Field Report #2
Field Report #2:
Pre-Tutoring Questions:
1. How often were awkward silences present?
2. Who spoke more, the student or the tutor?
3. Did the student seem more confident at the end of the lesson?
Observation Report:
The tutor began the session by asking the student the open-ended question: "What can I help you with?". The student presented the assignment and the tutor proceeded to review both the assignment and the student's writing. The tutor read the the student's writing aloud and the tutor and student discussed and refined the student's hypothesis. The tutor asked the student what other concerns they would to address. The tutor and student then reviewed the student's sources and discussed how to analyze the articles rather than simply summarizing them. The tutor and the student then discussed the deeper points of the student's paper and how the structure of the paper should be refined further. The tutor then mentioned than the student was free to accept or reject any suggestions made during the process. The tutor and student then further narrowed the specific points of the student's paper and related them to the source articles. The tutor then discussed the importance of the student's hypothesis and advised the student to cater to the reader. Eventually the tutor and the student refocused the paper further and discussed how to incorporate both research and personal experience into the paper. The tutor then summarized the discussion to the student and advised them to find further evidence to back up their thesis and worked out the student's "plan of attack".
During the session, awkward silences did seem to occasionally arise, and the tutor addressed them by asking the student open-ended questions regarding their work. Although the tutor spoke more, and encouraged the student to explain and expand on their writing, the student definitely seemed more confident in their writing at the end of the lesson.
During the session, the tutor seemed to draw frequently on the concept of asking the student open-ended questions to explain their work. I do not remember exactly what reading this was from (also the in-class video), but this is definitely something that I would strongly consider incorporating into my own style of tutoring, as it seems mutually beneficial to tutee and tutor alike. The tutor also gave an interesting piece of advice: "Pretend the beginning of the paper is a commercial, be convincing", which ties into the "So What? Who Cares" article.
Pre-Tutoring Questions:
1. How often were awkward silences present?
2. Who spoke more, the student or the tutor?
3. Did the student seem more confident at the end of the lesson?
Observation Report:
The tutor began the session by asking the student the open-ended question: "What can I help you with?". The student presented the assignment and the tutor proceeded to review both the assignment and the student's writing. The tutor read the the student's writing aloud and the tutor and student discussed and refined the student's hypothesis. The tutor asked the student what other concerns they would to address. The tutor and student then reviewed the student's sources and discussed how to analyze the articles rather than simply summarizing them. The tutor and the student then discussed the deeper points of the student's paper and how the structure of the paper should be refined further. The tutor then mentioned than the student was free to accept or reject any suggestions made during the process. The tutor and student then further narrowed the specific points of the student's paper and related them to the source articles. The tutor then discussed the importance of the student's hypothesis and advised the student to cater to the reader. Eventually the tutor and the student refocused the paper further and discussed how to incorporate both research and personal experience into the paper. The tutor then summarized the discussion to the student and advised them to find further evidence to back up their thesis and worked out the student's "plan of attack".
During the session, awkward silences did seem to occasionally arise, and the tutor addressed them by asking the student open-ended questions regarding their work. Although the tutor spoke more, and encouraged the student to explain and expand on their writing, the student definitely seemed more confident in their writing at the end of the lesson.
During the session, the tutor seemed to draw frequently on the concept of asking the student open-ended questions to explain their work. I do not remember exactly what reading this was from (also the in-class video), but this is definitely something that I would strongly consider incorporating into my own style of tutoring, as it seems mutually beneficial to tutee and tutor alike. The tutor also gave an interesting piece of advice: "Pretend the beginning of the paper is a commercial, be convincing", which ties into the "So What? Who Cares" article.
John,
ReplyDeleteSolid “play by play” here. To begin, reading aloud is epically important in tutoring sessions because it reinforces our sound-brain-language-writing connections -- which can, together, strengthen our work. Additionally, reading aloud probably isn’t a habit for most folks, especially underclassmen. You acknowledged that the tutor read the student/tutee’s work out loudl; I’m wondering whether the student had the opportunity and/or was encouraged to take the lead on reading their own work. Generally, my position is that, whenever possible, we should encourage students to read, though there are exceptions to this (and everything, always!). For example, asking an ELL student who is shy might make them feel uncomfortable, which might compromise the rest of the tutoring session + your ability to help a student move forward as productively as possible.
You brought this up yesterday: “Although the tutor spoke more, and encouraged the student to explain and expand on their writing, the student definitely seemed more confident in their writing at the end of the lesson.” While, in theory, we want to have 2-way conversations (is that redundant?) with students during tutoring sessions, we also have to use our best judgment. If/when students are shy, tired, etc., I think it’s perfectly reasonable for the tutor to take a bit more of the lead on “turn-taking” when it comes to talking.
1. I’d like to see you make a deeper + more specific connections to our course readings in this field report. You mentioned the “So What?” chapter -- well, what about it? I’d like to hear you elaborate on that further. You mentioned reading aloud which is also touched on in our assigned readings -- do any of our authors have recommendations about how to best do this? Or caveats about when we might not want to read for students?
Z