Second & Final Tutoring Session

Second & Final Tutoring Session

           I was lucky enough to be able to work the same two students and this time they each a a rough draft. I was happy to see that they did take my advice into consideration and they wrote out their thesis. The female student's thesis was perfect but the young man needed a little help. I followed my professor's advice and had him underline his thesis and main supporting ideas while I read her draft. She had some comma splices but she had good ideas. The only real issue was incorporating enough material from her sources so I advised her to expand on a certain idea and look for supporting evidence to add another paragraph. I also advised her to speak with her professor about whether or not he wanted her opinion to be included because they were assigned to do a research paper. To be on the safe side I helped her incorporate her opinions into her conclusion, which would help lengthen her paper. While she pondered over which idea to expand on, I read his draft. I noticed that he wrote exactly how he spoke so I told him to try writing in a more formal way. I did tell them that reading their work out loud would really help but not to literally write how they spoke. He understood and I helped with some suggestions to replace some of the more informal vocabulary he had used. After helping him with his thesis, time was basically up. Their paper was due the next day and I felt that we did not have enough time to go over everything so I suggested they go to the writing center. They both said they had recently went and the male student’s tutor simply read his draft and said it was fine without making any corrections. I know I’m not a professional tutor but there were some obvious issues with his rough draft so I was disappointed to hear that. However, they did plan on going back one last time before handing in the final paper. I was lucky to have had the opportunity to tutor students so dedicated and worried about their work. Overall, both experiences were great and I wish I could have had at least one more session with them. 

Ana Maria Montanez

ENG220

8/8/13

Prof. Rogers

                                                           FINAL ( Did not use texts)

          I had never seen the relationship between tutoring and teaching before taking a course dedicated 

to tutoring. For some reason I thought of tutoring and teaching as separate even though they are 

strongly connected.  Tutoring is necessary in our education development and it has a big impact on how

students learn. Individual tutoring is seen as a way to help the student’s individual needs outside the 

classroom. My teaching and tutoring philosophy emphasizes the importance of focusing on a student’s 

needs and getting to know their strengths and weaknesses to help them grow without necessarily giving 

them the answers. Tutoring is correlated to teaching because being able to receive tutoring increases the 

chances of succeeding academically according to Michael Argyle in “The Psychology of Social Class.”  

Education is supposed to be equal for everyone but unfortunately no matter how much our society has 

progressed, there are still students being left behind. Examples of inequality are depicted in Jonathan 

Kozol’s “Savage Inequalities” and “The Pedagogy of the Oppressed” by Paulo Freire. Our educational 

system is in dire need of a reform and none of these issues will be solved until we demand change and 

equality for all students.

           In “The Psychology of Social Class,” by Michael Argyle, he emphasizes the affect that social class has on our lives, including our academic achievement. We cannot choose what lifestyle we are born into and we cannot choose our parents. The way we are raised and the culture we are raised in also have a great influence on whether or not a student will be successful in school. The aspect of this article directly related to tutoring is when Argyle mentions that middle class parents implement more parental tutoring than working class parents. Parental tutoring can include games, hobbies, extracurricular activities, etc. Tutoring that takes place outside the classroom is very influential and surprisingly a luxury that many working class parents cannot afford. Argyle states that extracurricular activities, which can include outside tutoring, can be expensive so it has become a privilege that applies mostly to students from middle class families. In my opinion, I’ve seen tutoring being offered inside the public school system but not all schools can afford this and some are very limited on time and staff. Ultimately, additional tutoring outside the classroom can offer students the help they need to keep up or get ahead with their studies.

            Although I have seen many tutoring programs inside the public school system, I have also seen schools that simply cannot afford them and some that had to give up the privilege of providing tutoring in after school programs due to budget cuts.  It seems as though budgets cuts for the educational system are occurring more and more often but not many people seem to notice. Those that do notice simply believe that there is nothing we can do about it. Our children, the future of our country, are being oppressed and no one seems to care or notice. In “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” by Paulo Freire, he explains how the oppressed are the ones whose rights are being violated and controlled. In order for the oppressed to be truly free, they have to change their situation but without ultimately becoming oppressors themselves. Freire states that the oppressed, which in this case are working class families, have gotten used to the circumstances they live in and they simply give in to the rules of the oppressors. Working class families and students from working class families are at a significant disadvantage from the second they enter the public school system. Some have no choice but to enter failing schools and some have single parents that cannot provide additional help at home. As mentioned in “The Psychology of Social Class” children from middle class families normally receive more intellectual stimulation such as educational games, computers, Internet access, books, and books instead of television. In order to fight the oppressors we have to unite and demand a better and equal form of education for all students, not only those that are lucky enough to be born into middle class families.

           
            The purpose of education in general is to provide a safe environment in which students can learn and grow with the help of the staff in the school they attend.  After the courts ruled against “separate but equal” in the Brown v. Board of Education case in the 1950’s, it seemed as if the educational system would change. Unfortunately, “separate but equal” is still seen in society today and “Savage Inequalities” by Jonathan Kozol is a perfect example of this. The disturbing conditions that the schools in St. Louis are in are the reason why I am positive I want to become a teacher. My teaching philosophy is that all students deserve the opportunity to a good education despite their families’ income, ethnicity, location, etc. I am disappointed to find out that we have been living in a racist society long after slavery was abolished. Kozol gives several examples of how the children are being neglected a safe environment to learn in. Aside from the city being a dump, the issues with the sewage system are affecting the public schools. Martin Luther King Junior High School had to be evicted when the sewage reached the school. Kozol explains that this is a reoccurring problem therefore; the students are missing valuable time from school.  The injustice of the school conditions mentioned is only one of the issues that the people of East St. Louis must live with. The reason why these injustices occur here is because this is a community made up of mainly poor African Americans. This is where teachers need to go to make the most difference and these are the inequalities that I believe should be fought against. The fact that not all students are receiving a decent education due to their families’ income and ethnicity is proof that our educational system is in need of a reform.

            My teaching and tutoring philosophies used to be separate from one another but now they both focus on the same thing, the students’ needs. I am aware that our educational system is flawed but that does not mean that I am going to give up. The students are the ones that end up paying the consequences of this flawed system but it is up to all of us to do our part to improve it. My teaching philosophy is now to help those who need it the most regardless of their social class. Unfortunately we cannot choose what “class” we are born into and we pay for our parent’s mistakes but everyone should have an equal chance to succeed and move up in life. Tutoring plats a huge role because having the privileges of receiving any kind of extra help outside the classroom increases a student’s chances of succeeding academically.
 

Observation 4

Observation #4

This was my fourth and final observation so I was hoping to see something a little different. This time the tutee was not an ELL student and she did not have a rough draft like the previous students. She needed help choosing what to include in her paper and where to start so the tutor helped her write an outline. The assignment was to choose a poem, which she had, and choose three literary devices in it. The tutor asked her to choose the three she knew about the most and together, they found three to focus on. The student explained to the tutor what the poem she chose was about and they read some verses out loud. The tutor asked her to write down step-by-step what her paper would look like. She wrote down what her introduction would consist of as well as the three literary devices she chose and the conclusion. The student had a lot of knowledge on the subject of poetry however, since the assignment was so short she needed help deciding what to focus on and what details to include. Overall, there was a great connection between the tutor and the student because they both knew what they were talking about. At the end of the session, the student had a clear outline and she knew exactly where to begin. I am glad that this session was a bit different and I was able to see how to handle and help a student when he/she does not have a rough draft. 

Observation 3

Observation #3

This session also included an ELL student but the assignment was more challenging than the last two since this was a research paper for a sociology class. The student had a rough draft and the tutor read the draft out loud, asking the student to underline certain ideas that were unclear. As she read it out loud I noticed that she wrote and expressed herself very well, she just needed help with the arguments in her paper. The tutor asked to see the sources she was using and she also wanted to know more about the topic of the paper, which was rezoning in communities. The assignment was that the tutor had to choose whether she though rezoning was beneficial or harmful to communities. The tutee was well informed and had done her research but she was misinterpreting the arguments and facts in the article. She also stated facts in her paper that made it unclear which side of the argument she was choosing. The tutor began reading the articles with her out loud and asked her to write down any ideas or arguments she wanted to use. She explained the arguments to her and encouraged her to expand on her ideas the whole time. This tutor was positive and encouraging in the sense that she complimented her in her writing and tried to motivate her as much as possible. The tutor had to take control of the session but the student made the decisions; she simply needed someone to help her understand the main concepts in the articles due to the language barrier.  She expressed herself well   but needed to be clearer about the arguments in her paper. At the end of the session, she seemed a lot more confident about her assignment and her writing.

VIdeo Project

Our group chose to focus on an issue that is very common, drawing the line between being a tutor and a "therapist." We all decided this would be a fun topic to do because we could put some humor into it while also getting our point across. After choosing a topic, we focused on finding the setting for this video and after finding a good spot, we decided which parts we wanted to play. We wanted our scenes to look realistic with a small amount of humor. The goal was to make the location look professional and  to make our message clear to the audience. We know that it can be difficult sometimes to remain authoritative and friends with someone you're tutoring. Sometimes the students take advantage and expect the tutor to do most or all of the work. This is the image we were aiming to convey to our audience. I think our goal was met, aside from the small issues with the location and the noise. Overall, we were prepared and I think we were able to meet our goal. I believe the audience will see how hard we worked and hopefully they will understand our message, while also finding the footage a little amusing. We had some obstacles while filming but we tried our best to be patient and accept that we cannot control everything, especially in a hallway. We predicted that the 4th floor in the C building would be remotely empty but due to the time and the construction going on, plus the fire alarm, we faced a few interruptions. Even with these interruptions, think we managed to get our message across on film.

Observation 2

July 7, 2013
Observation Session
1 Hour


SESSION 2

In this session, I observed a tutor that was working with a student for the first time. He gave a positive and welcoming introduction to me and the student. I could tell she felt welcomed right away and she was also not a native speaker but her issues were with writing. She was able to communicate vey well and told us she had just moved from Brazil a few months ago. Also, she was taking her first college course ever, ENG101. She handed the tutor two blue packets and they were based on two different writing assignments. The tutor first read the comments the professor left and began by saying that the professor thought she had great ideas but needed help with development. He shared his own story with her starting that he came from Peru as a teenager without knowing any English. He encouraged her and said she will master English and not to worry. He advised her to read as much as possible, especially newspapers and magazines. He then read the assignment and asked her what she thought the main idea of the article was and what the author's message was. He told her to start looking for that whenever she had this type of assignment. Then he told her that the next step was to form her argument based on her opinion of the main idea in the article. He emphasized how important it is to show evidence to back up her argument and that she did not need to spend so much time summarizing the articles. He said they were not going to focus on grammar because he was able to read her work and that she should focus on expending on her arguments and ideas instead. The session lasted the whole hour and the last few minutes he gave her a lesson on dependent and independent phrases and how to avoid comma splices since her papers contained many of them. Through out the whole session he gave a lot of advice and gave her many examples to help her understand. The student was very happy and asked what his name was and his schedule so she can have more sessions with him. In my opinion, this was perhaps a perfect tutoring session and the student learned a lot. She was happy and very comfortable with him because she could relate to him. I wish to one day be a great tutor and help a student the way he did.

School to Prison Pipeline

School to Prison Pipeline Reflection:

I had never heard of this phrase before even though I knew that students are being punished severely for ridiculous crimes and the students suffering these severe consequences are from low-budget  schools. Several examples of actual events in which high school and even younger students have been punished harshly for small mistakes are presented in the documentaries. This nation seems to be terrified and even traumatized by horrific events such as the shootings at schools. What school officials, administrators and cops seem to forget is that unfortunately, such events cannot be avoided or predicted. We can learn from our mistakes and even slightly prepare for when the situation takes place but the measures we are taking now are not helping at all. We cannot assume that students that make mistakes will continue on the path to evil, instead we should help them, guide them and apply an appropriate punishment. There is no way to tell for sure, even though I suppose there are hints, who is going to commit a terrible crime or not. Our youth is being punished because those in charge in our society are scared of them. Putting handcuffs on someone so young is only ruining their reputation and even their future. It is not teaching them a lesson and no one deserves to be put in handcuffs for something so small as stealing a piece of gum. We make the wrong choices sometimes and there should be consequences but harsh punishments are nothing but an abuse of power. It is true that certain habits, for example smoking, can be a gateway to bigger and worse things but these situations have to be dealt with professionally and fairly. When students are suspended or arrested for petty crimes, it is basically saying "WE GIVE UP ON YOU & WE JUST WANT TO GET RID OF YOU BEFORE YOU CONTAMINATE OTHERS WITH YOUR BAD INFLUENCE!" This is exactly what I would think if I ever got suspended, put in handcuffs, and taken to jail for writing on a bathroom stall.

First Tutoring Session

7/18/2013 ENG101

Positive vs. Negative

Today I woke up feeling down and tired, not wanting to speak to anyone let alone tutor. I thought I would be praying for time to pass but surprisingly, I was rather upset when I heard we only had five minutes left in our session. I was prepared for the worst and was very nervous walking in but after hearing the professor say he had told them about this ahead of time, I felt more relaxed.

We all experienced what it is like tutoring two students at once. I find it to be more relaxing and less awkward because if one person does not feel like talking or runs out of things to say, you can turn to the other student. The only disadvantage to this was that I felt bad when one student did not have anything to do except listen to the other while they were speaking to me. They both had some ideas written down and knew more or less what side they were choosing. Their assignment is to choose whether being bicultural is confusing and challenging or strengthening and positive. The male student was undecided but by the end of the session, he chose what we called the "negative" side and the female chose the "positive" side of being bicultural since she could really relate to this position. I feel like time was very limited and unfortunately I made a huge mistake, I forgot to say my name and ask them for theirs. I was so nervous that I shook their hand but did not properly introduce myself. They both seemed very comfortable with me and the male student was high but very aware and efficient. The female spoke the most and she seemed to already know what she was doing. Their main concern was looking for sources at the LAGCC library or online library and I wanted to show them on my phone but I wasn't sure whether I was allowed to use it or not. I made two lists, one labeled positive and one labeled negative. I asked them what the advantages and disadvantages of being bicultural were and they we all wrote them down. They even looked at each other for help which was very nice to see. After we made the lists, I asked them to choose the most important three that they would want to focus on in their paper. They immediately knew which ones they thought were crucial to write about and we started writing their thesis. Both already knew how to start their thesis, they just needed help finishing it. I knew time was almost up so I wanted to at least help them with that. The male student asked me what kew words he could type in to get better sources, unfortunately I was not sure at the moment, not without actually doing it myself. I knew what the obvious terms were but  I want to help them narrow their research and choose information that specifically relates to their topic. Both students seemed to have powerful opinions and this will reflect in their paper.

At the end of the session, I asked them if I had helped at all and the female student stated that I should work at the writing center because I was better than most that work there. I was very flattered but I wish I had been able to help more. The male student said he had his thesis and would continue doing research at home. By next week they should have their first draft and their sources so hopefully I will have the same students and hopefully I will be able to help them a lot more.

Observation 1

July 11 2013
Observation Session
1 Hour

This was my first time observing a tutoring session in the writing center and I was able to observe two different sessions with different tutors and students. Both tutors graduated from LAGCC a few years ago and they are full-time tutors. Both tutors were male and hispanic and they both tutored students that are not native English speakers.

SESSION 1

The first session lasted 32 minutes but the rest of the time we spoke and he gave me plenty of advice. He told me that I am not expected to know all the answers and that it all depends on my personality. He introduced me to the student and explained he had been in my position a few years ago when he took the ENG220 class. In this session, he tutored an Asian student that has difficulty with grammar and vocabulary. He has been tutoring her for over two semesters and he is aware of her strengths and weaknesses. They went over two assignments she had, a journal entry and short essay. He focused on her grammatical errors because that is the only area she needs help in. She carries a dictionary and a translating machine to help her increase her vocabulary. When I asked why he focused on grammar when we're told not to, he answered that he's been working with her a long time and that she doesn't need help with anything else. She is a good writer with good structure and ideas, therefore he gives her tips and helps her with the grammar issues. He mentioned that this is not encouraged but he does this in certain sessions in which there is nothing else to work because he wants to help the students improve. This was a student-centered session and he never gave her the answer, he asked her what she did wrong and what she thought the correct way of fixing it was. She had the same issues occurring over and over so she was able to learn quickly. She struggles with prepositions and articles, both which are difficult to teach because to most English speakers, we have memorized and simply know how to use them. In this case, he helps her by practicing with her so that she will get used to using prepositions and articles correctly. This tutor did a great job and he admitted that since he does not simply give students the answers, sometimes they get frustrated. He advised me to be patient and calm when facing a difficult student and never do the work for them even if they get angry or walk out on me. One last piece of advise was to not take anything personal, sometimes students and tutors doesn't match because of their personalities.