Please don't mind the dates on the blog. These post went through a lot of editing. I hope reading these you find something that will stick out and help with your own sessions. Peace and Love. God Bless!

My Session #2

The second session of mine was harder than the first. She didn't want a collaborative session, but more of a teacher-student style session. She wanted me to basically do the work and tell her what to do, but I couldn't do it even if I wanted to .I wanted her to speak up with me, and tell me what she thought was wrong, but she didn’t start talking until toward the end of our session. Working with her, I had to realize that the process I had laid out was not going to work for her, and that I had to change my way of approaching her. . I did not want to be that tutor that was going to be “too expert”, and made sure that the student only walked away with what you put into them, but not what they put into themselves I told her to show me her paper, and highlight the areas she felt that she needed help in. The assignment was to write about her major, and to think about the pros and cons of being in that major. She is doing Nursing, and talked mostly about other people's accounts in the nursing field, other than trying to write about her own. Looking at her paper, she highlighted almost the entire essay, and I noticed that the 'cons' part of her essay was missing. She wrote only about the positives, and she didn't have any sources. I went back to my fool-proof method- the free write. We wrote down all the cons she and I could think of that was in the Nursing profession, and we came up with quite a few, for her to write a substantial paper. I helped her with JSTOR- a site that finds all of the sources you will ever need, about any topic. We even got the chance to find some sources that will help solidify, the cons that she has there. This session really started off rocky, and I was very uneasy, but towards the end, I was certain that she would've written a killer paper.

My Session #1

This first session of mine was a little rocky at first. The writer worked on an essay talking about the the factories, and how we can improve them. She was stuck for a very long time wondering about solutions to these issues, but she couldn't think of any. Working with me, we were able to come up with a total of seven solutions. I didn't know where to start first because her paper was so well developed. She had everything that the outline asked of, and she even checked off everything on her personal checklist. Her thesis was perfect, her sentence structure was great, and reading this essay I was very uneasy until I saw her solutions paragraph. It was very under-developed and she had about two solutions, that she didn't express very well. Seeing this, I was very happy because I had something to work on, without sitting there looking awkward! I took out a piece of paper, and we started to collaborate. She would say something like, "We need healthcare for them, and I would say, how come? And what could be the outcome of that?" And she would go really into detail until we filled up two pages full of solutions. She was very open to my suggestions, and the trick to unlocking her mind was free writing. It didn't matter what she said, it didn't matter if it was stupid or the answer to achieving world peace, the only thing that mattered, that it was on the paper. If she wanted to take anything out later on, that was her will doing. But all I wanted to know was that she left with enough options to write a great solutions paragraph. I was very nervous at first, and it was so hard to get started. But when I did, it felt great to help another person reach their absolute potential.

Tutoring Session #4

This tutoring session by far was probably the most inspiring one. This tutor really embodies everything that it takes to be a tutor. She had two tutees talking about two separate issues, and she handled it with such ease. The first writer she helped came with a philosophy paper, questioning the stance of religion in society. The first thing she did was ask to read the paper. She read the paper, and the first thing she said to the writer was, "Question: What is the core meaning of religion to you. Why is it important to you? Why should it exist?" At first the girl was stumped, she couldn't answer, but she explained that it gave her hope and a reason to believe in something other than the chaos here. Working on that, the tutor was able to build a thesis, and even the first body paragraph. There was a lot of collaboration here, and she asked her so many thought-provoking questions. In addition to this, the tutor introduced her to JSTOR and showed her how to use it to find articles, while the second writer looked for her paper.

The next writer had as much quality tutoring as the first. She had a hard time finding the assignment, so the tutor went back to make sure the other girl was finding her sources okay. The student had an Urban Studies assignment, and she had a lot of Higher Order Concerns. Her thesis was missing, her quotes were not cited and her sentence structure was way off. This was more of a teacher-collaborated session, but it was much needed. The writer said she didn't know what to do, and that she needed as much help as she could get, and was pushing for more of this style of tutoring. As the tutoring session went along, the writer tried to be collaborative and give her ideas for what she wanted, but she kept giving in to what the tutor wanted. The tutor told her that when trying to develop a 10 pg paper, have questions that you should answer along the way, to build up your paper. She told her to think in terms of questions, not statements. This tutor was very though provoking, and she made sure that the writers left feeling that they understood their issues, where they need to fix, and what they need to take out.

Tutoring Session #3

This tutoring session lasted a very short period of time. It was only for twenty mintues, seeing as the girl cut out very early. The tutor was very concerned with everything else besides the assignment. She started out fine, asking questions about the topic, and hearing the writer's views. The assignment was on changing how factory workers are treated. She didn't have any ideas, but the one thing that she did have was health insurance. From that statement, the session went awry. The tutor began telling her how insurance works, and what the best one was to get. Also she even told her where to go if she didn't have any herself. After that, she began to complain about her own insurance company, and the writer and myself began to feel uneasy. I saw the tutee looking down at her phone while the tutor was talking, and she said "Well thank you, this has been very informative," and left. The tutor looked confused, as if she didn't know why she left, and I didn't think it would've been appropriate for me to tell her that her session was a bust.

Tutoring Session #2

In this session there was a male tutor and he had 2 students. This tutor thought himself as an expert, seeing as he thought his way was always best, and that whatever these writer wrote was wrong. Sitting in this session, I was very uneasy just by looking at his demeanor. He never smiled, or greeted the students pleasantly. He had a condesending look on his face the entire time, like the students were here wasting his and their time. The first thing he did was turn to the male student, and asked for his paper. Usually the tutor would read both papers first, and start working with the writer that had a more advanced paper, but I didn't find that to be a red flag. He never asked what was the paper about, or what he had to do, he just read it and started to give his comments. The first thing he asked the male writer was, "Where is your topic?" Before he could say anything, the tutor said that he sure he has in 'there somewhere', and time is pressing. He told the male writer to put a star next to anything he had a question about, while he worked with the other student.

This other student was a female, and what she was working on, I don't know because he never asked her. In these sessions I cannot speak, so I couldn't even ask her what was the assignment. For this part of the session, he was a little harsh towards the female writer. She would ask him a question, and he never gave concrete advice. He repeated what the text was saying, and dealt with Lower Order Concerns like grammar and spelling, when she was clearly asking for help with thing like: thesis, sentence structure and citation help. He would show her where the evidence is and then explain it, and have her write in his explanations. By this, I was horrified because I really couldn't understand how well he mus have thought this was going. When he went back to the other student, he didn't even give her an activity to do. He basically told her to write in all his ideas, and that was it for her. She left with this scowl on her face and was so upset, she didn't even stay until the session was over. Although he wasn't very hands on, he was more focused on the male student than the female student. And when all was said and done he turned to me and said, "If they just put in the stuff I tell them to, they will be fine." SIR WHAT?! This clearly wasn't a productive session, and both writers looked very unhappy when they left, and to be honest, I don't blame them.

Tutoring Session #1

In this tutoring session, there were 2 girls. The tutor came in and sat us down, but first she asked the girls if they were comfortable having me in the room. She started off with a student that had an ENG 102 paper, which touched on apple pickers. The tutor working with her was very attentive, and she sat close to her, giving her one on one help. Reading her paper, she doesn't tell her whats wrong with it, or if it needs any fixing, but she asks her questions, that makes her explain. It makes the student talk more, and when she explains it out loud she hears her mistakes and understand what needs fixing. After she figures out what needs fixing, then the tutor finds a way to help her fix the issue. As she read the paper, she laughed a little - making the writer very calm and relaxed. After this she tells the writer of that paper to look at her paper, and highlight any problem areas she thought needed fixing.

The next student came in with an explanation of a poem. She wrote a very very long explanation for her English 101 class, that didn’t contain a thesis, the thesis was more of a paragraph explaining her thoughts and ideas. The tutor explained to her that the thesis is one sentence, and that it comes at the bottom or the middle of the paragraph. She also explained that the thesis is the answer to the question that your professor asked for your paper. The tutor started asking her questions like: “What is the most memorable part of this poem? “How does it make you feel?” “Why do you think the author wrote this?” By asking these questions, the writer was able to form her own thesis.

The tutor was very alert and showed interest in what the students were saying. She didn’t put their ideas down, but she helped them create a better, more concise paper out of them. The one thing I liked about her session is that, while asking questions she never gave them the answer. She let them come to the answer themselves, and if it wasn’t correct then she would address it. This was a very effective session, the students left feeling very satisfied, and one even said she was going to come back the next day for help with another class.

Working to be a Better Tutor

In tutoring there are different cases to be seen. It could be plagrism, homework help, or even trying to write a paper with nothing. Working with these cases it’s important that the tutor keep a calm, relaxed, professional environment, so the session could be successful. Most times, when a session doesn’t go so well, it’s not always the tutee’s fault. There tutor can be texting, giving off a disinterested attitude or judging the writer. To me the worst thing the tutor can do is, tell the answers and not have the student fully understand the issue. In one of the videos we saw this week, there was a student who said she had other things to do, and she couldn’t be bothered to work on the problem (it was a math class), and she kept asking him for the answers to the problems. He was very persistent in saying no and he stuck to his ground. Working to better tutor not only helps you to polish your craft, but it will help the writers that will come along, polish theirs. 

Success or Flop?

To me, the thing that makes a tutoring session successful is having the student be vocal. If the student isn't talking, the tutor wouldn't know the areas the writer wants to work on. The tutor needs to be patient (obviously), they have to take their time, making sure the writer understands how to fix their specific issue. Having a positive attitude, not showing any form of uninterest (whether the topic is boring, or the writer is rambling)-actually helps the writer relieves some of their nerves, and calm them down before dealing with the project at hand.

The foundation of "good teaching" and "good writing" in my eyes, is patience and understanding. As a writer, you need to understand who your audience is and what you're writing about, and you have to have the patience to sit and write it. The same is for a good teacher. Understanding your student and their capabilities, it can help you to teach them in a way they can understand.

All of this to say, just have patience and understanding.

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Shevonnie| 22| Brooklyn| Jamaican| My oxtails and rice and peas| Lindt truffles is life