Emily Wurm WRD 396 14 Oct 2013 Tutoring Philosophy The Appointment Takeaway: In class last week, we read

Jeff Brooks article Minimalist Tutoring which described what would seem to be the perfect face-to-face appointment. Students comes in. Tutor edits grammar, moves around a few paragraphs, and changes opening thesis. Student gets an A and feels forever indebted to the tutors marvelous work. That sounded like an ideal scenario to me, but Brooks squashes all similarly thinking tutors dreams by saying that that particular appointment is flawed and, in fact, slackens the UCWbLs values. He explains that the whole point of the writing center is to create a better writer, not a better paper. I want my writers to feel this personal change after an appointmentand several appointments. I want them to feel stretched as writers and encouraged to take these processing steps and put them toward every assignment, not just the paper they worked on in the UCWbL. I want them to think about their writing like they think about Hemmingways novels and Shakespeares sonnetsto value their own texts. I want them to be fearless about reading out loud and asking for peer comments and using big words or small sentences. I want them to be open to a writing makeover. This change does not happen in an hour appointment, and I think that is something I am learning to accept. I am so tempted to search for this immediate transformation that I think I could be easily caught up in Brooks perfect scenario. Perspectives from Outside Scholars (& Sister)

DePaul University 10/19/13 4:40 PM

Comment [1]: Hey Emily! Thanks for sharing your ideas with me. Im looking forward to providing marginal comments focused on understanding your content and overall clarity. I will also provide a summary note. Here I go!

DePaul University 10/21/13 9:11 AM

Comment [2]: I actually chuckled when I read this because it happens so often when writers come in wanting help with grammer. Haha! :P It makes me wonder who the perfect situation if for and why the situation is described so choppily. Just out of curiosity, why did this sound ideal to you?

DePaul University 10/21/13 9:12 AM

Comment [3]: Could you elaborate more on this idea? What are the UCWbLs values? Where do you place yourself now on the list of values and where do you hope to evolve? How does the perfect tutorial do this?

DePaul University 10/21/13 9:13 AM

Comment [4]: I wonder if all writers value Hemingway and/or Shakespeare? What if the writer hate those authors?

DePaul University 10/21/13 9:15 AM

Comment [5]: Which change are you writing about? Did you mean everything mentioned before, or just the openness, or being fearless of asking for help, or placing value on their writing?

DePaul University 10/21/13 9:18 AM

Comment [6]: Oooo, thats an interesting idea! Could you explain it a bit more? I think I am making the connections, but it would help if you were a bit more explicit in your meaning. Would you be persuaded into doing the work for the writeror something else?

My older sister just recently started her job as a secondary English teacher in Harlem, and when I called her to update her on my new job, ask her about her new job, and chat about life, we talked about teaching philosophies. She mentioned this scholar she learned about in her undergrad, Paulo Freire and the authoritative schooling called the banking education. In this education, there is this looming social hierarchy with the teacher at the pyramids peak. The teachers have all the power to present a topic through a certain lens, leaving the students absolutely powerless. The teachers job is not to stand in front of the class on a kinglike pedestal and pass their somewhat biased knowledge down to the students. Instead, teachers should embrace outside sources for learning, like having constructional peer conversations, watching educational videos, and reading texts from different writers. They (teachers) should refrain from a singular knowledge source, i.e. themselves. My sister asked me, do you ever remember Mrs. Kleinour favorite high school teacherjust standing up in front of the class and lecturing the whole time? Besides biweekly notes, she always sat in the back, reclined in her far from throne-like swivel chair. I remember learning so much from that class from peer presentations to NPR podcasts, but not from her transcending her knowledge into my high school growing brain. I learned from my peers, genius radio speakers, and even myself. I want my tutoring philosophy to be like this. I want the writer to come into our appointment and understand, through my language, questions, and similar scenario examples, that we are on the same level as writers. I want to express this idea that, like Freire explains, I am in no way the authority in this tutoring appointment. Sharing my struggles will connect me to the student as a
DePaul University 10/21/13 9:19 AM
Comment [8]: I really enjoyed the visual you painted here, and I think many readers can connect to the feeling of being stuck in classrooms with this sort of learning environment.

DePaul University 10/19/13 4:47 PM

Comment [7]: *bows down to the almighty Paulo*

DePaul University 10/21/13 9:21 AM

Comment [9]: I am a bit confused as to what you would like your tutoring philosophy to be. I think that using general terms, such as this, leads to confusion because you have already made many statements that, this, could be referring to. Im not sure if you want your philosophy to involve learning from oneself, or using multi-media, or biweekly notes.

fellow student. For example, struggles like how I am still tempted to sway towards that three point thesis and have a hard time with conclusions. Not that I do not want writers I meet with to learn anything from me,not at allbut I want those students to understand that I am going to be learning from them just as much. As selfish as this may sound, I want to come away from appointments feeling like I have some new techniques I can use to improve my own work. I just hope this idea of knowledge circulationI learn from you, you learn from meis present in the appointments I step into. This idea strings along with Andrea Lunsfords love for collaboration. She presents this idea in her article Collaboration, Control, and the Idea of a Writing Center that writing is a collaborative process whether through talking things through with a peer or joining together texts and idea with another writer. I know that my time spent in WRD 396, the UCWbL, and even my alone time spent writing feedback for fellowing students has been rewarded with enlightening conversations with fellow UCWbLers and paper organization from the written feedback. Understanding Genres I want to help students understand genres and break the stereotypical five
Admin 10/21/13 9:23 AM
Comment [10]: Truly beautiful idea, and I dont see the selfishness behind it! One of my favorite aspects about the UCWbL is our ability to work together and learn from one another. I think that is what differentiates peer tutoring from a classroomwere all on the same level, collaborating to produce knowledge and just overall awesomeness. J

DePaul University 10/21/13 9:25 AM

Comment [11]: What idea are you writing about? Once again, take note of the use of this, and try to be more specific so that your reader doesnt get confused.

DePaul University 10/21/13 9:28 AM

Comment [12]: I think this phrase could be revised to be more clear about who you are providing written feedback for. What class are you fellowing? Usually, we call the students in the class writers to avoid confusion. Youre the writing fellow, not them

DePaul University 10/21/13 9:30 AM

Comment [13]: I like that you have included headings. I think it provides a clear pathway for reading your philosophy and it creates expectations for what Im going to learn, without giving too much info away. J

paragraph, three point thesis paper. We talked in class about Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis article on genres Introduction: How a Genre Approach to Literacy Can Transform the Way Writing Is Taught. For the class I am fellowing for (HAA 240), this common high school styled paper is irrelevant to the topic. The paper is a formal analysis on any selected artwork and does not necessarily require an argument and, in this case, a following thesis statement. I am having to review students papers

differently from the typically intro, body, conclusion format and encouraging them to write according to this formal analysis genre. This is something I am trying to take into account for every text I will be receiving, art history or not: lab reports, creative writing, or theater reviews.

Emily, I truly, truly enjoyed reading what you have so far for your tutoring philosophy. You have established a strong presence and voice throughout that helped me connect with your goals and practices. I liked that you included a personal experience, outside scholarship, and core readings within your understanding of your work as a peer writing tutor. I found myself nodding through many of your points and just thinking, RIGHT ON, GRRRL! Thanks for that J Moving forward, it would be beneficial to focus on being a bit more specific. If you look at my marginal comments, I have touched upon where you can expand and explain your thought process more. I also think it would be interesting to include a couple examples from your tutorials with writers. How do you approach written feedback, face to face? How do you place theory into action? I am very excited to hear what else you have to say about your experience, and Ill see you at our face to face! Best, Cynthia M.