When I think back to my first tutoring experience I remember how nervous I was going into the session. I felt my paper was inadequate, and that the tutor was going to judge me. I remember thinking “if the paper wasn’t up to my standards than what is my tutor going to think of it?” Going into the writing center I felt like I was too stupid to be there. When I arrived my tutor introduced herself, she was as nice as could be, making the situation a little more comfortable for both of us. After a brief introduction of herself she started to ask me questions of my likes and dislikes. At first I found it strange and wasteful, why is she asking me all these questions? I’m here for a paper not for a social hour. But as the time went on I realized that the bottomless pit in my stomach went away and it was easier to talk to the tutor. After learning a little bit about the tutor and the tutor about me our session went off just right. She knew what I was trying to get across and I was less nervous, so it was easy for me to say yes that’s my point or no that’s not what I’m trying to say. She added her opinions like “yes that’s a great point.” Or “maybe you want to add a little bit more here?” Her helpful hint and questions helped me to create the paper I was hoping to make originally. At the end I realized all because we had this brief introduction we both grew more comfortable and in result a good paper was produced.
In Thomas Newkirk’s “The first five Minutes” he points out how important the introduction process is when going for a tutoring session. He states that “The opening minutes to the conference are critically important in giving the conference direction—they act as a kind of lead. The student’s contributions in these opening minutes need to be used to give the conference a mutually agreeable and mutually understood direction.” If the student is not comfortable with the tutor, the student will tend to close up and the session will be a failure. In Newkirk’s first five minutes he shows that as the students grow to become more comfortable they start to open up and that is when the learning process begins. I feel it is very important for students to be comfortable in their sessions, other wise what’s the point of even attending? This is why I feel writing centers should schedule students with the same tutor rather than just any tutor.
As the tutor you play an important role to the student as Christina Murphy and Steve Sherwood “a relationship more than a body of techniques or even a body of knowledge. In the tutoring session two people work together toward a common goal; they collaborate. The purpose of the collaboration is to assist writers in their own development. The dialogue between tutor and student--a conversation with a definite purpose--is the basis upon which tutors and students build a supportive, working relationship” A relationship is very important for a successful session in observing I found that as the students became more comfortable with the tutor the whole process seemed to become easier for both the student and the teacher.
According to The Service-Learning Student Handbook, “Tutor programs are a great way to increase the success of students. Members and volunteers who tutor students can increase their efficacy by building good relationships with their students. This effective practice outlines principles for building tutor-student rapport” If this relationship is already built, the tutor and the student will have more time to focus on the task at hand rather than almost wasting it on getting to know someone new.
On 11/17/08 I observed two tutoring sessions with the tutor and the student having a previous session. The session moved along nicely. My first session involved a girl Erica and a teacher Mrs. Cats, Erica went into the writing center with focus issues, and trouble understanding the assignment. Right away Erica knew the materials to use and was prepared for the type of questions that Mrs. Cats had for her. I found that Mrs. Cats knew her strengths and weaknesses. She picked up on key items when Erica didn’t understand something just by a facial expression or a certain body movement. I noticed that if Erica stared at the computer screen too long Mrs. Cats would ask the same question but in a different way so it may connect better with Erica. Also I found that when Mrs. Cats wanted to get a point trough to Erica she leaned close to the screen and reassured what Erica had to say with “That is a great point”. Or if Mrs. Cats didn’t understand a point Erica was trying to get across she would say something like “what are you trying to say here” or “how does this connect with what you are trying to get across.” Mrs. Cats gets her point across and because she is familiar with Erica she says it in a way where Erica doesn’t become discouraged or offended. She also gets Erica to do two things. One explain what she means, by doing this she gets Erica more involved into the paper and two seeing if Erica can connect her point into her reconstructed paper. Because of their rapport Mrs. Cats knew the vocabulary that she could use with Erica. Some students don’t understand certain vocabulary but because she knew Erica she knew that she can use an extensive vocabulary and Erica would know what she was saying. Another observation I made during the session was Erica was so comfortable with her tutor she was not afraid to ask any types of questions. Just as Mrs. Cats would ask Erica to explain what she meant, when Erica didn’t understand something she felt just as comfortable to ask the tutor what she meant.
The other session I observed on 11/17/08 was between Mrs. Cats and Cassie. The tutor and the student skipped the whole introduction process which saved almost ten to fifteen minutes. Mrs. Cats sat right next to Cassie so right away you could tell that they were acquainted with one another. Before Mrs. Cats could even ask why Cassie was at the tutoring center today, Cassie jumped right in and told Mrs. Cats that she was having trouble understanding the assignment and needed help on how to go about starting the “overwhelming” task at hand. So Mrs. Cats asked Cassie to pull out her assignment sheet and together they went trough what the teacher is looking for throughout the assignment. Mrs. Cats showed Cassie some keywords to look for and pick up on so in future assignment she’ll have more of an idea of what this professor is looking for. Cassie typed her notes up on her laptop and Mrs. Cats leaned in to see what she was typing. Mrs. Cats glanced at the assignment sheet and asked Cassie to go online and research some of background on her assignment. As Cassie did that her and Mrs. Cats stared at the screen and looked for key words that maybe a help to Cassie’s paper. Cassie pointed out a site she thought would be very helpful. Mrs. Cats asked her to explain how this paper would be so helpful. Cassie would look at the screen and read parts of the site that she thought could help her out greatly. When Cassie looked at the site Mrs. Cats looked at the site, when Cassie was explaining herself, Mrs. Cats would look directly at Cassie giving Cassie her undivided attention. I noticed that when Mrs. Cats didn’t think something was right for the assignment, she would touch her face. Cassie picked up on this quick and when Mrs. Cats touched her face Cassie would either explain why she thought that would work or ask for Mrs. Cat’s opinion on what she should do there. Mrs. Cats knew how to word what she wanted Cassie to do with out coming out and saying it and by the time the session was over Cassie understood the assignment and knew how to go about it, without being told what to do directly. Because the two were familiar with each other they knew how to talk and what to say to get their points across as clear as possible.
Reigstad and McAndrew states that “Writing is very personal; usually students do not want to share their written work with anyone, much less with someone they do not know. Often, self-image is at stake since they are coming for help. Therefore, the most important initial goal of a tutor should be to build rapport. If a good tutor/student relationship is established, the student will feel more comfortable returning. You should always try to make the writing center a friendly and relaxed place.” From my own tutoring experience I’ve come to learn that this holds very true. Establishing a rapport is one of the most important steps in a successful student/ tutor relationship. I found when I tutored my first student we both were a little on edge but reading Reigstad and McAndrew I knew to ask some of the suggested questions below “What is your name? What year are you? How did you enjoy last week’s game/concert/play? Where are you from? What's your major? How do you like it here at (name of your school)? How are your classes going?” after some of these questions we both became more comfortable and when we started talking and got to know each other it became easier to move on to the assignment. Reigstad and McAndrew said “Tutoring is face-to-face interaction and as such requires that both tutor and writer are relaxed and confident. The tutor must show an interested concern from the onset if the writer is to enter the interaction easily and develop self-confidence as well as confidence in the tutor.” From my own personal tutoring experiences I found this to be true. It’s easier to let your own personal works to be unveiled when you don’t feel if the person helping you is judging you.
All in all I feel that if writing centers assigned the same tutor to a student, stronger writers will come out of the writing center. By having long-term student/ tutor relationships you save time by skipping the first five minutes, you get more accomplished because you’re not afraid to open up your works because you’re not dealing with a complete stranger. Long-term student/ tutor relationships would benefit the writing centers and the students greatly and should be considered.
Works Cited
Murphy, Christina, and Steve Sherwood. The St. Martin’s Sourcebook for Writing Tutors. New York: St. Martin’s, 1995.
Reigstad, Thomas J. and Donald A. McAndrew. Training Tutors for Writing Conferences. Urbana, Il: NCTE, 1984.
The Service-Learning Student Handbook . Provo, Utah: Jacobsen Center for Service and Learning at Bringham Young University, 2000. (out of print)
Last Day of Class
15 years ago
