*note: This reflective post about my first writing fellow session is not meant to be a bashing blog about M (the writing tutor) but more of a praise unto myself for being able to point out the tutor's mistakes. You see, this is proof I have read and understood the readings about how to be an effective tutor.
I find the room tiny and claustrophobic. However I manage to forget my discomfort when M and writer enter because I am suddenly very excited about facing a real live session. The writer is an international student who has come to have her first introductory paragraph checked out for CORE. It is about half a page and she asks M if there is anything to change. Lo, and behold I manage to hold in my exclaim of aghast when M proceeds to sit and read the paragraph, in dead silence! Both the writer and I look around the room avoiding eye contact, admiring posters and drum fingers while M reads and reads.
Finally, M points out what can be fixed and changed...the writer nods and asks questions...M responds in a polite and well-mannered way...that's when I noticed the paper is entirely in M's territory with pencil in hand. That's a no-no, I say to myself.
M tries to include me in the tutorial by asking me to read and ask if there is anything to be changed. Cringing I realize there will be another long period of no sound while I read silently to myself... I can't even focus on the writers' words because they're both waiting for me to finish and so I do and meekly hand the paper back with a lame, "yea...it's good". M says that the paragraph is on a good start and the two exchange some more ideas...
I learned quite a lot in my first session, because of both M's rights and wrongs. I also have a better understanding of how important communication is between the tutor and writer. Although I've read it repeatedly in our readings in St.Martin's and Bedford about communication, it was even better seeing live interaction. It may seem like the tutor was doing everything wrong; in fact, the tutor was pretty effective. I specifically point out M's mistakes because I didn't realize tutors still make them post-apprenticeship. This has put a lot of the pressure off of me since I don't feel as if I need to be a perfect tutor in every session.
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1 comment:
Yeah, they have some quality posters in the writing center. I noticed, too. I wonder if they did that intentionally, you know, to give students a little visual stimulation during all those deadening silences.
My writing fellow does a lot of things "wrong" too. This makes me wonder, how do we tell a tutor he seems to have forgotten the rules? I think's going to be an exercise in subtlety.
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