Hey all,
I haven't talked about my time with Jo in quite some time! Let's talk about Jo.
Last Thursday, Jo and I discussed a session she felt had not been successful. Apparently he'd come in with a close-to final draft of his paper, and they ended up spending most of the session talking about his ideas rather than his paper. She felt as though she had given her student too much guidance - she worried that her advice might have put too much of what she wanted in the paper. She also felt as though perhaps they should have spent less time on the ideas and more time on the paper itself.
I told Jo that I didn't think that the session sounded so bad. In fact, I thought it sounded like a pretty successful session. Even though she felt uneasy, it sounds like she stuck to her guns and asked though-provoking questions with the occasional bit of advice thrown in. I imagine the session helped the student improve the content of his paper, and thus would do more good than if the tutor spent more time working on paper-based concerns.
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Hi Gannon and all,
ReplyDeleteYes, let's talk about Jo! This is the kind of stuff we all need to hear about--sessions that we feel did not go well. This comes back to our mentor/mentee meeting in which we dealt with session dynamics and variables and also grappled with the simple but very important question of what makes a good session.
Based on your post here let us deal with one obvious variable which most likely influenced the session dynamics as well. This no doubt was the lack of preparation on this student's part. Jo seems to have handled the session very well considering the circumstances. Unfortunately, such situations are all too frequent at the WC--and then sometimes students complain that "the tutor really didn't help me with the writing." So, this bad news spreads all over campus and as a result we get a bad reputation. My sense is that had this session taken place at an earlier stage of the writing process, where ideas can be freely exchanged (without worry about due dates), then this would have been a more productive session for student and tutor. Yes, perhaps Jo should have directed the session more toward the actual paper, but then again we must always keep in mind student centerness (sic). Besides, ideas are always good to discuss at whatever stage of the writing although more beneficial at the beginning (brainstorming etc.) In your mentoring, did you mention that Jo could have gently told this student to come in earlier next time, or even for two sessions?
Steve
I agree that this does not sound like an entirely "bad" session. It is difficult. Writers come to us with expectations that are not always realistic. They may be completely thrilled with their paper and we may see a vital hole in their argument that needs to be addressed. I think Alicia's comment about prioritizing her feedback at the meeting a few weeks ago summed it up well. She said that she considered what took her attention first or what stood out as a primary barrier between her (the reader) and the writer's thoughts. I think that the most important thing in reviewing the quality of piece of writing is assessing how easily the writer is understood in the paper. That may be worth mentioning to your writers as well. A misplaced comma will not destroy an entire paper, but an unclear argument without supporting details and fantastic grammar will not be well-received.
ReplyDeleteThat said, there are always different ways to handle a session. I would talk through the situation with Jo and support her decisions that lead to the improvement of the paper and then go on to remind her that there are always different ways to approach a situation like this, but it sounds like you've already done that with her.
Nothing is black and white here and keeping away from terms like "good session" and "bad session" are important to reminding the mentees that things can go well while there is still room for improvement