Murphy and DiPardo

     The first reading sounded familiar, at least at first.  We had previously discussed how a tutor was similar to a therapist, and this text further supports that idea.  When looking upon it closer, as is necessary to develop questions, I realized that there were many claims that seemed odd to me.  I do not enter a session feeling I am to change the behavior of a student.  Even if I help the student to become a better writer, I cannot change anyone.  All behavior changes take place internally - the student would have to choose to change.  I guess this idea alone bothers me greatly.  They also referred to a session as an intervention, which sounds horrible!  I do not consider students that come to the writing center to be heading down a writing path so horrible that someone must stop them right away.  Honestly, I do not consider everyone that comes through the doors to be a pathetic case that needs my utmost help.  I want to help people with their writing, but I'm not going to begin with any preconceived notions that seem negative, as those ideas seem to me.

     The second article made me think about an ESL student I work with often, and many others in general.  Many ESL students just want me to help them make their papers "better" or more like native writing.  The feedback some teachers' give can be harsh, and not really help point a student in the direction they need to go.  Why does our culture expect everyone to conform to it, and not accept that English is not the one and only language?  It seems like the idea, it's right and the only way because it's my way, is overly evident in this case.

Ten Minutes of Observing

I observed at the Ball State Starbucks next to the Bookstore on Friday from 4:05 - 4:15.

Time Observation
4:05 Bar overlooking bookstore with eight empty seats
12 two person tables - all but 1 have chairs (2 chairs)
Floor half wood, half carpet
Second Bar on Post with 3 chairs and things sitting like coffee and tea accesories (on bar)
4 tables with 2 people (including us)
4:08 Girl sits at 1st bar (opposite windows)
Phil and I sit at the table by windows opposite the bar
2 girls sit talking to our left by 2 tables (Krystina is one of them)
2 boys sitting listening to music on the left corner across from us
4:10 Girl from bar walks to order
Second guy goes to bar - next to her (girl above)
Table to right of us has 1 girl studying
1 cashier working, makes coffee too / that area is far to the right
4:12 Guy (someone) else wlaked in and orders
Woman with black bag walks to look at coolers far to our right
Guy with glasses and nice shirt walks in to order
4:14 Girl at bar moves away from the other guy that sat down
Loud Machine
4:15 Phil talks to girl that came in with his girlfriend and explains he's busy doing an assignment for class
Person in black jacket with bag walks in to order
Another guy walks in, sits down alone in the middle (of the room)
All but 2 people come in from entrance to our left, not the far right bookstore entrace
4:16 2 guys at table listen to music and read separate books, laptop open in front of them


Time Reaction / Reflection
4:05 Why two different floors? (Reacting to observation of floor half wood half carpet)
4:08 Why first (person) to sit at bar? Farther from others? Did she sit so far away to avoid other people? Is there a reason? (Response to girl sits at 1st bar)
We also sat far from others. (Response to Phil and I sit at table by windows opposite bar)
Why are only girls interacting, and not boys? (Response to 2 boys sitting listening...)
Why do the boys choose the darkest place, the corner of the room? (Response to same)
4:14 Why does everyone sit far from everyone else? (Response to Girl at bar moves away...)
What is that? (Response to loud machine)
4:15 Why is one entrance more common than the other? Is coffee not allowed at the bookstore? (Response to observation about entrances)
4:16 Why are they here together, if they're not interacting? (Response to 2 guys at table...)

I added some articles to what I had originally wrote, and expanded words that I had shortened. This was for the conveniance of my readers.

Two types of tutoring - and my experiences

     The first article seemed to be what I've heard most about tutoring - that the student should always be in total control of his or her paper.  I've worked hard to accomplish this in sessions, because despite how simple it sounds, it's very difficult to do.  I have improved with doing this, also, which makes me happy.  But I always feel there is a line where you must help the student, at least a little, or lose all hope of accomplishing anything.  With this, I mean that you cannot let the student hit breaking point.  I've suggested a student to use a different word, and the student became so frustrated from not being able to think of another word, that he was ready to give up on his paper.  I hope to not cause any student such distress over a single word.

     The second article intrigues me because I can think of an example of where a teacher was directive, and it became a turning point in my writing.  She did not rewrite my paper, but she did take me aside and tell me something useful.  She said I was a good enough writer to know the truth about conclusions.  What I had at the moment, which was the usual summary of the paper, was weak and would hold my writing back.  She then explained to me that the conclusion was to answer the "so what" question.  She only elaborated slightly on this, but I tried to write it, and she continued to tell me it was wrong until I got it right.  This made a huge difference in my papers, and i passed my peers in writing capability because of this knowledge.  In that respect, I can understand where the second article is coming from.  I do agree that different students need different tutoring styles.  

North Goes Cynical

     North's second article seems much more cynical than his first.  The first article was idealistic, but it left the reader feeling that writing centers were important and were trying to reach out and help students.  I don't know if he became burnt out from struggling with his ideals or something else, but he seems to have given up by his second article.  While it is nice that he addresses the fact that some of his claims were a little too idealistic, I feel he's stripping the university of the writing center, and instead giving the writing center to English students, which probably use it the least.  

     He also suggests no longer having beginning writing classes for all students of the university.  I disagree with this also.  Many of these students NEED the classes, for the sheer fact that without them, they would be much less capable of communicating through writing.

     Even if a student only comes to the writing center once or twice, that doesn't mean he or she hasn't learned something.  That student may leave with valuable knowledge about writing, or with more writing confidence, both of which are good enough to justify the session.

     What made him so cynical that he abandoned the idealistic idea of the writing center completely?  Honestly, no one is perfect; therefore, idealistic ideas are never fully attained.  Those ideas serve their purpose though; they constantly push people to strive to do their best.  While it is nice to let tutors know they don't have to be perfect, it is not necessary, or good, to shut out non-English majors from a valuable resource.

Writing and the Heart of Tutoring

     Today I realized why I avoid revision and peer critiques.  My feedback was mainly all good, but one thing Sarah said sent me into rewriting my entire paper.  She suggested I add more interpretation for tutors throughout my paper, instead of just at the end.  As i wrote new portions, I realized the direction of my paper had completely changed, and I would have to rewrite the paper.  I used large portions, but changed my interpretation.  For some reason, when looking at everything again, I found something large that I hadn't noticed or addressed before.  It is for this reason I prefer to change my grammar;  I had spent a long time on this paper, and had hoped not to spend many more hours.  I am glad I did though, I feel it is a much better paper now.  I also realize how people that come into the writing center must feel.  I would always be afraid I'd be told to rewrite when I worked so hard to do what I already did.

     Struggle is worth it, even if I don't know it at the time.  I had worked hard for many sessions with a particular student.  We struggled together to improve her paper, and each time the session left me feeling exhausted.  Today, she came to the writing center wanting to thank me.  She had received a good grade on her paper, and said it was all because of my help, and she wanted to thank me for that.  It's moments like this that are at the heart of tutoring - knowing you've helped someone.

Studying for the Midterm

     I really have no idea what to post here, since all we talked about was information for the midterm.  I am working on studying for that now.  

     I did my first interview already, and the person has written the paper.  We've both been busy, so he hasn't given me the information yet, and I haven't been able to do the second interview.  

     I realized something about my own writing last week.  I like helping others fix their errors, but I hate fixing my own.  I have always had a problem with tense.  I flip between past and present often throughout a paper.  Teachers have called me on this, but none have helped me fix it.  Last week, I finally went through a paper and highlighted every verb.  I found there was no logic to my switching, it seemed very sporadic.  Unfortunately, I noticed another problem with my verbs - lots of passive voice.  It took me over an hour to do all the corrections, which was more than I am accustomed to working on verbs in my own paper.  I feel it helped me though, because now I'm having an easier time catching these errors in others papers.