Balancing it Out

On Monday May 12^th I had the opportunity to work with two Eng 099 students. However time was a issue. When we first arrived there I notice there wasn’t enough seats , with that being said it took about 10 to 15 minutes to get a seat. Once that issue was covered I started to help the student . the student had one paragraph summing up the article . it was a good start but she quoted on 2 or three things in article instead of putting it in her own words. I told her this piece is really good but could you tell me more about it. I used the conversation method. She would talk  about what the article was about and I would make notes on key ideas. Afterwards I told her “ this is what we want to put in our introduction instead of quoting the article. This is what you told me without any help from the article”. She seemed really pleased. Next I asked her we should connect the article to a personal memory. She actually had one about her father, that’s when another student came into the classroom and was partnered up with me . At that moment I told the student I was working with to write about her personal reflection about her father . I said “I will work with you in a moment but just write as much as you can while I work with the next student.

            I then turn my attention to the next student. In my head I said “so far so good, I’m balancing this session”. The second student had an opinion about the piece which didn't summarize the article however in the back of his writing book he had three main points. I notice the 1^st student had finish writing so I told the second student to go back to his article and underline the three points he wrote in the back of the book. As that was taking place I switched to the 1^st student and read what she wrote. She wrote how her dad cleans the house and her dad always saying “keeping a well maintain home makes guests feel welcome and at home”. I then asked her do you think it fair if men help out around the house, her response was yes I asked why but to write it down and use some quotes from the article to back up her reasons.

            I went to check on the second student who underlined three key points. I told him to tell me what he received from the article. He summarized the article while I wrote it down and I also used the three points from the back and incorporated it to his introduction. I told his in the 2^nd paragraph he will write about a personal memory that has to do with his first point the 3^rd paragraph with his second point and his 4^th paragraph with his 3^rd point . he 

The rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer.

After watching Four videos on the profit of education everything seems like a big sham. In each video it discusses how these billionaires and millionaires business white  men who do not have a have a education background create stupid  laws in the public school system. For example Mcgraw Hill is a company that is used in public school education and using their products such as textbook, workbooks etc. is suppose to help children succeed in their state test. Now if students do not succeed in their tests the school gets low rating and less money to  its not the companies fault but rather the teachers and school  for not pushing hard in enough to educate these students meanwhile these companies get paid for.     basically what Karl Marx says " the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer.

My Very First Time

         On Monday I had the chance to tutor my very first time. Boy was I nervous. But after breaking the ice by introducing ourselves it became a bit easier to do the job I was assign to do. First of all the student I had was a student who didn't really speak English but understood the language. He sort of understood what his assignment was about which was is gentrification cancerous to urban community but really didn't understand he had to choose a side.  When I read his paper he did have great ideas on both sides but didn't have a thesis to what side he felt more strongly about. His paper structure was all scattered and most of his resources were claims that he saw or felt. He didn't have actual sources from articles or from the book. They were mostly his ideas. Although he didn't have the right sources I did praise him on his efforts and told him he can use this to support a quote.  I asked him if he had any of his articles and book and he didn't so I started by asking “Do you like gentrification?” and he responded no . I asked why then that’s when he stared giving me reason why. After I told him this is your thesis, you have three reasons to why you dislike it and on the next three paragraphs for each reason you’re going to uses sources from the text and articles to support your argument. After you are going to elaborate on the source whether it a quote or sentence with your interpretation which he already had. So I had him try to remember some evidence to support his argument and during the week he could fix it with the right quotes.

                After 30 minutes into the session I was assigned with a new student. Now this student had a well done paper. He had a thesis and a side he felt strongly about. He also had reasons with supporting evidence to support his claims. I told him this was an excellent paper and just had one negative thing to say which was that his introduction sentence shouldn't start with a question. I told him  It’s  not as eye opening  to readers and usually students use this as a draft to start up their introduction. However , everything was great and all he need to fix was his introduction.

The experience was great and being able to help two student at the same time was challenging 

Looking Forward for Monday

         Discussing guidelines and having the opportunity to observe tutors in the writing center has really helped me in what to expect for Mondays session. My expectation for Mondays tutoring is being able to make sure students understand what to do in their assignment. Making sure they have their thesis, arguments and basically getting their points across. I’m really looking forward in helping them become better writers as well as learning from them in becoming a successful tutor.  I am nervous due to the fact this will be my first time tutoring college students, but I know when Monday comes and  when the student is there waiting to be assist those first time jitters will go away.

                I did have questions on how to help students that did not have any assignments or if they did have a great paper, but needless to say my questions and worries have been answered. I’m going to make sure that in this session the student is pleased with the ideas and comments that I discuss with them and hope for the best. I know if I don’t understand something nor need some help I can always the professor or other students. So yeah, I’m looking forward for Monday.

Dialogue

Today at the writing centered I had the chance to observe students from my class as well as myself. The tutor was fantastic! He asked questions on what the paper was supposed to be about. With our luck we had a tutor who had background in filming and acting so he knew how to help us with our dialogue. In the tutoring session he asked us if we wanted to volunteer in acting out the script that Elba created. It was fun that we had the chance to be part of the session instead of just sitting there and taking notes. He was really engage in helping all of us.

            

           First thing he said after the reading was that Elba did a great job on her writing. It was very informative and leaves readers with an open ending to think what they believe what will happen. After he gave some tips on how to make a dialogue as people really speaking in a conversation  rather than stating precise facts. He also helped me as well and critic my paper. He gave me ideas too to incorporate in my paper. it was a great observation and tutoring session.

101 Observation

             Yesterday I had the chance to observe a student from English 101 and a bilingual tutor. The tutor was very friendly and made the student feel comfortable. The first thing I noticed was that the tutor asked the question on what the assignment was about. Next thing I notice was the tutor asked questions on what she learned from her previous English class. He also helped her defined words that seem more appropriate for her essay.

            
             After reading her work he gave her positive feedback on her arguments. Two critics he made was put more information about the story into her essay and two connect the thesis to the conclusion.  What I found interesting was the tutor knew that the student used a quote from a website and try to use it has her own. He asked her if she knew what that religion believed in. She answered no and instead of saying don’t ever do this again or scolded her for it , he just told her “I have no knowledge of that religion and you either so whatever source you receive that from please cite it for future reference”. He also told her to not use semicolons for every quote and used different word choice to introduce a quote.  The tutor also gave her ideas in how to structure her paper and made the whole observation student centered. It was a wonderful learning experience.

Expectations

Although I haven't Visited the tutoring center I know it will be a wonderful experience to observe.  With the lectures, readings and assignments I know what I should be looking for. I should be able to see the body languages that tutor presents and different methods being used. Hopefully I see tutors engaged in students writing as well as right body postures. Techniques that I hopefully see are student centers as well as feedback from tutors. Well hopefully I see this when I get the chance