Friday's CATW Tutoring

So, Friday was actually pretty cool.

The student that I sat with seemed as if he was really interested in what I had to say, and I feel like he valued my opinion. In comparison with the ENG 101 class, it was quite a difference. I spoke with some students in our class after the tutoring session and they said the same thing. The students in the ENG 099 class were much more engaged, they wanted to do well on this essay.

The student I sat with had a fully formed essay, but had received comments from Professor Alexander (?) that his thesis didn't translate to the whole essay. In fact, his thesis statement outright contradicted what he wrote in his body paragraphs. So, the majority of our time together was spent working and talking about his thesis.

He said he didn't understand his professor's critique, that he thought his body paragraphs supported his thesis. The problem was, the body of his essay stated that there should be equality in a relationship, but his thesis statement stated that men should "definitely" be the bread winners. As we started talking about the piece that the essay was supposed to be responding to, he realized where he went wrong in his thesis. I'd like to say that I thought about applying the "just talk about it" technique as stated in Tutoring Writing. But that's not really true. It was just a natural conversation that progressed nicely. I think this had to do with the students enthusiasm towards the CATW.

Anyway, after the conversation, I asked him to write a new introductory paragraph, perhaps leaving out some detail and saving it for the body paragraphs. Our whole session was spent revising and reworking this paragraph and his topic sentences in the rest of the paper. We had a good conversation, I feel like I was able to help him.

By the time we were supposed to leave, I didn't realize that everyone from our class had left already and that I was the last one there. I don't know how long I was sitting there for, but I suspect enough time had passed that I should be sufficiently embarrassed...

"Money, get away..."

A lot of very troubling but interesting points were brought up in each of these videos. Among the most important points is that ALEC is a corrupt organization, and the public needs to pay more attention to the influence of money and business in politics and government. Unfortunately, especially with the recent, terribly unsurprising Supreme Court ruling (McCutcheon v. FEC) I think it's safe to say that money in politics is here to stay.

But, there comes a point, when we, as the American public, just shrug our collective shoulders and think "well, what the hell can we do anyway?" Paying attention to all the corrupt things that are going on behind closed doors and even brazenly in the public eye, is tiring. Picking your battle is especially hard when everywhere you look something else is happening. Do we fight about public education when at the same time these people are trying to mess with women's rights? Or do we focus our energy on affirmative action or healthcare or war or the environment or any number of other issues? What are we supposed to do?

I think as a whole, these videos just place an emphasis on how overwhelming all of this is. What a pessimistic point of view to have, right? As a society have all these "freedoms" to "speak truth to power," as they say. Well, we can speak all we want, but what actual difference can we make, when no one will listen? It's disheartening. Money has too much power in politics, but what can we do to change it?

We can shout into the great abyss until our vocal cords break, we can elect politicians who we hope will change things, we can sign petitions, we can post on Facebook  and tell all of our friends: "LOOK AT HOW FUCKED UP THIS IS!"

But what does that change?

Nothing.

We don't have the money or power to influence anything. That distinction belongs to a select few who aren't even looking out for the rest of us. They are only looking out for their wallets and vacation homes in Belize.

It's frustrating to watch these things happen right in front of us and not be able to do anything about it. Particularly when most of the American public are averting their eyes, burying their heads in the sand or they just generally don't care what's going on around them. Sometimes I just want to scream "wake UP!"

Maybe if we start opening our eyes and paying attention, something can change. On the other hand, we still won't have power, influence or money to fight back.

/endrant.

*Note: I was going to write more about the public education aspect of it, but this is what it turned into. I think I might of gone kind of off topic?

Second Writing Center Observations

I went to the Writing Center for a second this week. It ended up being a much more positive experience than the first time, despite having the same tutor.

This time, a girl came in with a paper from her Criminal Justice class. Like the previous session, the tutor did not introduce himself, but did say "hi" and had a half smile on his face. He seemed to be in a much better mood than the last time we saw each other. Perhaps he was having a bad day before, perhaps he has a mood disorder. Who knows.

Anyway, he read over her paper, which the girl's professor had already graded and marked up. The tutor went on to explain the numerous grammatical errors and gave her concrete suggestions on how to improve them. (Simple things like possession and apostrophes, when and when not a word should be plural, run-on sentences, etc). It was marked improvement upon the previous session in which the most constructive criticism he had was that she needs to improve her grammar.

This session also lasted longer, probably because this paper needed major improvements. For example, her thesis, about crime in her neighborhood and how to improve the situation, while interesting, was not being proved throughout the paper. She was advocating for increased police presence in the neighborhood, but was not explaining how increased police presence would lead to a decrease in crime. Addtionally, there needed to be more focus on the topic as a whole. She seemed to really appreciate the feedback.

The session ended with him giving her his name, and telling her to come back with any other questions. The whole half hour was a complete 180 from last time.

Expectations for Monday

Weirdly, I'm kind of excited for Monday. I think all of my concerns were covered in class. The only thing I'm still worried about however, is insulting someone. I know sometimes that when people critique my writing and give negative feedback, however slight, that it kind of puts me down. I get a little discouraged. Rationally, I know that this shouldn't be the case, criticism helps to produce a better paper, but it still bothers me. I don't want to do that to a stranger, particularly if they feel secure in their writing, I wouldn't want to bring their confidence level down.

Anyway, I'm sure it will be a good experience and I'm looking forward to it.

First Writing Center Observations

So, I went to my first Writing Center observation this week, and I think it was fairly helpful. However, the start of the session was a little awkward to be honest. The tutor I sat with was alright, but I'm not sure if I would want him as my tutor if I needed help with my paper.

When the girl who came in for the tutoring session sat down, the tutor did not introduce himself or ask her name, but was rather straight to the point.The girl unfortunately didn't know what her paper was supposed to be about. When asked for the assignment, she couldn't find her syllabus and couldn't explain what the question was. There may have been a slight language barrier, as I don't believe English was her first language. While she was looking for the essay prompt, the tutor responded with a slight attitude saying that "if you can't explain what it's about I'm sure it's not going to show in your paper anyway," and not to bother looking for it. I was kind of taken aback by this statement, and felt really bad for the girl that was sitting there.

Besides this bold display of attitude, the rest of the session went okay. He read her paper, which ended up being about an art assignment in which she had to respond to a painting that was studied in class. His critique was minimal, there were a few grammatical errors, and she needed to describe the color and composition of the painting better. All in all, he considered it a good response.

She then had a second essay that she wanted him to look over. Thankfully, she had the assignment from her professor for this one. He thought her thesis was concise, and directly answered the question. There were only a few grammatical errors.

After a short session, the tutor could not wait to get out of there, he hopped out of the chair and didn't even say "bye."

Writing Center Blog #1

Although I have not yet been able to observe the writing center, I anticipate that it will be an informative experience. It may be a little awkward sitting and watching someone else's session for both me and the student involved, but hopefully over the four sessions that we are required to attend as part of this Teaching Writing class, it will become less so. It is interesting watching someone else's writing process, and new ideas coming to life, so I suspect that I may even enjoy being a part of the session.

I personally have never been to the writing center at LaGuardia, as I did not take Eng101 here, so I am not sure what to expect as far as friendliness and/or interest of the tutors in the writing center. However, I am sure they are knowledgeable and I'll be able to pick up a few ideas and techniques that I can implement when students in this class start tutoring there. 

I'm a little nervous about tutoring individuals I've never met. I've corrected papers for friends, family and other classmates before, but never for strangers. I wouldn't want to insult anyone, or tell them they're doing something completely wrong. I think that's what sitting in on the sessions in the writing center will help with, though. I'll be able to see how other tutors handle those situations and how they react to students that are completely uninterested in their class or paper.