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.

pedagogy and ken robinson

My name is Annie and after watching two videos, these are the main points and at the bottom, my opinions.

What is pedagogy?
*Pedagogy was originally defined as the art of teaching children and it is currently defined as the process of teaching in the video clip What is Pedagogy?
*The speaker mentions that the process of teaching includes the content, learning strategies, assignments and the mental process of learning. As future teachers, our pedagogy will influence the way we teach and the way our students learn.

TED-SIR KEN ROBINSON (2006) 
*Claims everyone, including himself, is interested in education
*Unpredictability= our education system is training students for a future we are unsure of, children starting school this year will retire in 2065 and we don't even know what the next five years will be like
*Strongly believes ALL children have talent
*Public education system hinders our creativity
*Public education system discourages students from being wrong and making mistakes which stops students from taking risks and fill them with fear
*"If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original."
*Believes that as we grow up, the creativity is sucked out of us as we get older
*Tells the story of his transition from England to L.A and mentions that all school systems have the same hierarchy of subjects, with the arts at the bottom
*No school teaches dance and promotes creativity because our society revolves around industrialism
*The purpose of education at this point is to create workers that will obey rules and resist asking questions
*In 30 years a degree will be worthless because of academic inflation
*Intelligence is diverse, dynamic, and distinct
*Creativity: The process of producing original ideas with value

**I personally agree with Sir Ken Robinson's "pedagogy" because his philosophy focuses on the students and their needs. He cares about helping the students be creative and helping them achieve their full potential. Intelligence is different when it comes to every person, our education system cannot continue to be based on the "wrong" and "right" answers because that hinders critical thinking and creativity. He believes that we should do much more than create industrial "zombies" and allow there to be room for mistakes. I think his ideas are helpful and even realistic but unfortunately, im sure many people would be against this form of educating.

Extra Credit

The Do's & Dont's of Peer Tutoring

Goal: Highlights of Documentary

Audience: Sophisticated LAGCC Students

               This blog will focus on the most important lessons in the documentary The Do's and Dont's of Peer Tutoring. In this documentary, we encounter a peer tutoring session between two females. It is more of a "study session" but the main "Do's" and "Don't's" still apply to both situations. We are shown what should and shouldn't be done in any kind of tutoring session. Both scenarios are demonstrated so we can see what a good and bad tutoring session looks like.

Fist Scenario: "Dont's"

• Tutor is late and gives a rude introduction 
• Tutor makes discouraging remarks and rushes student while signing contract
• Tutor maintains a rude attitude, inpatient, inattentive, distracted
• Teacher-centererd session 
• Tutor ends session abruptly

Second Scenarios: Do's"

• Tutor arrives on time
• Tutor gives proper introduction
• Tutor allows the student to read contract before signing contract
• Tutor  consistently makes encouraging and positive remarks
• Student-centered session
• Tutor gives advice and genuinely wants to help the student pass the exam
• Tutor ends session appropriately and schedules another lesson before the exam to make sure student will be prepared. 

          The second scenario is what an effective and positive tutoring session looks like. Following these simple tips will help create a positive and encouraging session for any student that needs help. The documentary can be viewed by clicking this LINK.