Agenda Setting in Tutoring Sessions

The readings for this week assert that it is important to establish a “mutually agreeable” agenda between the tutor and the writer at the beginning of a tutoring session. In any session, the writer should be given control (as we discussed last week) but the tutor should also make sure the session goes in a direction that will help the writer learn to evaluate his or her own work; sometimes, the ideas and goals of the tutor and the writer do not agree.

Think about the challenges of balancing your duties as a tutor with the wants of the writer. What do you feel are the most important factors in setting the agenda for a tutoring session and choosing points of focus throughout the session? You can draw on your conversations with tutors from your appointments and interviews to help explain what you have learned about dealing with agenda setting and tutoring challenges. You might also think about some strategies for agenda setting mentioned in the readings, such as having the student read the paper aloud while the tutor takes notes which determine the focus of the session; what types of strategies do you think are strongest/weakest and why?

The Tutoring Process

This week's Allyn & Bacon reading from Chapter 3 emphasizes the idea of the writer being in control in a tutoring session. According to the text, one way to do this is to have the writer read their writing out loud, ultimately allowing them to "call the shots."

In class last week, we learned that some tutors at the writing center have their students read out loud while others prefer to read their student's work to themselves before engaging in conversation. Based on what you have read (North, A&B, etc.)and our discussion last Thursday on the idea of a writing center, consider what you feel is the most effective way to place control in the hands of the writer. More explicitly, keeping in mind your experience last week as a student in the writing center, what techniques worked well (or poorly) in making you feel as though you were the "expert" as opposed to the "learner?"

What is a Writing Center?

Now that you have had a chance to read North and the background of writing centers from the Allyn & Bacon guide, reflect on what a writing center is. What did you think a writing center was before you encountered this week's readings? What is it to North? Have the readings changed your perception of what a writing center is, and if so, how?

Make sure to also look at your colleagues' perceptions of what a writing center is in the blog comments, and make connections to one another's ideas in your comments.

Welcome!

You've found your way to the blog for ENGL 393. This is a place where we will share ideas about the content we encounter throughout the course.

Each student will be added as an author (you will recieve an invitation via your UA email address). When it is your turn to act as a discussion leader, you will author a blog post here by noon on Monday before the class discussion of the readings. You should point us to things of interest in the readings and ask us to respond to critical questions. The rest of the class will add comments to the blog entry; some may specifically respond to your post, others may raise new ideas. In short, it's a place for discussion.

In class when you lead the discussion, you should bring the digital discussion into play (e.g., "Sally said x about this issue on the blog; what do the rest of you think about that?").

You may also author entries when it is not your week to lead discussions. For instance, maybe you have some ideas for your portfolio that you want to share and get feedback on. Please feel free to share those ideas here!

For privacy's sake, you may want to create a separate Google account for these online conversations. Also, please identify yourself only by your first name (and last initial, if we happen to have multiple people with the same first name in the course).

I look forward to discussing ideas with you!