Blog Post #7 - Tiffany Tucker

After reading the chapter in the Bedford I see some benefits to online tutors, but I still have a few concerns online tutoring. To be honest, writing feedback on papers for the classes that teach is something that I still struggle with primarily because I don't like it. I find it time-consuming; I wish I could just give student's verbal feedback and have them take notes. I also still struggle with how much feedback to give. Everything we have read, stressed only focusing on global issues, but I am still trying to draw the line between too much or too little feedback. I also wrote, in a response to another classmate I am concerned about students that benefit from talking through their writing verbally. The Bedford chapter talks about instant messaging and video chat which might be a good method to talk through writing with a student, but the Writing Center at Iowa doesn't work that way.

I do agree with the Bedford chapter that online tutoring could be great for a person that is shy about coming to the writing center. Also, like the chapter mentions, a person's race, gender, etc. can influence how we tutor them whether we intend that or not. In online tutoring, that is less of a worry. Also, I agree with the Bedford chapter that online tutoring gives you more time to look over the paper and write feedback without having to come up with ideas on the spot.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog Post #8 (Ian)

Interesting take on that timeless grudge match been academic and creative nonfiction, but cringed at Goedde's frequent use of what I'll call The Other B-Word, which raised its own separate set of questions for me about how we (as tutors) shape the way our students write about racism... Though the use of this word felt central to Loraine's story - and was further complicated by Loraine's own Mexican-American heritage - it was also impossible for me to imagine Goedde parroting it with the same zeal if, say, this had been a story about Loraine using the N-word, or any number of other xenophobic slurs. Not sure if others reacted similarly, but felt noteworthy given the particular necessity (and thorniness) of having students write about race at a place as overwhelmingly white as the University of Iowa. As for comparing this nonfiction case study to the more academic studies we've previously consulted, I feel like the pros and cons basically mirror those raised by Goed
Read more

Blog Post #1

Reading: The University of Iowa Writing Center Tutor’s Guide Question: The University of Iowa Writing Center Tutor’s Guide starts stating the most important goal the Writing Center, “to develop strong writers with positive attitudes toward writing.” I clearly see how through the Writing Center’s writing practices students can grow in confidence to write. Are there any specific practices addressing that vital part of the WC goal of developing positive attitudes toward writing? Reading: The Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors, Chapter 1 & 2 Given that a student’s version of what transpires in a classroom “may be incomplete or even inaccurate (Ryan & Zimmerelli, 2016, 3), how professional and even ethical is to facilitate and somehow promote procedures for registering a complaint (4)?
Read more

JJ 7

I have yet to begin online/asynchronous tutoring but my initial impression (prior to the readings this week) was that the non face-to-face methods is an ersatz tutoring style. I was partially convinced by the readings that there are advantages in a more distanced approach to tutoring that are lacking with in-person sessions. Specifically, there is an element of anonymity associated with online tutoring that I can see appealing to students that may not be confident or are embarrassed about their writing, especially students that are more introverted and non-confrontational. As a tutor, asynchronous tutoring would give me the time to really digest the writing and carefully formulate a response. Sometimes after an in-person session I think back about better ways I could have phrased a certain point but by then, too late. A major take-away from the readings is that I will formulate my responses through the comment feature and rarely using track changes, if at all. I believe that carefully
Read more