Dudley |1 Professor Debarati Dutta, Elizabeth Caruso, and Dr.

Cyril Knoblauch ENG 5400: Writing Resource Center Theory 12/2/1212/9/12

My Philosophy of Tutoring

"Fixing flawed papers is easy; showing the students how to fix their papers is complex and difficult." -Jeff Brooks It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge. -Albert Einstein

The two quotes I begin with represent two of the greatest challenges of my tutoring process. The first one echoes the classic idiom that if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; but if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime; the second is about making them hungry. At the start of this semester I struggled with the insecurities of my ability to tutor, but as the semester progressed, I realized that my knowledge as a tutor was a minor concern compared to the students ability to teach his or her self. My knowledge of writing and composition mattered, but not nearly as much as the students ability to direct themselves. This is where my focus shifted, towards teaching the student how to fish. I agree with theorists who advise a body positioning that elevates the student to the authority figure in a session. At the Writing Resource Center at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, I even notice a difference in authority when I sit in front of our computers, at our desks. The person in front of the computer seems to demand more power, as they have the access to information, and a physically large object in front of them instead of empty space. Sometimes I feel like the "empty space" seat at the WRC desks broadcast an inherent

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vulnerability, like center stage. I often try and get the student to take the computer seat, but sometimes there is not enough room for them and their work. If the form of their text requires desk space, they have to sit at the empty space seat, or we have to move to one of our square, computer-less desks. These desks provide a more equal setting, but have no access to a computer or electric socket. I also try and trade seats with a student when we perform an internet search. This is not only give them the seat of power, but to get them actively involved in finding information, so that they can do it on their own, when an educator is not around. I recall blogging about how combining learning with physical activity helps memorization. There is a much greater memory retention rate when a student can put something into an active context. The student has a far better chance at remembering how to access, and search on Perdue Owl if I get them to find it on their own. If I were to simply show them how to do it, and hope that they remember, it would not be nearly as effective. Teach the student how to fish. I apply this same idea to the physical positioning of the paper itself. As suggested by Jeff Brooks in his article on minimalist tutoring, I always position the paper closer to the tutee, and most of the time I hand them my pen. In practice, I will often lean in with the student, point out specific sentences that are confusing, and offer positioning advice. I think this shows the student that I am there with them, and that I care. I will catch myself leaning in too much, being too directive. I will notice I am offering too many suggestions, and not asking them enough questions. When I do, I lean back for a few minutes, ask them how they would do the things I was formerly directing, and let them work solo. It is a process I am learning to become more conscious of. I try and consistently improve in

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this respect; consistently move more towards making the student a better writer, and not perfect the writing itself. I would like to make a distinction though. Making a paper better in a session is and must be a priority; the students motivation depends on it. We shouldnt throw out our concerns for an individual paper, because sometimes you write something great. Sometimes, you excel beyond your writing skill for a brief period of time, and spill it on paper. We should not only look at writing as a process, but try and give the writer something they can be proud of. We dont look at da Vincis painting of the Mona Lisa or du Mauriers writing of Rebecca as solely part of the artists processes, but also as masterpieces; as products. I agree with Brooks' sentiment that we should treat the student's writing with the same kind of care that we treat academic articles or textsthis helps to hold them to a higher level of writing. By elevating students texts we acknowledge their writings importance, and through this, the importance of the writer's identity. In a sense, a paper is a conclusion; a paper is a product of the writers current process, and should be treated as an important text. The reason this is important to my philosophy as a tutor: I like having something I can be proud of. I, personally, dont get enough motivation to keep writing just so to improve as a writer; and I need that final product to excite me. I need that poem, that novel, that philosophy paper; to look at and feel like I actually did something. Mostly, these products come from making the writer better, but I think that we often times overlook the importance of something real, solid, and externally created, given current writing center orthodoxys focus on the internal writer. I want to make sure that my tutees feel their work is important for something

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other than a grade. When we say dont focus on the writing, we are usually speaking of it in terms of grade, but we should focus on the writing where it matters to the writer. When dealing with students who don't want to be involved with their paper, I tend to respectfully disagree with theorists. I have a problem with Brooks' idea of using negative body language as a tool, before directly addressing a student. I find using passive aggressive body language can be rude, and fail to clearly convey the tutors point, or achieve the desired results. A much more effective way to deal with a student is to be direct with them; not to shun them for their disinterest in their paper. Maybe their paper is boring; maybe its an assignment theyre having trouble getting motivated to do. Ive certainly had thosewould a tutor giving sassy body language help me become more involved with my writing? No. I talk to them about it. I ask them why they are disinterested, and attempt to spark their interestshow them how, and why, their paper is important and can be an expression of their ideas. In accordance with minimalist teachings, I tend to concentrate on the successes of a paper when the student is unconfident; but I am more critical when the student is overconfident. I could do a better job of "depart[ing] from the role of editor" (Brooks 131); such as in the case of my first ESL student, Yesul Lee. Yesul was a frequent guest at the writing center, so I had the opportunity to grow with her, as both she and I progressed. During this first session I found her easy to engage with, but, as is with the case of many ESL students, very difficult to be a more passive tutor with. I caught myself jumping into her text a few times, and tried to get her to make adjustments to fit the language I had been taught. This wasnt because I hadnt read or talked about doing otherwise, but was more because I was still feeling-out the tutoring situation.

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Many senior tutors and theorists forget what it is like for a first-time tutor; we go with what we are hard wired to do until we get comfortablethen, we have the mental faculties to bring in theory. This is precisely what happened with me in this session. I was uncomfortable giving tutoring advice at first, so I did what the tutee wanted, and what I was familiar with, until I was comfortable. Once I realized that I had to slow down my pace of speech for Yesul, we started to communicate better. I started to gain comfort, and became more passive with her paper. I wrote It became important for her to find a way, a method for herself. Finding the balance of tutoring direction with English language learners is one of the toughest challenges I face. I have spent more time discussing, reading, and thinking about tutoring ESL students than any other tension, or group of tensions. The frustrating part about all this time spent is that my tutoring has only marginally changed; now I just have the theory to back up my decisions. My first three ELL students seemed to only care about giving their teacher exactly what they wanted. More than anything else, they wanted their writing to be "correct;" so I asked them what they were trying to say, and offered them my opinions on how they could correctly say it. They would usually copy one of the options I gave them down, word for word. In certain cases, I began to stop them from copying what I was saying, because it was closer to how I would say something than how they would say it. This became a major tension. By offering the students what I thought would be correct, I did not know if I was overstepping my bounds. When I did so, I didnt adhere to a strict version of Standard American English, but instead tried to combine their style and a level of grammatical correctness

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appropriate for the area of their writing. When it was a more formal papersuch as a case study, a business email, or scientific research paperI would lean them more towards SAE, but this was in conflict with a lot of tutoring theory. To quote from a peer tutor, Natalie Lanhams blog post:
Standard American English (SAE), as we all know, is not linguistically more correct than any other variety or dialect, such as African American Vernacular English (AAVE); AAVE as well as all other varieties have a systematic grammar and structure just as SAE does. I think that to focus on SAE as more correct and more proper than, say, AAVE or another less-privileged American dialect can pose an insult to speakers of AAVE, Southern Dialect, Chicano English, etc. They and their families and close friends speak these more homegrown varieties of English, and I believe that a student may feel almost insulted by teachers who promote the idea that the students heritage dialect is defective, thus driving an even further wedge between students and teachers. This connects with Horners ideas regarding the malaise and powerlessness that students may feel when they are told arbitrarily that SAE is somehow better and that their own dialect is wrong or bad English (182).

So, how was I supposed to judge whether or not to help a student change their writing? These students might be graded more poorly, or be passed over for a job unless they showed comprehension of a certain level of Standard English. I was finding, just like Julie Boksers found in her article Pedagogies of Belonging: "While helping ESL students to write promised liberation via academic and economic advancement, it simultaneously posed constraint by imposing uncomfortable standards and even threatening loss of a home culture. The answer I eventually came up with was that I wasnt supposed to judge this at all. I was juggling multiple theories we were going over at the time; one ball was the reading of Tsengs Theoretical Perspectives on Learning a Second Language, another was in-class talks about the preservation of an ESLs style and heritage, and another was Horners concept of taking error as negotiation. I had to put all this theory over to the side and ask, Okay, what does the student want? What does the student need? How can I get them to get it?

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With these three questions I began to develop my personal approach. Dont just ask the student what they want, explain to them the situation. Make sure they realize what the risks are if they choose to write in SAE, and what the risks are if they choose to write in Alternative English. This conclusion of mine was reinforced by a blog post from my peer tutor and former high school teacher Sara Davis, whom I observed tutoring at the beginning of the semester:
I think that we have to examine both our own approach to tutoring/writing and the student's approach. Have you discussed your concerns with Isaac? Many times having a conversation with your tutee offers insight into his own frustrations and leads to a discussion of how you can address[] each concern together.

With this new, student directed technique; I looked back at a couple of situations in the articles we read, and contemplated how I would now handle them. In one example from Tseng's article, a student wrote "I received a pair of shoes news for my birthday" (19). She identifies this as a transfer error, because it transfers rules from Spanish into English. Whereas formerly I would have to question all of the ethics of changing shoes news to new shoes, I can simply let the student decide if they would rather keep their hybrid, AE style, or adhere more strictly to SAE. I would have a general discourse with the student instead of balancing tensions in my head. The most successful way I have found to address almost any tension is talk about it. Let your tutee know how you feel, be as straightforward as possible, and ask them how they feel about it. I hate to let thoughts fester and distract from a students writing; and I hate to avoid confrontation. I only feel weak when I fail to admit that I dont know something; some rule of thumb about commas, whether or not to be more minimalist, etcetera. I like to let the tutee know the conflicts I am experiencing between my readings of tutoring and the actual session, and figure it out together.

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I did actually use this in application with regards to a group case study. Two students had split the writing in this four page case study on Nestles decline. One of the members of this group, Yessenia, was of Hispanic background. She had some errors in her paper that hurt the meaning of sentences or topics, and she had others that were confusing to me as a NonHispanic English speaker. I remember going through and asking her what she meant by certain sentences. When she read the sentences out loud, she recognized the ones that didnt make sense to any reader, versus the ones that were difficult to Non-Hispanic English speakers. I wrote that they were still 100% comprehendible, just not easily read because of the organization I was used to. I told her that I couldnt find anything grammatically wrong with them, but that they were tough for me to read, because she placed the subject of her sentences towards the back. I also told her I liked being able to read a different way of doing things, and could find no real reason to change the style, and she smiled. She seemed proud of her sentences. Her case study partner gave a frown like he disagreed, but didnt say anything. I guess in a way these two case study partners represented an old, standard way of thinking about English, and the alternative way of thinking about English. Now, when I have had a discourse with the Tutee, and they are more concerned with proofreading for grammatical and syntactical mistakes, my goal is to analyze recurring grammatical errors and allow them to see how to change them on their own. This goal is difficult, and tough to articulate in the session. I prefer to have them pull out one or two sentences and write them on a separate sheet of paper. Then, talk about the grammatical or syntactical concerns that are represented in the sentence, and finally point a similar one out in their paper and have them change it, and see why they should.

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I wanted to try out a new method of going through line by line, word by word, for one paragraph, and then let the student take over. This way, a student could have one high marked area that they can go to as an example, and it wouldnt be overwhelming because it would only be one paragraph. The problem with this approach is that, as JoAnne Johnson states in her article, Reevaluation of the Question, If a student is to develop his/her own strategies, the student should not be focused on me and my problem solving strategies (43). So, I havent tried this example approach yet. Instead, I try and point them to resources that they can access in their own time. Although this approach sounds ideal, it has many problems of its own. How is an ESL student going to be able to navigate a website written in SAE? The Perdue Owl was overwhelming to me when I first started using it, and I am in a Creative Writing Masters Program; so how is an ESL student supposed to navigate this site? This is an area that I am still searching for practical answers in. The ESL tutoring situation can be frustrating and overwhelming at times. I try and develop the students awareness and keep in mind that "[t]he primary value of the writing center tutor to the student is as a living human body who is willing to sit patiently and help the student..." (Brooks 129). Throughout many of our tutoring sessions, we ask questions that help the student be more reflective of their writing, and help them to develop their writerly identity, which is simply an awareness of their writing processes (Tonya Wertz in her Statement of Teaching). Asking these questions requires patience, tact, and awareness. There are certain questions that we ask almost every tuteewhat are you here for? What would you like to focus on?and

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others that are more individualized. For the more individualized questions I try and maintain an improvisational intelligence. I take a conscious step away from what is familiar or ingrained, and search for the questions that best fit the moment. For the more common questions, I really like five of Donald Murrays six questions from Reflecting on the First Session: What did you learn from this piece of writing? This question helps the student think differently about their work. Their text becomes something that facilitated learning, or contributed to their understanding, and not just an assignment they had to finish. It makes the text a part of their educational history. What do you intend to do in the next draft? This question gets the student thinking about improvement, as opposed to how you can improve their paper. It also and helps me, as the tutor, understand what they are doing with the first draft, and how I should help coach them. What do you like best in the piece of writing? I like this question because it can help get a student excited about their writing. Pointing out their favorite part can lead to a constructive discourse about how they can add to their text, or make more of the text like their favorite part. It also helps show them what they enjoy about the writing process. What questions do you have of me? This is a nice question to cover bases that I may have missed. It helps me to learn what to ask other students in future sessions; they think of questions I normally wouldnt have thought of. It also gives the student an opportunity to breathe; it helps them not feel like they are being interrogated. There was one session I had where I asked this question at the end of

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the session, and the student had surprisingly vague questions. These questions were seemingly easy to answer, but because I had so many ways to answer them, I found them difficult. Malsiatu, the student, asked me Do you have any advice for writing papers? and I was kind of dumbstruck. Of course I do, Im a tutor! I have tons of advice, is what I was thinking, but I had to sit there for a minute and organize all my possible answers. Read the paper out loud; just do it. You may feel silly talking to yourself, but it will help you see errors you normally miss. Organize your ideas, find out how you write. These answers took a minute to come out, and left me with a blank mind. However, the questions she asked made me think about quick answers for general questions that students might have in the future. Do you have any advice for researching quick[ly]? This next question I was more prepared for, and it was more specific, so I was able to access my answers more quickly. Still, I offered her a few ideas and websites, but found my suggestions to be incomplete. This question made me organize easy go-to research tools and ideas. Students questions for us are just as important as ours are for them. There is a natural pace that asking these questions seems to take. My personal experience with timing them seems to echo the study in Mary Budd Rowe's 1974 study. Her study concluded that increasing the wait time from .9 seconds between questions to 3-5 seconds improves students responses; and I also find that waiting longer yields better results. I dont think that there is a need to put a number on it, but there is a need to be reasonably patient, and give the student room to think and develop their ideas. From all of my sessions and classes, there were a couple of values that stuck out to me: Connection

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Creating a connection with the person I am working with is paramount to feeling satisfied with the outcome of a tutoring session. This empathy not only gives me energy and motivation to continue tutoring but helps me understand what they want to say, and what they need to say it. Comprehension Obviously, a students comprehension of their paper and assignment are a huge concern. Without clear understanding the students text cant be a conscious success. I place the importance of the tutees understanding above mine; as it is more important that they understand their own assignment. On occasion I will not understand all the intricacies of what the students text is about, but if the student is fully aware and being clear, than there is no need to explain nuclear physics to me. I just need to help them with the global concerns of the text. Style A students individuality or originality is very important to me. I always try and make sure that they preserve it in their texts, as much as possible. Also, style is interesting; it helps engage readers and broaden their minds. Accessibility to knowledge Being able to access what you need to learn on your own is essential to making yourself as a writer; to creating your writerly identity. Students have to be able to access the resources they need to clearly express their ideas. They need to be able to do this without feeling overwhelmed. We can help them do this; we can help them have some quick go-to resources that are simple or complex, whichever they need.

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My Philosophy Looking back over my letter, or tutoring application for next year, I pulled out a quote that puts forth a strong summary of my philosophy, My goal is to get both of us involved in the writing situation, teach them to enjoy it, and make some progress. This was meaningful for me because it coincidentally echoes the two quotes that I had put at the beginning of this text. There are still many ways that I would like to improve as a tutor; I want to listen more, I want to ask better questions, and I would like to add to my knowledge of resources, but my central philosophy of helping students become better writers and enjoy the process seems to be a spine. It seems to connect with something fundamental. In short, I would like to continue showing students how to fish, and reminding them that they are hungry.