...another survey?

I came across “Sampling Silence” in the 24.9 edition of The Writing Lab Newsletter. Mr. Pettis talked about how he would hand out a small survey that, was a little comedic, and consisted of only 16 questions. They were arranged in three categories the first was about reading habits, like, how much they read, who their favorite author was, where they liked to read and what they like to read. The second was how did they approach writing, like, out-lines, time management, drafts; first – final. The third is about the draft itself. I think that (even though has something similar), should have a questionnaire because it would allow us to take some time, while they check some boxes, to read their essay. We should make it fun, or funny, but also allow us to get a lot of information about the writer (student) at a glance.

Writing Groups: Working Towards a Common Goal

The University of Maryland's Graduate School has a cool new idea bubbling in their Writing Center. Their idea is writing groups. Writing groups are students from all ages and disciplines that come together to support and encourage each other's writing goals. The Graduate School Writing Center (GSWC) has 2 main  types of groups. They are accountability groups and write together groups  To learn more and see the other types of groups visit University of Maryland's Graduate School website... GSWC groups Here is a break down of both groups:

Accountability Groups:The University of Maryland says,"In an accountability group, group members hold each other accountable for the writing goals members set each week.  In a once a week meeting, members check in and report their progress on stated goals, write for a short period, then share new goals for the upcoming week. Meetings focus on reporting productivity rather than delivering feedback." Feedback groups are usually five to ten students. The GSWC suggests these students be loosely affiliated that way they are more likely to hold people accountable for their goals.

Write Together Groups:These groups, "work through shared disengagement.  Members disengage from other responsibility and physically come together and engage to write... a Write Together group selects a regular weekly time to write, a length for each session, and a place to write.  After coming together and perhaps a few minutes of socializing, group members write and share their goals then start writing. Write Together breaks can often include planned, regular breaks..." The size of the group depends on the location of meeting. Members can be loosely affiliated or closely knit.

Reading Response 4: Studying Strategies

Whether it is school, work or anything in life, we all learn differently.  Sometimes people learn by listening to others or seeing visuals to help understand the material.  Most students are afraid to ask for help and ask questions to how they should study or better their studying skills. As SI‘s and Tutors, it is our job to be able to give the students resources and tools to make sure that they are able to see the study skills that is beneficial to them. Some study skills are using flash cards, seeing visuals, listening to others or other sources that include worksheets and audio exercises.  As college students, it can be difficult to stay focused and get distracted by other things like our phone, kids, family, work etc. We can easily become dependent on others to teach us the information instead of trying to learn ourselves. Being confident and be organized play a huge part of studying because it can decrease stress and anxiety. When you are prepared, you are more willing to study and be more independent on your own.

Getting more learning strategies helps decrease that stress and students gain strategy effectiveness for any subject that they are taking. That is why this article “Academic Studying: The Role Of Learning Strategies”, it talks about how students need certain studying strategies to become independent and have more personal efficacy for higher expectations for success. Thomas and Rohwer state “It requires the application of methods for mastering bodies of knowledge, but it also requires violation: the disposition to exert effort, to persist, to seek out and often transformation information. (Thomas & William 21). This article shows how students need to find what works best for them so that they can become better students. Getting the right amount of sleep, eating right, setting goals, and staying postive are only some key ways to have better studying skills.

For me personally, I use flash cards and go over worksheets because they help me remember many words or definitions and they also help me understand the material better. Being able to find right sources and follow certain guidelines, can better the students study skills so that they can pass tests or write a better essay. Let us all use these skills to not only better the students but to apply it to our own lives. By doing these ten tips, you can become a better student and be a better SI/ Tutor :) 

Thomas, John W., and William D. Rohwer Jr. "Academic Studying: The Role Of Learning Strategies." Educational Psychologist 21.1/2 (1986): 19. Education Research Complete. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.

Effects of Peer Tutoring

The article "Building Connections and Transferring Knowledge: The Benefits of Peer Tutoring Course Beyond the Writing Center" focuses on the idea of how what is learned within a Writing Center can extend beyond what is done within the center.  More specifically, it is citing research that shows that if the writing assistants or writing tutors perform their jobs in the proper manner, students that come to seek help can gain more knowledge on how to help themselves without going to the writing center.  In many regards, this is the best outcome for the students that actually take the time to come and meet with writing tutors.  And it should be the goal for everyone involved with the Writing Center for students to learn and not continue to need help with the same issues repeatedly. 

This article (which I will post a link to below) should remind all of the members of Writing Centers in various colleges that we're not just here to offer aid with written essays.  We're also here to give students an edge that they haven't been able to pick up within their classrooms.  That's why I feel it should be read and understood by all writing tutors to ensure our duties.  That and remember we are offering a vital resource for every student on campus.    

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.gavilan.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=218057da-8aa1-4d49-af0f-0253e1239bcc%40sessionmgr110&hid=121&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=112819956&db=v1h

Skits and the Writing Center

I was reading the Writing Lab newsletter, issue 21.1 and I came across the section “Using skits to get the word out.” There are five (5) skits that Todd McCann wrote, and not only are they funny but they bring up and mention the “myths” about the Writing Center. They talk about the no’s that as writing assistants we are told about and instructed not to use.  Just reading the skits are entertaining, I can’t imagine some of the people preforming them or being preformed.

I think that these would be a really interesting tool to use in classrooms where we have an audience and some time that we could talk about the writing center without the boring talk of the writing center. I think it would be a good way to break up the monotony of “this is what we do in the writing center…yada yada yada….” They are short and really easy (I feel) to implement into our talks of the WC.

Using Academic Tools to Analyze Content:Use the SOAPSTONE or "Analyzing a Written Text"

          
          Students come to me all the time asking how do I analyze a text? I first ask the student what they are reading, and for what class. Those two bits of information are very important when deciding which rubric to use. From there I will either refer the student to SOAPSTONE, a College Board tool adapted from San Juan College, or Colorado State's "Analyzing a Written Text." SOAPSTONE is for analyzing literature, poems, chapters/verses from books, or anything non-research orientated. Colorado State's "Analyzing a Written Text" is used for articles, research papers, or anything factual and scientific. 

          If the student is, for example, in an English class and needs  to analyze a poem then I refer him/her to SOAPSTONE. SOAPSTONE is an acronym for SPEAKER, OCCASION, PURPOSE, SUBJECT,   TONE, ORGANIZATION, NARRATIVE STYLE, and EVIDENCE. This rubric is most important for literary analysis because it gets to the main idea, topics, point-of-view, and ideas discussed in the text. Here is the link to SOAPSTONE: SOAPSTONE 

          On the other hand if the student is in an anthropology class and needs to analyze an academic article, then I will refer them to CSU's "Analyzing a Written Text." CSU's technique is good for finding bias, comparing texts, discussing ideas, and evaluating sources. CSU's technique has eight steps:

1. Purpose/Context 
2. Authors
3. Audience
4. Topic and Position
5. Research/Sources
6. Proof/Evidence
7. Organization
8. Style

From the eight steps above the student can draw conclusions about not only the research content but also potential bias and important themes throughout the piece.
Please feel free to check out the link to CSU's technique:  "Analyzing a Written Text" 

* The key to analyzing content is determining which rubric to use: literature or research. One of my students famously said, "It's like a battle between books and evaluating sources." 

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Emotions On The Job

Michael Perez

Blogger Post

Megan Wong

3/15/16

Emotions in the Writing Center

Agostinelli, Corinne, Helena Poch, and Elizabeth Santoro. "Tutoring in Emotionally Charged Sessions." 34-39. Print.

            Emotions are what make us human, whether we are happy about something or offended they remind us we that we all have different opinions and feelings that affect how feel about whether that joke that was just made was crass or hilarious. As an individual the authors of this chapter do give you the right to feel whatever is natural, though they stress on how to go about a tutoring session when emotions come up unexpectedly. The first situation addressed in this chapter was when a student writer comes in to the center with their paper on a particularly difficult topic.

Often times the topic is close to their heart for example a childhood abuse and the writer is too emotional when reading the paper. We have been warned that we are not therapists! Yes, it might be one of the several reactions we have to reach out and help the writer deal with the tragedy by talking but, that is how a session gets derailed. Remember why they walked into the Writing Center, it wasn’t for emotional help (36).  Like in any tutor session we are encouraged to set a goal for the session so we don’t forget the task.

Emotions are a two-way road, both writer and tutor may at one point or another experience an emotional reaction to a paper that was brought in. We are not told to curb or emotions but taught how to effectively communicate our thoughts to the writer. Let’s say for example a paper is brought in about how Christianity is sham used to brain wash and drain the pockets of people, and the tutor is a devote Christian. Rather than telling the writer that they are wrong and incorrect about everything the paper has said, they instead of the power of questions to get the student to see another point of view. Maybe the tutor acknowledges everyone’s right to their belief but asks why they believe this statement. Prompting the writer with, “Don’t most churches help abuse victims and often donate money to the homeless?”, can lead them to not making such sweeping generalizations. That is just one of the many ways we can properly deal with our feelings towards a paper, it is effective and follows the etiquette we strive for in the Learning Commons at Gavilan.

Writing Center etiquette and how to appropriately deal with some troubling encounters is also talked about. As tutors we do not have a policy of telling students that in fact they are wrong when they are, rather we try to guide them to the right answer and hope they realize that perhaps their previous thoughts or ideas were incorrect. We do however have a responsibility to our students to let them know when they care being politically incorrect, prejudice, or racist. Often times people do not realize that they are coming off in an inappropriate manner or that they are using a derogatory statement until it is brought up with them. We are here to aid the process communicating ideas and clear up any miscommunication on the way.

The Benefits of Online Tutoring

           There are many different environments in which students can be taught. At Gavilan College, the majority of our tutoring is done in face-to-face interactions. Even though I believe this is the easiest and simplest way for a student to comprehend new information, online tutoring can be beneficial as well. For starters, online tutoring is easily accessible. Many community college students don’t have the opportunities to stay longer at school once they are out of class. Many CC students are busy with outside jobs, family demands, or have conflicting schedules with tutor hours. Online classes are an easy way for students to get the help they need, at a time that is convenient for them.

            Many students like in-person tutoring sessions because they are personable, and it allows a tutor and tutee to become comfortable with one another. I was skeptical at first about online tutoring, because you do not get this face-to-face interaction. But after reading about OPAL (Online Peer-Assisted Learning), I am more open to this way of teaching. “Tutoring interactions on Opal use problems as both contexts for discussion and enforcers of tutor competency-that is, each interaction is based on a single problem, and students must demonstrate competency by answering the problem correctly on a computer before they become eligible to teach it.” This is a great idea because it not only assists students who need help, but don’t have the resources to get to school during tutoring hours, and simply don’t have enough time. This also establishes that the online tutor will be competent enough to teach the tutee. It’s essential to feel as if your tutor is educated and qualified enough to tutor one of their peers. Overall, online tutoring is a great asset when peer tutoring is not available. It is easy to do from home, and is a new innovative way to teach.

Evans, Michael J, and Jeffrey S Moore. "Peer Tutoring With The Aid Of The Internet." British Journal Of Educational Technology 44.1 (2013): 144-155. Professional Development Collection. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.