Ten Points of Reminders for Writing Tutors by Agam Syahrial

Points 2 & 3

2024-10-29 17:27:55 UTC

I found that the second and third points resonated with me the most because I am known to be a talker. A lot of the time I unknowingly assume that the tutees are going to understand what I am telling them so I either under-explain or overdo it. I try to build rapport with them in the start of the appointment which may also give them the wrong idea about who I am to them which is not a friend but a coach. I want to be supportive of them but sometimes I can get a bit off track when they dive deeper into a conversation that isn't on topic which is hard to get out of without seeming rude. The second point emphasizes that "your client sought

your help because you have the more advanced skills in this field." I will remember this for next time.

Point 9

2024-10-31 15:11:14 UTC

Point 9 felt the most relevant to me because I find that a lot of students come in hoping to get their papers edited or are struggling with their formatting while neglecting their content. It can be difficult to focus on their ideas when they are struggling with grammar or proper formatting. Also, some students I've had get writer's block even if they have great ideas because they're too nervous about getting the formatting of sentences wrong. With those students, I engage them in a conversation about their topic, writing down their ideas on a piece of paper, and reassuring them that what they're saying is good and makes sense. This has helped them to feel more confident in their abilities to write down their ideas and focus more on the content instead of formatting.

point 1

2024-10-31 18:50:12 UTC

I felt like Point 1 stood out to me the most because this is something I grapple with in my day-to-day life. Internally, it's easy to be hard on yourself, but it can be even more taxing when dealing with criticism, constructive or not, from others and not taking it to heart. I've had tutee get frustrated with me because they aren't understanding what I'm saying or their work is consistently not turning out how they want it to go. In situations like these, I have to remind myself that I can only offer so much guidance and support before letting it negatively affect me. I need to remind myself of the good work I've done and continue to do for myself and my peers.

Point 2

2024-11-03 17:34:26 UTC

I found that Point 2 was standing out for me, "Be friendly but don't 'socialize.'" I thought it was an interesting way to put this idea and it is especially interesting when considering the different age demographics of tutees. As it says on the explanation, it can feel precarious to navigate situations where the tutee is older, however, the coaching aspect should not diminish simply due to age.

I feel that when working with tutees that are the same age as me, it is easy to get talking because we have similiar experiences and feelings about things, such as if we both find a specific formatting for an essay frustrating. I think it's nice to be able to talk to them and establish a relationship, aiding in the "peer" side of the situation, but it always must be brought back to "authority" in order to work productively.

Point 6

2024-11-04 15:58:34 UTC

I think that point 6 resonated the most with me. I have had students with a wide variety of writing ability, from just a few small grammatical mistakes to writing that is borderline unreadable. When I find myself with a student who falls into the latter category, it is easy for me to get caught up in trying to help fix everything, meaning that while they might get some knowledge on each part of their writing issues, it feels less like teaching and more like damage control. I had a tutee the other day whose essay was extremely difficult to read. I knew for a fact that I would not be able to teach them everything they needed to fix their essay in our one hour session. To make matters worse, my typical strategy of asking her to read her essay out loud to me was not working, as she could not pinpoint what was wrong with it. So, I had to take the reins a bit more in this session, and tried to help her on a few more specific sections of her essay. Ultimately, much of her writing improved as a result.

Point 6

2024-11-04 16:11:36 UTC

Point 6 definitely resonated with me the most, as I find it is truly the thing I use the most to guide my sessions. Sometimes students come in and say their paper is "just bad." I always try to guide them towards explaining specific issues they have with the paper, thus we can get more out of the session. For example, if the paper is lacking transitions, but also has a general structure issue, I would focus first on the transitions if that is what the student said they wanted to focus on. I think I adapt this "triage" method to fit my style of tutoring. On the flip side, if the student is most worried about grammar but the paper is lacking structurally, a professor is more likely to dock lots of points for a poorly structured paper compared to a few missing commas. In that instance, I am using the triage method at its core. I think this is something I can continue to work into my sessions.

Point 2

2024-11-05 16:22:22 UTC

Out of the 10 points, point 2 really stood out to me. I find it difficult to balance between fulfilling my role as a tutor and also be friendly toward the tutees. I think this is not easy to do because while we want to see the tutee walking out with confidence in their writing, we don't want to appear cold or distant with them since this may hurt the tutoring. Back in my first semester as a tutor, I once built great rapport with a tutee so much that after that, I felt extremely guilty about how I could have offered more guidance and advice instead of distracting her with my talking. After that, I constantly remind myself of creating the line between doing my job and "socializing". This has since helped me to better use my tutoring's time, and be friendly enough to get the tutee open up, then I can help them with whatever they need.

Point 3

2024-11-05 19:14:10 UTC

I found that the third point resonated with me the most. In many of my sessions, I find that the student doesn't know where to start or what to do. This resulted in a lot of conversation around the paper and me trying to get as much information out of them as possible. I often try to encourage students to take notes so they don't forget what we talked about, but that doesn't always happen. On the other hand, I feel like I gravitate toward more talking because it can be uncomfortable to sit in silence while the student just writes their own paper in front of me. I am never sure when to cut in or when to ask if they need help with anything. At the end of the day, it is most important that the student feels as though they have made progress after the session. That's why I think there needs to be a balance between talking and writing. I can give them as much guidance as possible, but at the end of the day, the student has to be the one doing the work. And they need to be able to do it without me there to help.

Point 2

rachelsivy — 2024-11-05 19:28:10 UTC

I felt as if Point 2 spoke to me the most as I like getting to know my tutee, but keeping the session professional and to the point. When having a reoccurring session, it can be hard not to talk to them about other things. Keeping the tutee on track will help them get to their end goal of the writing assignment and produce an efficient paper and tutoring session. I liked the line "We are coaches, not teachers or friends". As even though we are the same age as most of our tuttees, we are here for a job to help them with their writing goals and to not socialize. Keeping them on track helps them learn more writing techniques and end up with a fantastic paper.

Point 8

2024-11-05 19:44:42 UTC

I found that point 8 is one of the points that resonated the most with me. Sometimes when I am helping a student with their work, I can feel disheartened when I do not address all of the parts of their essay that may need help. However, it is an important reminder that I can only aid on certain aspects of the paper at once. It's helps remind me that sessions should be focused on one aspect of the paper at a time, and are meant to gradually help improve tutee's writing rather than all at once. It is because of point 8 that I often give students something to work on by themselves after the appointment, and I advise them that they can always come back for another appointment with additional concerns.

Point 2

2024-11-05 20:33:46 UTC

This feels relevant to almost every session I have had. It is very difficult when tutor and tutee are close in age because it can feel difficult to keep the conversation professional and focused. Often times it will be difficult to get a tutee back on track as they complain about issues in the class or go off topic. For example, a common occurrence is when a tutee asks if you remember a specific class and if you do, the tutee will often get off track and discuss the annoying aspects of a class or ramble about a specific professor. It is difficult to get back on track when this occurs.

Point 10

2024-11-05 21:42:20 UTC

This point feels the most relevant to my own tutoring experience. As a writing tutor, many of my tutees come into sessions focused on a single paper, rather than improving their writing overall. In a tutoring session last week, this situation happened, and I did my best to redirect the session in order to create an environment conducive to them learning and growing as a writer. I like to tutor in a way that focuses more on ideas, outlines, and advice rather than simply fixing a paper. As a tutor, my job is to improve their writing, thus improving their papers, instead of the other way around.

Point 7

2024-11-07 18:40:44 UTC

Point 7, "Supplement but don't supplant the teacher" stood out to me, because I have had a few sessions in the past where I had to admit that I couldn't help someone any further. I can redirect them to a different source that may help them more, but the first time it happened, it was an awful feeling. This point was a nice reminder that I'm not supposed to be a cure-all solution to a problem. I'm a tutor, but I'm also a student, and if I don't have the problem, then at least I can help my tutee find the next step to take.

The final line of the section about teachers who have gone astray especially resonated with me. Outside of tutoring, there have been a few instances where I had to help either my classmates or friends argue that their professor has gone astray and needs to be addressed. Every one of those experiences has helped people more than I can describe here, so this was a nice reminder of how I can help people beyond what I know as a writer.

Sorry for the late posting! I hope everyone has a good rest of the week!

Point 9

2024-11-07 19:24:35 UTC

Point 9 felt most relevant to me because I try to shape the beginning of sessions by focusing on ideas rather than specific content. I found that the idea of a thesis statement can be very daunting to students that are first starting so I always try to help them generate ideas first before hoping into the technical aspects. Also, I definitely relate to wanting to immediately organize someone's essay before first clarifying the direction they want to tale their essay. I've learned that rather than just jumping into editing, it's important to ask clarifying questions and focus on overarching ideas before jumping into the small details. Once, I had a student that came in feeling overwhelmed with starting their paper because they were so focused on creating and perfecting a thesis statement. I had them do some free writing to generate some overarching ideas rather than focusing on the details, which ended up relieving some of their stress.

Point 10

2024-11-08 01:32:49 UTC

I really like this point because I try hard to explain to my tutee why I make the comments I do. For instance, I won't just tell them, "These two sentences should be combined with a semi-colon," rather I want them to understand that complex sentences help show a sophisticated connection between ideas and help with the flow of the paper. I really agree with the idea that we should help them in a way that will stick when they write their next paper, not just help them fix the one they came in with. I remember I had a really successful session with a student, where we spent most of the time going over the structural purposes of paragraphs because they were confused about what should go where. During that session, we were able to fix all the issues they came in with while deepening their understanding of essay and sentence structure.

Point 8

2024-11-18 19:23:25 UTC

Point 8 really sticks out to me because I often find myself in sessions becoming overly invested in their work. As a tutor, I obviously want to see everyone that comes into the Writing Center succeed, but my role as a tutor only extends so far. Especially in situations where an essay needs a lot of work, I feel as though it is my mission to make sure tutees receive a good grade. At the end of the day, I am not the professor and this is not my essay, so there is only so much I can do. Instead, I should focus on assisting tutees with improving their essays and less so on if it is perfect or not.

Point 6

2024-11-19 17:54:09 UTC

I've definitely had many tutees in the past whose work had so many problems that I felt overwhelmed and didn't know how to appropriately help. It's always felt weird intentionally leaving some problems alone or not mentioning them to the student, as though if those problems remained, it would be my fault as a tutor. The "triage" metaphor in Point 6 really helped me reframe my thoughts on this problem, because it made me realize it's about prioritizing-- and also that I'm not trying to "save" tutees. Any help I can give is good, it's okay for me to spend my time on the most debilitating "injury," and it's actually GOOD that I not overwhelm the student by pointing out all the problems we don't have time to address in the session. It may be a lot more productive to only address the biggest issue or two, so that the student can feel like they've accomplished something by making progress on those, rather than dumping all the extra little issues on them at the end. I don't want students to feel discouraged or like the progress we HAVE made during the session isn't good enough.

Point 8

2024-11-21 01:53:45 UTC

The point that resonated with me the most is point 8: Start with ideas, then work on form. I think it's incredibly important to address all parts of the essay, as well as remember to view the essay as a whole, but focus on one part at a time. It is tempting to address every little thing but essays can change a lot the further you get into them, and small ideas may become obsolete as the essay is rewritten and adjusted. Focusing on the bigger, more prevalent issues, and things you know the professor will be grading for is the key to success and ensuring the student will gain as much as they can out of hour time allotment.

Point 4

2024-11-25 18:45:35 UTC

I thought this idea was the most potent to me because it's so easy to think in terms of the single session. When you think long-term about how you can help the tutor, you make the session even more worthwhile and get them realizing that the skills they learn here can be applied on their own outside as well. We are peers and teachers and as such it is important that we respect and help grow our tutees in their writing practices which in part is encouraging them to be able to do it themselves. That's why we don't grab the computer and correct things. This is much in the same vein. Things do not go away because the session ends, they carry after, even transcending the paper/assignment and resulting grade themselves.

Point 10

2024-11-25 19:37:13 UTC

Point ten felt the most important to me and my tutoring sessions. I realized that I often focus on improving the paper instead of improving the student's skills during sessions. I am usually too focused on making sure the student will be satisfied with their grade on this paper rather than teaching them skills that will be applicable to papers in the future. Teaching skills rather than perfecting the current paper is more beneficial to tutees in the long run because their grades will consistently improve on upcoming papers, leading to a better outcome in the long term.