This week's reading focused primarily on the fundamentals of tutoring and how to tutor effectively. Such a responsibility includes being on task and interested in the material you as a tutor are trying to teach, as well as practicing active listening as a means to facilitate better communication. There are many steps that go into being an effective tutor, such as being ethical, professional, and flexible with those you are tutoring, but a tutor must also be willing to learn on the job as there will always be situations with which you may have no or little experience. In these cases, using what you know as a tutor to adapt and advise is the best you can do. However, it would be best for a tutor to avoid using a corrective style because while this may be useful in the short term, the tutee learns much less as a result of trying to handle their paper quickly. Instead a tutor must take the time to hear their troubles and difficulties and then present a solution through carefully considered feedback and specific examples. This chapter provides a significant amount of insight for those seeking the basic principles of tutoring. As a result, I found it quite informative, providing a great deal of information and things to look for as a tutor as well as perform while fulfilling that role. My only question then is why so many teachers adopt this "red-pen" correction mindset of teaching if a collaborative method is so superior to a student's learning?
September 24-28 This week in the writing center was far more lively than the last. Not only did I receive more clients, but I believe that I have found my first big concern as a writing consultant, and that revolves, for the most part, in how people unaccustomed to how a writing session should proceed view their writing consultant. To elaborate on this, many, if not all, of my clients so far have been Freshman. This is certainly good to see, as it means that they are seeking help with their writing, and I'm always eager to assist, but what concerns me is how deeply they hang off my every word. As a student, I'm the last person who should have the power to dictate right from wrong, especially in writing which is a medium in which "right" might as well just be translated to "academic" as any form of expressive writing can follow quite nearly any form one chooses. But, to the point, I have to really try ...
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