- How did you think the sessions went?
- Did your mentor use any tutoring techniques you want to use in your own tutoring?
- What did you take notes on?
- What didn't go as well in the sessions, if anything?
For this week's response, I'd like you to write a reflection on what you saw during your observations in the past few weeks. Feel free to discuss anything you like from the sessions, but if you're feeling stuck, feel free to address questions like:
15 Comments
Gram Seelund
2/13/2016 03:38:20 pm
Gram Seelund
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Gaby Tribou
2/14/2016 11:26:20 am
After my first time observing in the RWC, I wasn't sure how much I was going to like tutoring. My entire 1 1/2 hours was occupied by a grad student who works with my mentor every week at the same time. She was working on a paper for a class, and my mentor spent the time making sure that her paper remained focused on the research question it was answering, which actually required quite a bit of redirecting on his part. My mentor used a really natural blend of both directive and non-directive approaches when working with her, which really helped me to visual the sentiment that the approach should be determined by the student and the assignment. I was really intimidated watching them work together because of the higher level of the grad student's work, and my general inexperience with the type of research paper she was working on. I observed in mostly silence during that session, and took a lot of notes on my mentor's responses to certain situations and discussions.
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Courtney Hansen
2/14/2016 12:26:38 pm
I think the sessions went well. I love getting to observe my mentor. She is very helpful to the students as well as me. She has a regular appointment during the time I come into observe but I’ve learned more from the very end of the tutoring sessions I watch before my observation officially begins. First she starts off with the student explaining their assignment and sometimes she asks for the teacher’s assignment sheet. Then she asks where the student is in the writing process and what the student is hoping to get out of this tutoring session, and finally, if the paper isn’t too long she will read it aloud for the student. When I took notes I wrote down her process of tutoring a student, what steps she took and why I thought she took that step. I also took down what students were asking and how she would answer the question, and the different things the students wanted her help with. I think I can employ her process when I go to tutor students and hope to keep learning from my mentor.
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Olivia Nash
2/14/2016 04:57:43 pm
I think the tutoring sessions went extremely well last week. My mentor had two appointments while I was there observing and both were very different, yet very productive. The first was asking for more of a proofread, to make sure her paper flowed. My mentor did an awesome job of finding questions to ask the student instead of just reading it through and saying it sounded okay (since it did). I really liked the way she did that and hope to ask my students a lot of questions to get more information about the assignments they are working on. For her second appointment, the student had trouble putting her paper together in a correct order and discussing the prompt properly, thus my mentor made sure to ask a lot of questions but also mentioned the important of incorporating real life examples into this particular prompt. Overall, my mentor seemed to be a great, friendly, and helpful tutor and I hope that working with her will allow me to carry over some of the same qualities as a tutor once I begin on my own.
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Meredith Brooks
2/14/2016 06:16:25 pm
I love observing my mentor. The first week i had to reschedule for a different day because i had the flu, which gave me a couple of different opportunities when observing. Rather than only seeing her scheduled appointments on my day that i usually go, i also got to see her scheduled appointments on a different day, which exposed me to a couple of different student situations. I kept a log both times that i observed and wrote down everything i liked and disliked about the session. In my most recent session the student was forced to be there and was completely uninterested. He was playing on his phone and my mentor was basically talking to herself. She immediately asked him to please put his phone away and went right back to work. It was a really good thing to observe because i was wondering how to handle that kind of situation properly. She said you have to immediately shut behavior like that down or the student will think its okay to do that sort of thing every single time. Another time the student did not speak very proper english, and i got to see my mentor handle that sort of situation as well. My mentor gave me so much helpful advice throughout my observations, and answered any questions i could have. She made me feel really prepared for cotutoring next week. She reminded me that we are their peer tutors not their teachers, so it's okay to be their friend as long as it helps improve their writing. She also showed me to ask a lot of questions and help guide the students to a better paper rather than simply telling them what to do all the time. These observation hours were some of the greatest learning experiences for me because they introduced me to all different sides of being a tutor. I feel ready and excited to become one myself. I am glad however, that my mentor will be there with me for the next couple of times, because she is the kind of tutor i would like to be, and with her guiding me i hope to get there.
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Lauryn Vickers
2/14/2016 06:58:42 pm
My tutoring session went very well. My tutor is extremely helpful and gave me ample opportunities to dive right in with aiding in the tutoring process. Two out of the three students we tutored were international, giving me a strong taste of what that process is like and how to tutor those students in the most effective way possible. My session was interactive and I saw things that worked and things that didn't. My mentor and I debriefed after every student and talked a lot at the end. She answered many of my questions and was open to giving all advice.
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Rachel Haas
2/14/2016 08:21:59 pm
On the whole, the sessions I attended went well. The only bump in the road was dealing with a couple no-shows. When this happened, my mentor took the opportunity to go over with me what we do in the instance that a student doesn’t show up. After 5 minutes, we mark a student as absent, opening the remaining session time to walk-in students. We also discussed his own process for tutoring students. It’s interesting, because he doesn’t like to have students read their own work out loud – the reason being that he thinks this makes the student uncomfortable.
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Caitlin Hattaway
2/14/2016 08:53:47 pm
I really enjoyed my first experiences in the RWC, both observing how tutoring sessions are handled and as a cotutor.My supervising tutor was very helpful both with me in helping me get acquainted with the ways of RWC Tutoring as well as with students he helped mentor.
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Brandon Plotnick
2/15/2016 11:04:53 am
My first few sessions have been quite interesting for me as a peer tutor observer. At first, it was a bit weird silently watching my mentor help her peers with their papers. But, after a little while it became intriguing to me. For starters, my mentor and I hit it off right away. After talking for a while it ended up that we’re from the same town in south florida, which allowed us to converse in a connected way. This allowed us both to open up a little more. However, obviously this is about the tutoring concept and she is really good at it. She always starts here sessions in a cheerful, respectable way where she greets the student and then asks them what they’re aiming to get out of this. Then, the technique that stood out to me is that she always reads the paper aloud so that you can hear how the flow of the paper sounds along with anything that may sound off. That was my favorite technique I noticed from her. Furthermore, I think it was more of throwing out general ideas about how the writer can expand upon their content to really emphasize their points to their audience that I noticed. As an observer and outsider, I even chimed in sometimes to harp on things I thought could help the students think more critically about their writings. Generally, though, I think things have gotten off to a good start and have picked up through each session I’ve attended. My mentor has done a good job showing me how to go about the sessions as a tutor, along with slowing easing me into that role. Within the next two sessions we plan on pairing up together.
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Phoebe Thomas
2/21/2016 04:48:46 pm
My first observation session went really well. No one even showed up to my second one though so that was disappointing. The sessions were much more relaxed than i expected and i felt really comfortable. The first thing that i noticed was that my tutor always reads the papers out loud. It was odd to me at first but then i realized how much it really helps to concentrate and slow down and think about the words at hand. I also noticed how she asked lots of questions about the paper. The papers are lots of times written about topics that i do not know much about so making sure that the terms that the peer is using is clear and makes sense is essential. I also really liked how she kept the environment really friendly and light. I didn't feel as if she was tutoring more than actually just discussing ideas with someone. The conversation always flowed really well. One problem that i noticed was that one peer was trying to copy down every word my tutor said so she had to try and make the peer come to these conclusions on their own instead of just plagiarizing her ideas word for word. Another person we had was very energetic and easily got off topic, so she had to keep bringing the student back on topic without being rude so they wouldn't run out of time. All in all though, I've really liked it so far and look forward to doing it on my own.
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Erica Bouza
2/21/2016 05:03:38 pm
The sessions have been going really well and i really enjoy them. Ive learned a lot of new ways in helping students how to make their papers better. One of the best strategies i have seen is the idea of reading the students paper out loud instead of letting them do so. It helps them hear their own work from a different perspective and hear areas that don't make sense.
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Sophia Johnigean
3/3/2016 02:43:38 pm
I think the sessions went well. The guy I was watching tutor was very nice and welcoming. He didn't intimidate me or any walk in students he got. Every week he had a scheduled tutoring session with an ESL student and the second appointment would always be walk ins. It was interesting to see him tackle helping a student who speaks English as a second language. He was very calm and patient and knew how to change his tactics when the student was not understanding him. He made sure to log into the system what he did with his students and what they planned to have done for their next session. There was one student who came in wanting him to simply edit the grammar in their paper and did not want him to teach it to them. He had to be firm while still kind when he had to explain more than once that he couldn't simply edit the paper for them. They didn't take it well but I thought he handled it very well. I took notes on how he explained past, present, and future tense. Also other simple English rules I have forgotten how to explain to students who don't know these rules.
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Maria Parsons
3/13/2016 11:20:31 pm
1. The sessions I observed seemed to be successful. In fact, one of my mentor’s repeat students raised their grade from a “C” to an “A” with the help of the RWC.
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Hayden Brown
3/14/2016 07:50:48 am
How did you think the sessions went?
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Isabel Alexander
3/14/2016 07:11:06 pm
How did you think the sessions went?
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