John #4


In working in the Writing Center these past weeks, I have gleaned important insights into how I teach writing and how my teaching impacts students. I am someone who has struggled with writing and felt frustrated with starting a writing project. I am also someone who has felt defeated and discouraged by overly critical feedback that ignored all the things that I did well in my writing project. However, instead of identifying with my students or correcting these negative tutoring practices, I have, at times, perpetuated them. Considering a universal design that takes into account my negative writing experiences and the diverse populations of students that I could potentially tutor is a helpful way to move forward and improve my tutoring skills. If I identify with students’ frustration in writing and let them know that I too feel that writing can be difficult, then they will hopefully feel like they are not alone and (be more responsive to positive tutoring) will not question if something is wrong with them. After reading “The Writers You Tutor” I believe that I have been too heavy-handed in my tutoring, and I need to take a step back to allow for student learning. I found that if I supply a student with too many critiques, they tend to get defensive and are less responsive to suggestions. The discussion in chapter 4 about this issue really resonated with me.

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