I can take my handwriting, scan it in, and make it look like it's written on parchment, or whatever, very easily. This revelation makes up for the several hours I spent trying to make edges look smooth (It never looked right, so I gave up and went in another direction).

I still don't have a splash page made, but I've made significant progress. I'm really starting to see a completed portfolio in my head. Soon enough, it'll be on the web.

Ali's technophobia

I am pretty much in the same boat as you when it comes to technology, Ali. I can use Office, Explorer, that sort of thing; but I am kind of lost with a lot of the more technical stuff. I can scan drawings, but when it comes to using photoshop to clean them up, it takes me hours to figure how to do a simple task.

As much as this whole on-line portfolio might be a giant pain in my ass now due to the shear time I have to put in to make it happen, I am very glad we've been assigned to do this-simple because I am getting more and more familiar with photoshop, composer, etc. This is especially important for the field I want to break into (familiarity with photoshop is a must for junior editors at Marvel).

Now, I have worked tech support for Amazon.com (which is really just hand-holding for computer illiterate old people), and if it makes you feel any better, I can tell you that there are people that cannot find the refresh button on their internet browser (or know what it is for that matter). So you're still way ahead of the game for that matter.