The researching process is a topic students don't review often enough, in my opinion. Or they do, but they skip corners and don't understand why their project isn't coming together. Assignments with research elements often ask for a mixture of scholarly sources (peer reviewed articles, for example), a certain number of quotes, summaries and analyses for each of those sources, support for an argument using these sources, and an analysis/conclusion of the topic they've researched. Phew! It's understandable how students can feel overwhelmed! How do you start something like that? Our job as writing coaches and instructors is to help them take this giant task and break it into smaller, more manageable bites. But how do we do that? The Writing Process If you've read my blog before, you know that everything I do as a tutor and teacher centers on the writing process. That's because I believe in autonomy, the ability to try things yourself. We are humans, not robots. There's no one way to produce a writing project, whether it be a poem, email, novel, or research paper. Oftentimes the project type, audience, and purpose will dictate how much time you spend on each stage in the writing process, but this can also vary due to writing experiences, perfectionism, or a person's learning style. Just so we're on the same page, let's talk about the different aspects of the writing process:
The Researching Process Now the researching process, though often tangled with the writing process, is a separate process. For me, they are closer to steps (not stages) meaning that it goes through a step 1, step 2 sequence, which is not always true for the writing process. Again, people have varying names for the steps inside the researching process, and like the writing process, they are often repeated, but for me the steps usually are:
Ideally, you'd start the researching process before you begin your writing process, but that's not always the case. Some students will keep a pad of paper to jot ideas down as they're reading or jump back into research after having drafted an introduction. That's fine! However, students trying to craft a thesis or draft their introduction and body paragraphs without having done the research first may find them in over their head. What coaches can do Well, I already mentioned one strategy: tease apart the writing process from the researching process. Defining and describing the various steps and stages will help students identify where they are at or where they are "stuck." Once you can clearly see where they're at, you can give guidance. Here are some other ideas:
You'll notice that I'm not going into specifics on MLA, APA, or in-text citations here. Those things are important and will very likely be included in these tutoring sessions. But this list is usually where I begin with these sessions. Researching is a crazy, wild, time consuming, messy process! But it doesn't have to feel overwhelming or impossible to us or our students. It's like eating an elephant! It's a huge task. How do you do it? Answer: One bite at a time.
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I love teaching, but I really love tutoring. For me, one-on-one situations with students is where I feel I make the biggest and best impacts. That's probably why my get-through-college-job turned into an (almost) full-time tutoring gig! Concerns I decided I couldn't get enough of tutoring, so much so that I started tutoring online. The idea was exciting, but as I filled out the paperwork to join the Upswing tutoring team, I had a few concerns:
I give credit to Upswing's design team, of course who had coaches (tutors) in mind as they built it. But my transition was so seamless, also, because I remembered what I already knew... (More on that later.) Making the switch As I'm writing this post, we're in the midst of social distancing regulations for CORVID-19. Universities, community colleges and K-12 schools alike have had to make the switch to online. Some people are having a harder time with that request than others. Those who normally (and only) do their work in-person may feel like they've been thrown into the deep end! Well, this blog post is for you. I'm going to share with you some tricks I've learned over my four or so years of tutoring online: Technology I'm not going to talk too much on the different types of technology out there to accomplish your needs. (google hangouts, CraniumCafe, Webex, Skype, etc). You probably already know a bunch of them anyway. I'm also not going to talk about different learning platforms (Canvas, Blackboard, etc.) because most likely your supervisors or team members will suggest or require you to use a particular type of technology to connect with students. Instead, I'd like to focus on some tutoring tips when working online, which will hopefully be applicable to whichever technology you choose to go with. Tip #1 Tech-check This can come in various forms. For me on Upswing, it means I'm testing out the audio and video capabilities. "Can you hear me? Can you see me? Good. I cannot see you. Oh! I can see you and hear now. Hello!" I recommend doing this at the beginning of all of your sessions, but make it quick! Establish what is or is not working and then move on the best you can. My tech-check hardly ever goes over 5 minutes. If it does, I suggest that we stop and reschedule once we can get the tech working again. During my tech-check, I usually add something like, "If for some reason you can't hear me anymore, let me know." This is also the moment where I let them know what other features we have our our platform, specifically the chat box: "There's a chat box under the videos," I might say. "We can use that as an alternate form of communication if we need to!" This eliminates that what-do-I-do element, in case the audio and/or video stops working during the session. In Upswing, we have an inbox, so if you lose the student completely during a session, you can message them and let them know you're still in the "room/meeting" or give other directions to help them come back into the session. WebCams & other features Sometimes students don't have a webcam or they prefer not using it. That's fine! For me, it took a little getting used to, but as long as you have good audio or a functioning chat box, it's doable, I promise! Bonus trick: I always start my sessions with video and audio if I can. Of course, if you have a camera, make sure you:
Tip #2 Firefox or Chrome Let's say a student is having some tech-problems and they want to fix them. My first question is always, "What browser are you using?" Nine times out of ten, if they're using Internet Explorer or Safari, they're going to crash. I've found success in having a student sign out and come back in using a different browser. Tip #3 Screen-sharing This is a feature we have on Upswing and it works really nicely! Other programs have them, too. I've found, however, that it takes a lot of juice to run it. My suggestion, then, is to screen-share for short bursts. For example, I might share a webpage (like Purdue OWL) briefly and then turn off the screen-share while I answer questions, etc. Tip #4 Built in tool bars, etc. I've had tutors ask me, "So, can I write on a piece of paper and hold that to the WebCam?" That's one way to tutor online, but I don't recommend it. Give it a try if your adamant, of course. It might work for some students, but probably not for most. I suggest, instead, using a whiteboard, googledoc, or some sort of shared space. These are usually built into your program. It can be intimidating to use them, I know. But the more you try out those built in features (like highlighting, type-text, drawing, etc). the more familiar the tools will be to you, and the more second nature they will become. Tip #5 Collaborate Whenever possible, invite students to "jump in" and use those features we talked about in Tip #4. Collaboration is what makes in-person tutoring so valuable, and isn't great that we can utilize this same skill online? This, again, will take some practice, but I like say things like, "Why don't you give it a try?" or "How about you write me that thesis statement on the whiteboard here so we can see it together." As you get more comfortable with the features, you'll be able to guide students in using them, too. Tip #6 Remember what you already know Lastly, my final tip is to remember what you already know. This may sound intuitive, but (believe me), it's easy to get overwhelmed with technology or feel like you're starting at square one in teaching or tutoring. But if you've been tutoring for a while (like I had before I starting tutoring online), then you already know how to:
Of course, if you feel rusty on these skills or need a refresher, you can learn them from the CRLA program or by continuing to read my blog! Bonus Videos This first video was made by our Student Affairs person. She gives great general tips for working from home. Enjoy! This second video is for educators struggling to keep up with our changing times. It was written and performed by someone in my district: You will survive! We never want to give "the" answer to students. I think we (as educators) can agree on that, right? But how do we guide students to where they need to be without blurting answers?
In truth, there are several ways. But today I'm focusing on one of my favorite tutoring strategies: modeling. It's something that works for native and nonnative speakers of English. As many of you may know already, my focus is on writing, but you can probably use this tutor technique for any of the skills (or subjects) you want to tutor. By the way, I put quotation marks around the word "the" in that first sentence of this post because there isn't always a correct answer in writing. Sometimes there is, sure. (It's the donkey seems, not the donkey seem.) But most of the time, there's more than one way to accomplish a writing task, even when it comes to editing. (Remember that!) Let's say, for example, your teacher gives the prompt: write an essay about your favorite animal. Is it wrong if I write my essay on alligators and you (maybe) write yours on lions? No! We have different favorite animals, and that's okay. Or, maybe, your teacher asks you to find three scholarly articles about the dangers of smoking from the library database. Are there only three "correct" articles in the database on that topic for you to find? No! There are hundreds, probably thousands that could work. What's expected of them? As a practice, I like to first identify the task (assignment instructions) and time frame (due dates) of the writing project before giving any kind of specific help. During my early stages of tutoring, I made the mistake of assuming what the assignment is. And been wrong. There's nothing worse than realizing that you've given advice for the wrong assignment. Giving examples of good process essay topics, as a way to help a student brainstorm for their essay, isn't going to help them write a comparison essay. Oops! That's why I spend a lot of time on this blog talking about first questions and setting the agenda. So don't focus on this tutoring aspect (giving examples) so much that you forget the other stuff you need to do for a session. I'm speaking from experience here. I've done it. It's their paper, not yours Sometimes, you may work with a student who has chosen a different topic you don't like or something you would never choose for an assignment. Take the example above. Maybe you hate alligators, but that's what the student has decided to write about. Or, you might simply disagree with a student's thesis. Say, for example, that the student is writing about abortion, and they've established a thesis opposite to what you believe. Should you help them change the thesis to match your beliefs? The answer to this question may be obvious. (Or maybe not. I don't know.) But even if you know that taking-over a student's thesis (or paper) isn't the job of a writing coach, you'd be amazed at how easy it is to slip up. Actually, I find that the temptation to take-over comes when I am on the same side as the student as they draft an argumentative paper. But even when you're on the same side, it can be tricky. Let's say the student is writing about texting and driving. She's written a thesis that says, "Texting and driving is dangerous and needs to be stopped." You've decided that the thesis matches the assignment, but now the student is wanting to know how to brainstorm support to put in their body paragraphs. What do you do? Give an example You could use their chosen/given topic as an example. You could say, "Well, one reason I think texting is dangerous is because the driver's eyes are not on the road." But, in a way, this is "giving the answer." The student could be like, "yeah! That's a good one. What else you got?" And then somehow, you've managed to come up with all the ideas instead of the student. hmm... Make it silly Here's what I do instead. I give an example that isn't the same topic that they're working with. In fact, I make it silly. Me: Okay, so it looks like you've got a good thesis statement. Student: Yeah, but I don't know what to write next, like what my body paragraphs could be about. Me: Well, if I were writing about an essay about the dangers of feeding polar bears by hand, I might start by making a list. For example, it's dangerous to feed polar bears because of their sharp teeth. The trick to the silly example is making sure it matches closely enough to what the student is doing but different enough that it gets them thinking about their own topic. This, by the way, is one way to help students practice critical thinking skills. Win! Win! But not too silly Along with giving silly examples that help students understand their task, you can make up metaphors or even share personal experiences. But remember that they must help the student stay on task. Not take them away. I mentioned in a previous post that I've been training a bunch of writing tutors. This is something a few of them are still struggling to find a balance in. You can be silly/fun, but you must also be professional. Interweave techniques The art of asking questions in a tutoring session is something I'm planning to discuss in its own blog post. But it's worth mentioning here, in closing, because questions and examples go hand in hand. I had a really difficult time coming up with the example above without asking some questions first. You will, also, want to utilize active listening, too. If the example you gave just isn't working for them, you need to recognize that. Oftentimes that doesn't come from the words they're saying-- "Okay, yeah"---but in their furrowed brow. Sometimes, also, it takes more than one example to get the concept. Tap into your creativity, and see if you can not only make your tutee laugh, but also learn something at the same time. In a previous post, I talked about the differences between a writing tutor (coach) and an editor. If you haven't read it, please take a moment to do that before proceeding. I will be expanding on those ideas in this post. You may also want to review my post on balancing writing feedback if you're unfamiliar with tutoring writing. Student (tutee) Expectations When a student decides to work with a writing tutor, she often comes in with expectations: how the session will go, what will be accomplished, and what the tutor will do. Some of these are realistic, some of them are not. For example, a student may expect a tutor to "fix their writing," before their deadline, which happens to be in ten minutes! This, I hope most educators can agree, is not a realistic expectation. Why? For two (hopefully obvious) reasons. 1) Learning takes time. How can a tutor possibly help you "fix your writing" with a deadline so near? 2) Tutors aren't meant to "fix" your writing. First of all, writing is subjective. It's dependent on context, purpose, genre, and audience. If it's grammar she expects to "get fixed," then the student needs to remember that even if there's "perfect" grammar, she may still earn a poor grade if the writing does not adhere to the assignment requirements. Tutor Expectations To be fair, writing tutors often come into a session with expectations, too. Sometimes they're realistic, sometimes not. For example, a tutor might expect a student to express her concerns clearly when most of the time students don't always know what they "need" or "want" help on. This is an unfair expectation not only because students are sometimes required to visit the tutoring center for a grade (and therefore are simply there for a "signature") but also because students don't know how to express their concerns even if they can identify what they are. (Which they often can't.) For example, a student may say "I need help writing transitions" or "I can't make it flow," which could either mean that they are struggling with word choice, or (simply) a need for a better thesis statement. She might even mean that she's not sure how to begin or end her paragraphs in an essay.
The Writing Process
If you're familiar with my blog, you'll know that I often talk about writing as a process. It's an important thing to always keep in mind, whether you're teaching/ tutoring writing, or attempting to complete your own writing project. When I sit down to conference with a student, I always first:
I usually accomplish this with a few simple questions. This assessment is easier for some students than others. Students sometimes (when asked questions about what they're working on) insist that knowing the deadline or instructions is irrelevant to receiving help from a writing tutor, but if you learn anything from me (and from my many years of experience tutoring writing), this is never true. Negotiate session goals This is an aspect to tutoring that I strongly live by, that I learned a long time ago but often take for granted. Recently, I was asked to observe and train some new tutors in our center. I've had a lot of fun doing that, but inso doing it, I realized how these negotiating skills need to be taught and practiced. Negotiating the session includes (as I mentioned above) assessing the student's needs (assignment instructions), timeline (deadlines), and asking the student, "what kind of help would you like from me?" (I sometimes throw in a time limit, just so the student knows how long I expect the session should go for. So, I might say, "what are you hoping to accomplish in the 30 minutes we have together?) Now, after asking that question, it's important to note that just because the student says they want you to do something doesn't mean that it's something you should do. I had a new tutor, for example, tell me that he spent two and half hours defining five pages worth of vocabulary because that's what the student asked him to do. Never mind that we have dictionaries. Never mind that the student had a quiz on those words tomorrow and probably needed tips for studying and/or someone to quiz him. When I suggested these options to the student, he lit up. He looked to the new tutor and said, "why didn't we do that?!" Step 1: Listen actively and validate concerns After listening to the student (and reading their body language), I like to (sincerely) validate the student's response to my question of what they hope to get out of the session:
Step 2: Help the student see what you can do as a tutor: (Sell yourself!)
Step 3: Give options and negotiate expectations for the session
Step 4: Repeat (as necessary, even for the same session/student) After making decisions on how you and the student would like to proceed with the session, then it's time to put those plans into action! I often write the goals or concerns on a piece of paper and as we address them, I put a checkmark next to them. ("Looks like you've written a solid thesis statement. Are you ready to move on to transitions?") Of course, you may list more items than is possible for one session, so you may say something like, "let's do as much as we can, but we might need another session to cover all of these items." As you're reading, you may find that a concern should not actually be a concern. For example, you might say, "this thesis is fantastic! I feel that it adheres to the assignment requirements. Should we proceed to your body paragraphs to see if your argument is working?" Or, you might find that the student wants to stop and work-out your suggestions for a particular item before moving to the next. In these cases, because I work in a drop-in tutoring center, I give the student the option to "work on their own" for a little bit and then ask them to signal me to pick up where we left off and/or begin a new session. General advice Remember, a writing tutor (coach) is not the same thing as an editor. Students should never bully you into doing their work for them or make you do more than is feasibly possible in a session (especially a session with a time crunch). Speaking from experience, it's always a good idea to set the agenda so your expectations and the student's expectations are negotiated and don't clash. It's also a good idea to summarize the session at the end, too: restate the objectives you started out with, how they changed, and what the student can "take away" from the session. This, in my humble (but correct opinion) is the best way to ensure the best success in your tutoring sessions. This is my first semester teaching Freshman Composition for ESL. I mean, on my own. I was a "grader" for ASU's online Freshman Composition classes (English 101 and English 102), but I didn't design those courses. I didn't have any say on the assignment sequencing. But, in a way, it was an ideal gig. I learned a lot about freshman comp writers (from all around the world!), the goals of freshman comp (including the WPA outcomes) and more. (It's because of this gig that I learned about Weebly and created this website!)
So it's not surprising that when I agreed to take on this English 107 (English 101 for ESL) at the community college, I thought about the assignment sequences, discussions, and other teachings in those online ASU modules. In fact, I constructed my own essay assignments based on what they did in those courses. I had a lot of fun designing the course! But as I executed these assignments and was with my students throughout their writing processes (not just the final draft grading, like I did for ASU), I found something I didn't expect. My ESL students struggled to exhibit critical thinking. What is critical thinking? It's something, I realized, I do all the time but never really thought about where I learned it or even what it is--- let alone how to teach it! Stumped and unsure about where to begin in defining and/or teaching critical thinking skills, I reached out to some experienced colleagues of mine. One of them shared an entire module on Canvas about critical thinking. In it, it defined critical thinking in this way: "Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally about what to do or what to believe. It includes the ability to engage in reflective and independent thinking. Someone with critical thinking skills is able to do the following:
She also shared this video with me, which I asked my students to watch and respond to. I asked them to think about and rate their own critical thinking skills. The answers were interesting, varying from some students never having heard about critical thinking, to student claiming that they do it all the time. The challenges in teaching critical thinking So, I'd defined it and asked them about their abilities. Now it was time to "test" them on it. (Not a formal test or anything, but I wanted to see how they did at a critical thinking task.) I created an in class activity, which consisted of them watching a ted talk and reflecting on how the concepts taught might relate to their own lives. I picked an awesome ted talk, probably my favorite ever ted talk: The Danger of a Single Story. Here's what happened: 1) they complained, and 2) they summarized the ted talk on the worksheet I gave them. /face palm/ I didn't know what to do next, so I went to another colleague of mine, and we talked about the challenges of critical thinking skills in different cultures. See, this friend of mine had taught in a lot of different places and had learned a thing or two about the way some cultures view critical thinking. It turns out (and this makes sense!) that some cultures discourage and/or don't practice critical thinking skills. Not all cultures celebrate or value the individual. I'm not saying that's right or wrong, but it explains why (maybe) my students didn't know how or didn't feel comfortable exhibiting critical thinking skills. What I did... So I went back to the drawing board. I discovered that there was nothing wrong with my critical thinking activity. In fact, when I assigned it as homework, they did quite well on it! They just needed some time on it, I guess, which makes sense. Thinking (let alone critical thinking) takes time. Oftentimes, I tell students (particularly in the tutoring center) that you know you're doing critical thinking right if you're head hurts. I suppose that's true. But I think what ESL students really need to learn critical thinking skills is 1) practice and 2) permission. The moment I gave them permission to talk about themselves (my writing projects were critical thinking driven), they took off like a rocket. It was amazing to see their unique, and interesting responses to the prompts I gave them. After all, it's one of the reasons I love teaching ESL so much. They have worthwhile perspectives. In my advanced ESL writing class (the bridge course that bleeds into Freshman Composition), I've been known to write THE TRANSLATOR IS THE ENEMY in big letters on the whiteboard and ask my students to say it out loud. Say it again. Louder! Scream it to believe it! Of course, this often results in giggling and sometimes eyes rolling, but they, hopefully, get the point that at this level of ESL, I expect them to not reach for their phone to translate something every two seconds.
In the tutoring center, I often give students "the translator talk." It's not the sex ed talk, but it's an important conversation to have with ESL students as they are advancing in their language abilities. At my community college, we have four levels of ESL (plus the bridge course, which is, technically, level five).
Giving the "translation talk" I've given this "talk" to all levels of our ESL program, but mostly the conversation begins at level three. I'm a little more straightforward about the disadvantages in using the translator, obviously, with my level four and five students than I am with those lower levels. But I help even those newbie English speakers know that their dependency on the translator will need to be broken at some point if they hope to become a fluent, confident English speaker. But here's the kind of conversation I might have with an ESL student. The tone and examples and length may vary, depending on my relationship with the student. It goes something like this (and usually when I notice the student translating a word that I think would be better learned via context and/or using the learners dictionary): "Oh, you're translating. I think translating little new words-- like chair, computer, or dog--- when you're first learning English is natural and helpful. But here's the thing. Your English is advancing. You're going to start running into situations where the word you're translating doesn't have a clear translation and visa versa. There are words or ideas in your first language that doesn't exist in English. Maybe you've encountered it before. Maybe not. But you will if you haven't. And that's a good thing! It means you're becoming more fluent in English... Idioms are good example of this. If you translate 'piece of cake,' you'll misunderstand the phrase. You'll think it's about cake when it's not. But idioms are not the only ideas that can be mistranslated. Be careful, because you could learn the word wrong. I encourage you to try figuring out the word using context clue and/or comparing the translation with a reliable dictionary. At some point, though, the translator will become your enemy. It will stop you from progressing in your language if you depend on it for everything..." Sometimes I have a follow up "translator talk" which is where I talk to them about needing to feel uncomfortable. That's a sign that your English is advancing, but to seek out appropriate resources and develop skills that will help them through that transition into fluency. (aka: tutoring center, office hours with instructor, asking trusted friends who speak English, learner's dictionary, identifying context clues, active listening, etc.) Translation is for survival, not fluency As I wrap up the blog post, I just want to make a final note, and that is that translation is a survival tool. Have I translated English words into other languages? Yes. Have I used google translate to do that? Yes. Have I successfully become fluent in another language by doing that, though? No. I've traveled and needed words in other languages to help me order my food, to find my hotel, to get cold water instead of room temperature (etc). Usually I ask a friend how to say this word in their language. When I was in Australia, I met a lot of people from different parts of the world. I collected how to say "I love you," in over twenty languages, not because I was learning twenty languages but because I wanted to tell my friends that I love them. Or say hi. I've collected how to say "hello." That's fine. But I don't expect to learn a language by translating. And neither should our students. Even with my newbies, my level one students, I try to help them find ways to lessen their need to translate. One way is to invite them to look up the word in google images. Seeing a picture and learning the word in English is a lot better than code switching back and forth. A student could, also, draw pictures of the words that they're learning and quiz themselves. Of course, not all words can translate to pictures perfectly, so in this case, I like to put the word in a sentence. Give several examples of the word, actually. That's super helpful! I wish there was a magic button that allowed us to learn a language, but there isn't. It takes time to be fluent. But when I give the "translation talk" to students, I always point out that they're having this problem because they're getting better at English, that this is a good thing, and that I'm here to help them, so don't give up. This post first appeared on Upswing's blog on July 30, 2018. What is tutoring? This is a question I don’t often think about, but probably should. Maybe it’s because I’ve been a tutor for so long. I started peer tutoring back when I was earning my Bachelor’s degree in 2004! At first, I thought tutoring was something that paid the bills while I was going to school. I quickly learned, however, that tutoring was (and is) so much more for me. Even though I was earning my degree in English, I wasn’t planning on being a teacher. It wasn’t until I took some time away from tutoring that I realized how much it had become a part of me. I switched gears and got my Master’s in teaching, and two weeks after graduating, I started teaching at a college full time. I loved it. (I still do!) But there was something missing… I blamed it on teacher burnout, but after about a year, I lessened my teaching load so I could tutor in the evenings… with Upswing! You might be wondering why I would do that. Aren't teaching and tutoring the same thing? I want to address some common themes and misconceptions because they're not exactly the same... Tutoring is coaching I love that Upswing calls their tutors coaches. Think about it for a minute. What does a coach do? Well, a coach mentors and guides and even cheers you on, right? It’s the same with a tutor. Like a soccer coach who can't play the game for you, tutors can't write your essay or take your test. It wouldn't be fair. But we can give guidance, share our experiences, and encourage students not to give up. I don’t know why, but some students feel like they should seek tutoring only after they run into problems…or the week before finals! Can you imagine getting a soccer coach the day before the championship game? Sure, some people are talented enough to play soccer without having a coach, I suppose. But truly successful players will tell you that they wouldn’t be as good if they hadn’t had some kind coaching from time to time, even from fellow teammates. As a writing coach, I cannot stress this enough. Of course I am happy to help with editing. But please remember that I’m a coach. (Not an editor.) That means that I can help at every stage of the writing process: from generating ideas to understanding how to research and/or cite sources, to formulating a solid thesis statement and building coherence and unity in paragraphs… and much more! Tutoring is one-on-one instruction Don’t get me wrong. I love teaching in front of the classroom, but tutoring is where I see the most lightbulbs go on. Just because students nod their heads in class when the teacher asks them if they understand doesn’t always mean that they do. Am I right? That one-on-one experience with a tutor is sometimes the only place students feel comfortable asking questions, things that they’d never want to ask in front of a whole class! When I teach, I often try to hold conferences with students, which is an opportunity for them to ask me questions about their projects… one-on-one. These kinds of experiences, however, are limited as an instructor. It’s not easy to set aside an entire week (for example) to meet with students like that, and as much as I beg my students to come to my office hours, they usually don’t. Tutoring reaches those students who would, otherwise, silently drown. Tutoring is a career, too Remember how I said I lessened my teaching load to make room for tutoring? Last year, I applied to be the tutor coordinator at my college. Now I tutor in the day and — guess what — I still tutor in the evenings for Upswing. Am I really that desperate for money? Not really. I just love what I do! Nothing is more rewarding to me than coaching a student from start to finish on a writing project. I’m so glad I decided to be a peer tutor back in 2004. Who knew it would change my entire career path and make me who I am today? The short answer: No. We do so much more than "check the grammar." <3 <3
Tutors can guide you through the writing process The writing process can be explained in a lot of different ways. Liz Gilbert talks about how there is a genius (or genie) in side each of us that assists in our process for developing ideas. It's fickle and frustrating most of the time, but that's the nature of creating art. Writing takes persistence and determination! Earnest Hemingway described it like "bleeding at a type writer." These are supposed to be the professionals! If they have difficulty navigating the wild writing process safari, what hope do we have? That's where tutors (or critique partners or beta readers) can come in. They can guide you through this messy, heart-wrenching, scary, exhilarating process. And, trust me, we all need them... Quick Review of the Writing Process When I teach the writing process, I often explain or review the steps of the writing process as:
In other words.... Tutors can help at any and all stages of the writing process, from understanding the prompt or goal for your assignment, to brainstorming and drafting ideas (organizing them using a thesis statement, topic sentences, etc), to revising (reordering those ideas or asking questions about your unity or coherence, etc.)---all the way to supporting your self-editing endeavors by helping you identify grammatical-error patterns and talking you through audience expectations and/or formatting expectations like MLA and APA. Tutors are collaborators As mentioned above, writing tutors can help at any and all stages of the writing process. Nothing makes us happier, actually, than helping a writer from start to finish. So...
What else do writing tutors do?
Writing tutors give personal experiences in combating and taming the wild writing process and college life. We mediate for professors or teachers, helping students understand why their teacher is assigning "this homework." Writing tutors can help prevent disasters (if students come in early enough), so they don't turn in something the teacher doesn't want. We rejoice. We cry. We teach. We ask critical questions. And... yes... we can answer questions centered around grammar, too. In conclusion The next time you talk to a writing tutor, think about what kind of help you want from them. It's not just about making writing better. It's about making you a better writer. Don't just say, "I want you to fix the grammar" or "I need your help to edit my paper." Think about your project. What are your goals? Where do you feel you're lacking? Is it length? Is it organization? Are you at the beginning of the project, unsure where to begin? Are you at the end of the project and unhappy with your conclusion? Or are you somewhere in the middle of this messy process? If you still think it's grammar that you need help with, that's okay. Just remember that as writing tutors, we can help with so much more! So don't hesitate to ask. My writing coordinator used to always say,"we help writers, not just writing." It's become my personal creed as a tutor. National Tutor Appreciation Week is always the first week of October, but why wait? Tell a tutor today why you value them. If you're a tutor, learn how to certify and level-up your tutoring skills with CRLA. Perhaps the school you tutor for is accredited with them. Introducing... the syllabus-shoots-and-ladders!
Either way, in small groups or as a class, you will want to explain how the ladders and slides work. Students often don't understand that you can't climb the slides, for example. I like the template I provided because it numbers the squares. This helps students go in the right direction. These are things that you might not think about, but when you teach ESL, you really need to, especially if you're going to try this with intermediate or even lower levels. For each roll, students will answer a question about the syllabus. I have a stack of questions so I don't have to come up with them on the spot, and it makes it easier to do it as a small group activity. I'll include the template below, but questions you can include would be things like:
I've been doing this for about a year now, and I feel like it's made a difference. Students learn that they can find answers to their questions in the syllabus. I tell them that this is true for all of their college classes, that they can figure out what they need to do to earn a good grade by reviewing and using the syllabus as a guide. Of course, I naturally do this activity the first day and/or the second. (Sometimes I'll do it the first and second day.) But I think you could do it half way through the semester, too. It's good, I think, to reinforce the need for the syllabus. Anyway, just a quick first-day tip! Feel free to download the documents below, adapt them, etc. to your classroom needs. Even if you don't teach ESL, this could be a really fun way to teach your students the policies of the class.
Part 1 of this blog talked about why I feel it's important to teach peer review skills to ESL, and Part 2 began dissecting my current methodology and practices for teaching peer review to advanced ESL writers. If you haven't checked those out, or my post on balancing feedback in ESL writing, do that, and then come back to this one... As I mentioned, my methodology for teaching peer review is not full proof. I can't promise it will work in your classroom or for all levels and ages. Even I have to tweak it (I teach the same course every semester), depending on the dynamics of the members of my class. With some variation, though, I generally go through these phases of teaching peer review, sometimes repeating and/or emphasizing some aspects more or less, depending on the group I have:
I've shared my thoughts on phases one and two, so let's jump into the third aspect of my teaching peer review to ESL students.
Even if I could, my students will go on to other classes, like freshman comp, where the teacher might not spend as much time explaining the types of suggestions they need to be writing on each other's papers. And, I've been there. I know what it's like to receive stink reviews from peers. For me, it's hit and miss. It'll be the same for my students. So, while they can't always control the kind of feedback they receive, they can control the kind of feedback they give. This phase in teaching peer review, then, is all about helping them give the right kinds of feedback. What this looks like in my teaching
4. PEER REVIEW TAKES TIME AND PRACTICE Before I break them into peer review partners, I tell them to share their contact details (phone, email, etc.). "You won't finish this activity in-class. If you do, you're doing it wrong." I remind them of this, again, at the end, just before letting them go, and encourage them to plan a time and place to continue the activity. The library? The tutoring center? I also tell my students that they will be graded on the peer review they give to the peer I assigned; however, they are more than welcome to set up additional peer review partners of their own choosing from our class. They just need to follow the guidelines/ steps I give them. I emphasize, again, the idea that it's better to give than receive, but also that peer review is a skill that needs to be practiced. The more they do it, the more comfortable and confident they'll be in it--- and their writing will improve because of their peer reviewing efforts. Believe it or not, some students take me up on this suggestion. They'll have two or three different peer review partners, and they'll do it at different stages of their process. Yes! *fist pump* What this looks like in my teaching
As I mentioned in part 1 in this blog, I believe teaching peer review skills to ESL is important--- essential. It needs to be part of their writing process. English is challenging. If they don't ever ask for help from a peer, tutor, or instructor, they may forever drown and/or think they are bad a writing, when it's really the process that they struggle with. I'm still tweaking my methodology, so don't think I'll forever teach it like this, but these are the aspects of peer review my ESL students need to learn and relearn.
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