First Observation

This blog is about my first observation in the tutoring center. My first time going to the writing center I did two sessions. When I met my tutor, I knew it was going to be an interesting session right away. She had a very lively personality so to say. She was requested by the student and introduced me right away to her. The first session was with an ENG 102 student who was trying to change her grade from a C- to an A. The professor provided the student with a guideline that highlighted all the reasons her paper was a C-. The tutor started off by explaining what a thesis is and she used examples based on current events. When the tutor was going over the story the paper was based on, she explained some helpful hints to her about vocabulary and context. She went on coaching the student to find evidence to support the thesis for every paragraph.  The tutor gave great advice on how to proof read a paper by reading it out loud. She went back and forth between the students paper and the guidelines the professor gave her. She also constantly praised the student which made her open up more.

Unfortunately as much as the tutor's personality was so welcoming and the student really liked her, the session was teacher centered and she usurped ownership. She did most of the talking and told the student what she should take out of her paper and where to switch things around. The tutor also addressed a lot of LOC's. As she read through the paper she corrected whichever errors the professors identified whether it was a LOC or HOC. The student was just listening and nodding the whole time, but seemed happy with everything the tutor was telling her. One thing I did not like was that the tutor's "boss", which she referred to him as interrupted the session with no manners, and just started talking to the tutor. He was talking about traffic and breakfast, and after a full 2 minutes the tutor told him she has to work now and they will talk later. He then threw her a bagel and left, which she was nibbling on during the rest of the session. Overall the tutor has a great personality, but her some of her tutoring methods were against the books.