Case Study: Competent

Case Study

            Collaborative learning has become an important method that I want to continue practicing. I am a student at LaGuardia community college, majoring in Childhood Education. I’m focusing on working towards becoming an English teacher for elementary school children. This is extremely significant to me because not only do I love to read and write, it can take you further career wise and success in professions that require excellent writing. During the last six weeks, I have been reading and developing my tutoring skills using particular text as well as other readings that made this process smoother. Tutoring Writing by Donald A. McAndrew and Thomas J. Reigstad, Active Voice, Integrity in the Teaching Writing of writing and Writing, Inner speech and Meditation by James Moffett have all been great readings and left a major impact on my development. They helped me keep in my mind the value of a writer’s and the steps to being good assistance to their progress in their writing skills. I believe that in tutoring, the writer’s voice should be a part of the decisions made to any changes on their piece.

            Tutoring in general is very useful for students that need that extra help or push in a certain subject matter. Tutoring writing is for students that want to gain or develop their skills and also get some encouragement to write what they thought would not be fit in their paper. Tutoring in some sense is like professional advice that can or cannot be put into the writer’s piece. It matters a great deal to many of the students that seek this help because they want and need to become better writer’s. Like I said, it brings a great feeling of accomplishment when their piece has received an outstanding grade and good comments from their teachers after they’ve revised.

            When tutoring, we should be able to encourage the writer to be confident in their piece regardless of the “red marks” made by the professor. To have a successful session, the writer should have most of their concerns met and questions answered that will enable them to proceed with their revision. In other words, the writer should walk out of the session knowing more than what they did when they first walked in. Collaborative tutoring allows the tutor and writer to equally give their ideas to the questions that are being asked. The tutor gets an idea of how the writer began their process of their paper and also identifies the problems that need attention. As a tutor you should be aware of our “cheerleading”, “positive stroking is good. But tutors should not use praise to sugarcoat the truth” (17). We must give attention to the writer, their piece and acknowledge the effort that they put in trying something different when they are in session. A writer is very sensitive and knows when a tutor is being false towards their piece. They will not take this lightly because it is important that they get the best help in order to gain the skills that they are lacking when composing.

            My tutoring session consisted of some of these theories in order for me to have a positive outcome. The assignment asked for the students to portray bicultural as a strength or weakness in today’s world. They were to use supportive evidence in the argument that is chosen CUNY+ for at least two articles and cite them in their paper. Their textbook was a must in their paper in order to receive credit for supportive evidence. Before sitting down I introduced myself to my tutee and asked him for his name. As we sat down, I asked him what the assignment was and he handed me a hardcopy of it then I asked him what his position was and why. He told me that he thought it is strength because of the hardships people that are bicultural overcome. He handed me his paper, informing me that it was his first draft and that it was rushed. Together we read through the introduction and I quickly made note of the thesis. As we continued to read, I stopped at every point that he made and the evidence that he used.

In the last body paragraph, he used a friend as an example of someone that has overcome obstacles to being bicultural. I asked him if he can relate to the topic and he began to talk about himself, where he came from and his education here as well as his origin. “Most of all, keeping inner speech as the matrix of all writing keeps teaching of writing centered on authentic writing” (234). I felt like he was a perfect primary example to his assignment. He wouldn’t have to cite from an article, the use of his own thoughts would be an asset to his paper. He wasn’t really sure if he was allowed to use himself and that was a problem. I told him that he should ask his professor if he could do so, that way he does not put in an example that may not be allowed. “Writers should feel welcome to explore their own ideas and find their own ways to express them, without unwelcomed intrusions from the tutor.” (19). I didn’t want to make changes or many suggestions because I wanted him to alter his paper. Instead, I questioned him on whether he felt he needed to add more evidence and where, if he would like my help on and what I know of the subject, which lead us to speak about an artist I knew that was bicultural. I suggested for him to do some more research on famous people that are bicultural.

He was satisfied with the session making notes on his paper next to each paragraph that needed some more details and adding to his conclusion. Once we completed that, he asked me if I could go over grammar errors that I may have noticed during our discussion.  We did a “read aloud” of where I noticed some fixes, in order for him to hear the few spelling errors he had in forming his sentences. “Have the writer read the piece aloud to himself. Hearing his own words often lets a writer catch incongruous word combinations or words or word endings that he has inadvertently omitted” (61). He did not have many so it was a quick run through of the paper and we had about two minutes to talk about his background relating the assignment.

Collaborative tutoring is very useful but another strategy that I would use is student-centered tutoring because it gives the writer the lead role in the session as well as being independent. “The tutor listens a great deal, especially early in the session, asks a few questions, and contributes personal recollections and associations to add to the writer’s discovery and development of the subject” (25).   It is important to let the writer be independent of their work and main ideas. Tutoring is significant to education because it gives students to opportunity to gain skills that they could not during a lesson in class. It helps them advance or “catch up” with the rest of the class, which gives them the feeling of accomplishment. It is also a positive activity for students that do not get the help that they need at home. Education is an extremely major factor to the success in an individual’s life. As educators we must have a passion for the success in pushing children forward to the careers they dream of, regardless of the difficulties we may encounter.

Works Cited:

Donald A. McAndrew and Thomas J. Reigstad. Tutoring Writing: a practical guide for conferences. Boynton/Cook, 2001. Print.

Moffett, James. Active Voice: a writing program across the curriculum. New Hampshire: Boynton/Cook, 1992. Print.

Moffett, James. “Writing, Inner Speech and Meditation.” College English. 44.3 (1982): 231-246. Print.