Thursday, February 17, 2011

Thursday, Feb 17

Again, I heard great discussions today.  Share your experiences with your tutee.  Then, I would like you to describe your tutee without using his/her name.  What do you know about him/her.  Finally, what are you learning about yourself as a writer in the early stages of this project?  (10-12 sentences minimum)

17 comments:

Courtney said...

Unfortunately my tutee was not here today. We emailed him and asked him to send his rough draft. Our tutee is a very bright guy, but that wasn’t my first impression of him. When I first met him, I thought he wouldn’t want to work on this project, and that he would just sit and do nothing. But after talking with him I found out that he loves rock and he is starting a band. He also wears the number six on his neck, but when he first said that, I was a little frightened out. He explained to us that he wears it to remind him of how he used to be and to not go back to that. What I have learned as a writer is that I’m not very organized. I just start writing my paper without having a real idea of what I want to write about. I think that I will start using organizational charts to help me write my papers.

Steven W. Hopkins said...

It seems like a lot of you are experiencing a lot of paradigm shifts. Some have mentioned surprise that their first judgment of a student turned out to be totally false; that a student who doesn't talk much can write well, or that a student who doesn't look like he or she will be interested turns out to care a lot about the project. I hope this helps you to realize one of my biggest things about tutoring: treat every client as a brand new client. Start over entirely with every new session. Take anything you've learned before and throw it out the window, at least at first, so that you can really judge how best to help that one student you are with right then.

Shelby Terrel said...

Our tutee had a rough draft ready today. She didn't want to read it out loud, so I did. I was impressed with her writing. She had a few grammatical errors, but the content was good. She used analogies and a story to get her point across. She didn't have a conclusion yet, so Marie and I made a few suggestions about that as well as well as some others. Our tutee only has a few classes left before she's done with high school. She's somewhat quiet, but isn't afraid to say what she thinks. She seems sure of herself, and she knows what she wants. Honestly, I don't feel like this experience is improving me as a writer. However, I feel like I'm gaining some skills with helping people.

Maison du Ashley said...

Today my tutee was back! He told Kristin and I that he had been sick so thankfully he does want to be a part of this project. We talked to him about different "This I Believe" pieces, eventually he decided to write about music. He is very shy but I know that he loves to play "anything that he can get his hands on" and that he loves Paramore as he shared with everyone the first day. Music truly is his passion and so this essay should reflect that. I've learened a lot about myself during this project. The first thing I learned was that just because I may believe in something strongly, that doesn't necessarily mean I'll be able to write about it. Also, I'm still in the process of learning how to help someone else write. Its proving to be a difficult task since I'm barely older than them so I feel a little awkward telling them what to do. I am really enjoying this project so far and I hope we don't get too far behind since he missed a day!

Steven W. Hopkins said...

Ashley,

The important part about being a tutor isn't teaching people, how to write, it is getting them to think about their own writing. In my opinion, a tutor's job is just to ask questions and sit back while your client teaches themselves. You shouldn't feel pressured to know exactly how to write the best in the world. You should focus your attention on getting your client to teach themselves and figure out what they like and what they don't like.

e.d. said...

Courtney,

Regarding your lack of organization-- i.e., "I just start writing my paper without having a real idea of what I want to write about"-- I don't think this is altogether a bad thing. For me the act of starting to write sometimes brings out ideas I didn't know I had. Certainly at some point you want the paper to be organized. Certainly many people find outlines and other mapping strategies helpful, and certainly I'm not saying not to use these things. But I always have to resist the feeling that I need to know exactly what I'm doing before I start writing. Otherwise I might never write anything at all!

The long and short of it is, find what works for you. If outlines and charts make your paper more organized, awesome. If you prefer to just dive right in there and revise for organization later, great. There is no "right" way to write.

Kristy Link said...

Yesterday was great. Our tutee was absent on Tuesday, so I was really happy to see that he was feeling better and back at school yesterday. We are a little behind, but made great progress this session. He was able to pick what he wanted to write about, and was able to create a thesis statement. We asked him if he would be able to have a rough draft for us on Tuesday and he said "absolutely". He really seems to have a positive attitude about the project. He's very shy, but smiles alot, and answers any questions we ask him. Music is his passion. He loves to play any instrument he can get his hands on. He is also very polite and friendly, and put effort into getting to know Ashley and I better. This project has taught me that I can write about anything but my best writings is going to come from my experiences in life. I'm not one that likes to be personal in my writings, I'm very shy and private, but learning to get past that, at least a little, has helped me feel better about the quality of my writings.

Da_Schwage_Man said...

Because of "Snowmageddon Part II" I didn't get to meet my tutee until Tuesday. Two 30 minute meetings later I present my findings:
He's a honest kid. No pulling punches and no beating around the bush, he's a young man of few words. When I asked,"What do you believe in?" and he responded, "Justified Murder" right off the bat, I was floored. Well, the kid knows what he believes however suitable it is or isn't for writing. I call him a kid. This isn't meant as a slight on his maturity or his 7 red, wispy hairs that he is growing on his chin. I mean that he is still so young, his world doesn't stretch much further than the county line. But, that will change. I guess that's the most refreshing thing about my tutee,I know he's going to change. I won't make assumptions about whether or not he's excited about the project, however he does seem interested that someone somewhere is interested in his fledgling opinion. Nurturing that is all I feel I should do.

mgriffith said...

I am reiterating what Steven mentioned that every tutorial will be different, unexpected from your own expectations. You all have the unique experience to work with the same person more than once. (this does not always happen) But even in meeting with the same person that does not necessarily mean that the experience is predictable. It sounds like you all are having a great time with the new challenges and shifted roles. I do believe that tutoring can assist in your own writing. Whether it be finding patterns that reflect in your own writing, or amidst brainstorming with someone--you gain a new idea for your own work, tutoring allows a space for possibilities.

DaniP said...

Our dicussion was mainly about how to refine our tutee's rough draft. He came into the session with a VERY strong and well thought out paper. I did not expect this at all. From what I had learned about him, he seemed very quiet but very individualistic in his personality. Which I think is a great start to any sesion. you find yourself wanting to know more but not wanting to pry open the reasoning of why he became that way. I learned that The writing style that I have he has glimpses of that style as well. I proposed that he wtart out with a bold question and then tie everything together at the end. he liked that I dea and we tweeked his essay to get the point across a little better. Lots and lots of work got done this day!

Lorin_lee said...

As Courtney previously stated, our tutee was was not present thursday. This really disappointed Courtney and I because we were excited to see what our tutee had put together for the rough draft. We then emailed our tutee and asked him to email his rough draft to us, but so far we have yet to receive anything from him. Overall, our tutee has been a pleasure to work with. I feel like he is really passionate about this assignment and his involvement when working with Courtney and I has been very impressive. I have learned that he has really matured over the years and is ultimately learning from his past. He has come from a troubled childhood but has learned to be his own person. He wears the number 6 around his neck as a bitter sweet reminder of his troubled past, and how he never wants to go back to that. He is in 2 bands and loves all types of rock music! He also has a girlfriend that he really seems to care about. Through this whole writing process I have been discovering that i need to learn to take my own advice. I can advise others very well, but my writing dosnt reflect my words to others. If my paper were written by another student and I was told to revise it I would change a lot, but because I wrote it, I cannot see the errors. I need to be more critical of my own writing.

Kristi said...

Da_Schwage_Man, and everyone else,

It's very good that you're self aware about your perceptions of your tutee, and I was wondering, how do you plan to "nurture" your tutee in the upcoming sessions?

You make a point that he has an inappropriate topic, and that he is aware of it, but what (other) positive aspects does his writing show? This might be helpful to meditate on before you meet again. All writers, young and old, need some encouragement, specifically in the beginning developmental stages.

Try not to focus on the age of the writer, but the experience they have with writing; this way you can hone your instinct to "nurture" into a more peer-based relationship, in which you are helping and encouraging rather than coddling and making your tutee too self-conscious.

This can be done simply by alternating positive and negative feedback, and by letting them direct how the session goes and what you two address for the majority of your time together.

-MKC

Adam Bruns said...

Each time I went to Lincoln, I have had interesting sessions. The first day I had a young man who was a sixteen. The second day, I found out that my first student left, and had a totally different new kid. The third day, my new kid never showed! Now I understand why teachers want their students to attend their classes. My new student is very bright and threw really good ideas to me about writing. Now I feel a little bit pressured to get caught up because he never showed. I just hope that my client did what Mark and I asked him to do so we can actually help improve his writing. He feels comfortable writing body paragraphs, but he says that he wants to improve on introduction, conclusion, and punctuation. I just hope we don't run out of time.

Unknown said...

I was happy that my tutee had her rough draft today since she works a lot. She didn't know what to write our last session and came up with a topic after our meeting. She is deathly afraid of flying and boats, but loves learning new languages. We did some brainstorming and worked on her introduction. Since she expressed that she always has problems with the intro, I shared a few tips with her. I am happy with her progress so far, but I really hope we have enough time. Since we have been able to do our tutoring sessions I have learned more about writing. Composing my ideas for writing have become easier and so has my connection with the reader.

My Creative Outlet for Complaining said...

Though he did not have it with him, our client had finished a good amount of his rough draft. We spoke about his plans for the paper and how he plans to support his thesis. Daniel and I were concerned with the time we had left, so we gave John our emails. He informed us that his aunt helps him to proofread his papers, and we felt confident that he would have a solid piece of work on Tuesday. After talking a bit more about his introduction we ran out of time.

Tutee is not a word I would use to describe John. In every meeting, we have been more like a few people just throwing ideas back and forth. I am actually jealous of his essay thesis, finding it to be more profound than my own. He does not speak much, but not necessarily because he has nothing to say. I really respect the point he is trying to make, and am looking forward to reading his essay.

Danni said...

I had some great experiences with our tutee. His paper is coming together very nicely, there were only a few changes suggested. You are really able to hear his voice in this paper; his personality really shines through. Our tutee is very bright and charismatic. He has a huge and strong personality. He loves manga, anime, and music. He loves being who he is and wouldn't change it for the world. In this project I've learned that while my way of writing a paper is uncommon, but not exceedingly rare; my tutee has a thought process that seems very similar. I've also learned that while most people's ideas about a paper go from "a" to "b", mine go from "a" to "Raxicoricofallapatorius".

Marie said...

Gladly we never experienced our tutee not showing up. She somewhat introverted, but observes everything around her. Today we looked at her rough draft. As I mentioned, I was really worried that her paper would have a too negative tone, but i was pleasantly surprised. She managed to build the connection to her main, positive statement. There were a few things we had to look at regarding the content. We also helped her to find ideas for the conclusion, which was still missing. Honestly, that fact made me laugh, because I sometimes have the same problem. I can start off alright, but finishing is a different story. So having to help her being creative kinda showed me how i should tutor myself next time we have a paper due. We furthermore took a look at her title, and came up with some cool ideas. Our tutee was very open for improvement, but felt more comfortable making changes at home then in front of us. She also has a very interesting story to tell and i can't wait to see how everything turns out after those changes are made. While spending time with our tutee, I noticed how organized I am when it comes to the writing process. I am normally the one who outlines her thoughts and maybe scribbles down some examples before even starting to write. Let's see how our next session turns out.