Blog 7: Oxford Guides and BF Chapter 4

Summary

    The "Tutoring Is / Isn't" chapter of the Oxford Guide discusses how tutoring is motivational and acts like scaffolding. Motivation is necessary in tutoring and writing center work because it's important for writers to take interest and be engaged in their writing. When they are interested and engaged, it shows in their writing. The chapter recommends strategies that tutors can use to get writers motivated, including taking an interest themselves and offering support/advice as a read. Tutoring also works as scaffolding. A more experienced writer will help a less experienced writer work they're way from certain tasks, much like how scaffolding helps a support a building as it goes up. Strategies for scaffolding tutoring include asking the writer what the agenda should be and analyzing the writing. Other strategies for motivational and scaffolding tutoring that is mentioned is metacommentary, which is commentary about commentary and a way to reflect on the writing. Also, point-predict method, which allows the tutor to stop when reading to reflect on what has gone right so far and predict what may come next.

    Chapter 4 of the Bedford Guide discusses how to work with different types of writers. Everyone learns differently and there is no universal or default way to teach a student in the writing center. First, the chapter goes through various methods of teaching strategies -- visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Next, the chapter goes through different types of writers and how a tutor must go about working with them. For example, anxious writers need a supportive ally, writers with only basic skills need patient and respectful tutor, multilingual writers need a tutor who is sympathetic to any possible language barrier, and so on. In addition, tutors may have to work with writers who have mental or physical disabilities, and must be sympathetic towards that. Lastly, a writer who may be older than the average college student, and tutors must be sensitive of their time, life experience, and goals.

    The "Identity and Tutoring Strategies" chapter of Oxford Guide talks about how identity can affecting tutoring. This includes the identities of the writer and the tutor may have in common, and what strategies a tutor can use in relation to identity. These strategies help to make tutoring accessible and useful to all kinds of students, such as getting acquainted, acknowledging non-verbal cues, asking the writer how they wants to work and what they want to work on, analyzing the assignment, etc. These would be especially helpful for alternative types of students, such as multilingual students, multicultural students, students with learning disabilities, and so on. Coming across student writers with different identities is inevitable, so tutors have to be prepared for and aware of them because there is no one way to write or learn.

 

Comment

    The strategy for scaffolding tutoring about letting the writer set the agenda in the tutoring session reminded me of Lunsford essay about the power balance between the tutor/teacher and student. In scaffolding tutoring letting the writer set the agenda lets the student become in charge of what gets done according to what they believe they need help with. As Lunsford describes this, this is a way of letting the student have the power, which makes them more comfortable as opposed to the tutor being in charge and having the power.

Question

    The Oxford Guide talked a lot about how tutors can help writers become and stay motivated and how it's important they be interested and engaged in their writing, but how do writing center tutors stay motivated themselves? How do tutors stay interested and engaged?