Hey all,
We spent the rest of the session talking about what one can do when a student comes in with a paper that is states their argument very clearly, but doesn't state it very well. I know that I get caught up with tutoring students with papers that need an awful lot of help that when a student comes along with a paper that is passing but not fantastic, it can be a little bit difficult figuring out what to work on. She agreed that she had had this problem as well, and that she felt as though she was better suited to work in extremes (either an excellent paper or a problematic paper) than with paper that or just OK. In these cases, we decided, all anybody can really do is to try and find the root of the persons argument and find a way for them to expand it.
Today I met with Mike. He feels as though his tutoring sessions are going well. When I asked him how he know the sessions are going well, he says that he can tell from the communication between himself and the student. He sees the student's learning through the conversation - instead of the student simply saying, "Oh, I understand. Yes, yes, yes.", the student show progress through discussion with the tutor.
We also talked about Steve's comments on one of my previous post about how one should be careful not to judge a session from the final moments, and that sometimes the shyness of a student is not a sign of failure. Mike agreed and said that he'd had a few very quiet students come in as one-timers, and then return a few weeks later. I suppose that just goes to show sometimes a good session can be hard to determine.
Hi Gannon and thanks for another excellent post. After reading your post, it is very evident that some things are converging here in your experience w/new tutors. First, this growing confidence, which is always a good thing for a newbie to have--it just makes the entire tutoring experience run so much smoother. No doubt, this progress that both Jo and Mike have been making is due to the passage of weeks, but we must not ignore the presence of mentoring and that brings me to my second point.
ReplyDeleteNow let us assume that there was no mentoring program in place and that Jo and Mike simply meandered along--what sort of tutoring would go on in their sessions? Perhaps at some point in the semester they would have gathered up enough confidence to conduct good sessions. Yet, would they reach their full potential as tutors? Probably not at least at this early stage. Here is were your efforts as mentors are crucial to that building of tutor confidence. Your presence, encouragement, and support of these tutors all combine to work toward this goal. Let me also identify a couple of specific areas you mention which I found most interesting; the strength of argument in writing and the extent of quality. Yes, an argument can be clearly written but not necessarily well articulated just as the writing can be good but not great. Even if the tutor recognized some of these weaknesses in their student's writing, how far would this observation go? Again, your mentoring efforts here are so crucial because you're getting at the nuances of writing that the new tutor may not be aware evem after taking WCTP, and practicing their technique. Bravo Gannon and keep up the great work!
Steve