Post #1

Question 1.) The chapter we read emphasizes asking questions that lead students to develop stronger ideas for their papers or clarify existing ones without writing the paper for them. I struggle with giving into confused/distressed students and more or less writing something like their thesis for them. Although you know you should follow the question model, how do you steer yourself away from doing that in the moment?

Question 2.) Of course, you should adapt and do what you can to address each student's individual needs, but the list of roles in chapter 1 has me concerned about boundaries. How you adapt to help students without getting too familiar?

Comments

  1. Carol SeverinoJanuary 23, 2019 at 5:43 AM

    Question one: That's a great question. Since we work with student's own writing (vs. examples from a textbook), it can happen that tutors, after questioning fails, wind up suggesting thesis statements for students. Think of it as a kind of modelling. To avoid students usting exactly what you suggest, you could collaborate on 2 or 3 possible thesis statements. To ensure that you don't write the next thesis statement for the same student for the next paper, tell the student the steps you are taking to arrive at that formulatin of thesis statement; that is, do a "meta-commentary" while you're in the process of analyzing the assignment for what you want to include, how you narrow it down, what you're keeping in mind as you work (e.g. it must be an arguable claim, it should contain hints of the points/reasons that will be developed; it should be specific to the text being analyzed, etc). For the next paper, refer to those steps and principles and see if the student can do more of the work on their own.

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  2. Carol SeverinoJanuary 23, 2019 at 5:56 AM

    We should develop into our students' mentors without becoming best buddies, often a fine line to walk, as you suggest. If you're chatting at the beginning of the session to break the ice and the student is getting distracted relating personal anecdotes, try to refocus them on writing. Try to avoid becoming the sounding board for students' personal problems, especially if they seem to be using them to procrastinate. You want to convey the attitude that even though we all face personal issues and obstacles, we can and should get our homework done and our academic obligations met.

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