Antonio Hamilton
ADVENTURES OF BOOT CAMP: an ePortfolio
In a summer like no other, with the sun beaming from a distance, Antham began his journey to becoming a TA. We proudly present...
Coming into this class, I did not know what to expect, especially on the first day of class when I saw that it would be about preparing me to tutor in the Reading-Writing Center. Since I had already was a tutor as an undergraduate at the University of Fairbanks Alaska, I was curious to see what more I could learn. However, at the same time, I thought that a lot of it would be basic knowledge that many of us would know as being English majors. But to my surprised, it opened my eyes up to theories, techniques, and terminology that enhance my tools as a tutor (or so I hope). Beyond this, it provided me with an epiphany moment when reflecting on my own writing and reading development. I always knew when I fell in love with English and reading, but never knew why until this class.
Starting with the literacy narrative, this experience allowed me to see how English finally click with me and how my approach to English and essays started. By my seventh-grade teacher helping realize that I can have my own voice and to have some level of expressivism in my writing was a monumental moment because it showed me that I did not have to mimic someone’s writing and style. This is important because I found myself in my sessions with students as undergraduate tutor employing this approach in getting them to write in their voice and not this strict academic style that sometimes is void of any type of passion. And this fits into my approach of how I observed and how I prefer to run my sessions, being non-directive.
These two concepts (expressivism and non-directive) are probably the biggest takeaways from the class because I think that they encapsulate the ways how teachers (at least the ones I have encountered) strive to approach teaching or working with their students. I think a lot of the times when students come to places like writing centers for the first time, they think that you are going to tell them explicitly how to fix something in the paper (e.g. make the correction for them). And this is normal because getting help takes on this definition, where it instead should be a collaborative process which is something I never considered before. But this makes sense because generally, if someone figures out something on their own, they are more likely to remember it than if you do it for them. However, this is not to say that some students will not need a move directive tutoring session. As I learned many times some students will come in without existing knowledge of the genre they are writing in, and they need me as the tutor to tell them explicitly what to do. And by having that example of what to do, they will have something to model after.
I think adding onto how conduct a session with a student, there are outlining factors that we have to consider that I never realized before this class. The biggest one being international students who speak English as second language. I have always realized that writing with the proper grammar was challenge because things do not always translate directly. But I never considered that the content and intent of composition is different in other countries. What I mean is that where in America we propose a question and answer it in the say essay, where in another country they may solely focus prosing the question itself and the possibilities of that question. This brings up the question if of styles off what in other countries should be valid in America, especially when these international students will come here for a degree and then go back to their native country and write in the conventions of their system. The broadening of English conventions on a global scale is just an interesting thing to ponder.
When taking all of this into account, I think as a teacher and just as part of this world of academia, it is important to recognize when these instances arise. As a tutor and teacher, I think knowing how the student(s) or class is responding to your style of teaching/tutoring will force you to adapt to fit the needs of the students. And regardless if you are taking a directive or non-directive approach, you can still promote an expressivist style of writing. And when addressing students’ style of writing that may not fit “regular” conventions of writing, it is worth asking why the student is writing the way they are because it be that where they came from that that is the way they were taught to right. At that point, drawing parallels and highlighting that their style of writing is not wrong, but will not work for the purposes of assignment or class. I think maybe even offering a class examining the conventions of composition in different countries is and how that is incorporated would be eye opening in analyzing our own English standards. This connects to me personally, because I see myself as teacher who will be all for some students challenging conventions that propel the genre forward or to new territories.
Ultimately, how I see myself as a tutor and the type of philosophy that I will adhere to is a more collaborative session focusing on making sure the student’s voice is clear and that the intent of their ideas are clearly expressed. To me, being collaborative is vitally important because it’s a combination of me providing some direction while giving them room to articulate their composition in their own voice and not mine. And ideas tend to me what students struggle most with in terms of not knowing what they want to say about—the intent of their ideas. I feel like this encompasses students who may be writing in a different subject of style of writing that is not familiar to me, allowing me to help them in a way that most composition requires. But as I stated earlier, students who need more of a directive style of tutoring, I want to be directive in the sense where the session is still collaborative with me doing what they are struggling with together and asking direct questions where I can, avoiding doing it for them.
Suffice to say, this course has been an invaluable experience that has widen my concept of what goes into tutoring. The plethora of theories provide guidance and establishes important factors to consider when tutoring. The applicableness of this information is just restrained to that of tutoring but extends to how we might teach our classes in the spring semester. This class has also help realized that students that may come in with help on a paper may have issues, but these issues could be attributed to other factors outside of the go to assumption: “they don’t know how to write.” It is key to consider what the student brings and what their history of writing is, even if it brief because the writing process is different for everyone.
Semester Reflection
