Reading Reaction One
Reading Reaction Assignment:
My reaction to the assigned readings was that most of them seemed to be pretty sound introductions to the topic of peer tutoring, and the writing process in general, as is to be expected from the first week readings in any class. Overall they seemed to be mostly things that I had read before, but there were some interesting new tidbits to be found. The articles "Backpacks to Briefcases: Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis" and “So What? Who Cares?” were the most interesting of the bunch, as they provided information that was newer and more interesting to me.
The article "Backpacks to Briefcases: Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis" provided an interesting perspective on writing, and I liked that it went out of its way to mention that no two writers work the same, and that the same methods should not be applied to everybody. In high school we were often taught only one method of writing, and not that there are many different methods and each writer should use the one that helps him or her the most.I would consider this article the most useful of the bunch. Thus, this article in particular is one that I can relate to personally. This article was also the one I personally found to be the most useful to me currently. I look forward to learning more about this kind of thing. This article is also one that I imagine will be very useful when applying what we have learned to actual tutoring work, and one that I would be useful for all students to read, regardless of their major or interest in tutoring.
I liked the broad variety of examples presented in The Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors, as they provided a much more in-depth discussion of how to assist students that only one example would have. On the whole however, the piece presents a great deal of things that many people probably learned in high school or lower level classes, such as how to use computer review programs (spellcheck). On the whole though, the book provided a useful walk-through of the tutoring process. The book provided many useful step-by-step instructions of how to help students in various stages of the writing process.
The article “So What? Who Cares?” was an interesting read, as it bluntly asks the reader to consider why their own readers should care what they have to say. It also provided some very useful ways to make you audience care about what they are reading. This article makes excellent use of examples to demonstrate its ideas to the reader. Overall, this article was probably the most interesting of the bunch.
I am looking forward to learning more about how to make my writing more interesting to the reader, as even school papers can certainly benefit from being less dull, not to mention more interesting things such as short stories. I am also looking forward to learning how to enhance my writing in general, both in technical and broader terms. I hope that future readings will continue to be as useful and interesting as these ones were.
My reaction to the assigned readings was that most of them seemed to be pretty sound introductions to the topic of peer tutoring, and the writing process in general, as is to be expected from the first week readings in any class. Overall they seemed to be mostly things that I had read before, but there were some interesting new tidbits to be found. The articles "Backpacks to Briefcases: Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis" and “So What? Who Cares?” were the most interesting of the bunch, as they provided information that was newer and more interesting to me.
The article "Backpacks to Briefcases: Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis" provided an interesting perspective on writing, and I liked that it went out of its way to mention that no two writers work the same, and that the same methods should not be applied to everybody. In high school we were often taught only one method of writing, and not that there are many different methods and each writer should use the one that helps him or her the most.I would consider this article the most useful of the bunch. Thus, this article in particular is one that I can relate to personally. This article was also the one I personally found to be the most useful to me currently. I look forward to learning more about this kind of thing. This article is also one that I imagine will be very useful when applying what we have learned to actual tutoring work, and one that I would be useful for all students to read, regardless of their major or interest in tutoring.
I liked the broad variety of examples presented in The Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors, as they provided a much more in-depth discussion of how to assist students that only one example would have. On the whole however, the piece presents a great deal of things that many people probably learned in high school or lower level classes, such as how to use computer review programs (spellcheck). On the whole though, the book provided a useful walk-through of the tutoring process. The book provided many useful step-by-step instructions of how to help students in various stages of the writing process.
The article “So What? Who Cares?” was an interesting read, as it bluntly asks the reader to consider why their own readers should care what they have to say. It also provided some very useful ways to make you audience care about what they are reading. This article makes excellent use of examples to demonstrate its ideas to the reader. Overall, this article was probably the most interesting of the bunch.
I am looking forward to learning more about how to make my writing more interesting to the reader, as even school papers can certainly benefit from being less dull, not to mention more interesting things such as short stories. I am also looking forward to learning how to enhance my writing in general, both in technical and broader terms. I hope that future readings will continue to be as useful and interesting as these ones were.
John,
ReplyDeleteYou paraphrased something that’s really important when you wrote: “...no two writers work the same, and that the same methods should not be applied to everybody.” Wow! Yes, this speaks to me too, John. Really. Part of “good tutoring,” I think, is to be embrace multiple approaches/methods and to be able, also, to adapt to students who seem to prefer particular approaches/methods.
I think it’s fair game, too, to introduce students to NEW approaches/methods. If something works really well for you, it might work really well for your peers too. Taking a few minutes to show students how you, step by step, might tackle something can be transformative and “lasting” for students. I don’t mean doing the work for them, of course; I mean thinking aloud + sharing what steps you might take to accomplish a particular literacy-oriented goal -- ranging from using specific search terms in a library database to gauging source-assignment chemistry to see if new(er) sources might lead to a more compelling argument or stronger evidence (or whatever!).
That idea of a compelling argument is the whole point of the “So What? Who Cares?” chapter. It seems like you dug that one too.
All told, great work here!
Z