Mihaela observes Tim L.

Mihaela:
Tim L. and I had a very “interesting” session for the peer-observation assignment (Tim tutored, I observed). The tutee, a senior with a lengthy project, had already met with someone on Monday, after a misunderstanding regarding her scheduled appointment had been resolved, but had not managed to complete reviewing the paper during that session. Thus, she had requested a one-hour appointment on Tuesday, but had been scheduled for 30 minutes with me (my last session) and 30 minutes with Tim (his first session). This raised the question of one-hour appointments again for me, and I realized that I am still not quite clear on whether tutees can be scheduled for a full hour upon request. Considering the scope of this particular project, it seemed to me that it would have been best had the tutee been able to meet with the same tutor again (especially since she had found the previous session productive), but she ended up meeting with me and with Tim instead. Basically (and this is purely my perspective), she was not looking for much more than editing help (and, since she was sick, Tim and I both chose to read out loud as opposed to asking her to read). In retrospect, perhaps this was not the most exciting or apposite session to observe, since “nothing” happened. But as I was thinking this on my way home afterwards, I also thought that perhaps this session was very much like many of our sessions and in that sense was the most appropriate to observe. I also wondered how much Tim’s tutoring was changed by my observing, and wished that I had sat at a table nearby which may (or may not) have allowed for a more organic dynamic, if I can call it that; but this is a question that you could address, Tim, if you feel like it.

Tim:
I honestly felt like the session was exactly how I would handle a session where a student wanted editing help, but was still there to work with me. I had told the tutee before the session started that I would not just simply edit her paper. She agreed that it would be good to work with me on this paper. And I felt like she really was working with me, and I wasn’t simply an editing service.

M:
We didn’t have time to discuss any of my observations because he had a session right after, and I had to leave (but this is perhaps something that other peer-observers should do—sign themselves up for the session right after observing). So, Tim and I decided that I will e-mail him my thoughts (this section of the post) and, once he enters his own, he can post it as our collaborative work. But, to get to my specific thoughts:
1. I have been on prior occasions in passing (my leaving and his starting a session) and was again this time impressed by the balance that Tim strikes instantaneously among soft-spokenness, confidence, alertness, and calmness. In thinking about it, it seems to me a very useful (conscious or unconscious) approach, because it allows access to an array of modes, one of which could be emphasized depending on the tutee and the situation without an abrupt change in attitude.

T:
Thank you Mihaela, that is a very nice compliment!


M:
2. Tim began the session with a few “small talk” questions, which made me think about my own session beginnings and that I rarely do this, when in certain situations it may be quite useful (let the tutee catch her/his breath so to speak).

T:
I find that the small talk helps to get the tutee in their own sort of comfortable situation, especially tutees that have not been to the writing center before. They become more apt to tell me their exact feelings on a paper, rather than just being quiet and general.

M:
3. He asked about goals, which I think is necessary pretty much always (unless the tutee has been to the Writing Center many times and starts the session by discussing goals her/himself), and this opened a brief exchange about editing. The student announced awareness of editing not being the Writing Center’s purpose, and I thought it was productive that Tim elaborated on this by making an explicative note on the difference between editing a paper and working on improving a paper. (It made me wonder if we should all contribute our definitions of this distinction to a collage that we could put up on one of the walls).

T:
Most of the time that I receive tutees that want a strictly editing session, I resort to these definitions of editing and working on a paper. I feel that explaining both definitions gets repetitive and we should probably get a poster in the writing center that states both. Although, this discussion does help a lot as far as clearing the air with editing goes.

M:
4. I especially liked that Tim paused over problematic sentences and allowing the tutee to take a stab at them first, asked for clarification on the ideas expressed, and explained most of the sentence-level suggestions that he was making. I find maintaining all three of these throughout a session to be crucial, if we are not to compromise our position on editing, even though (or because?) they take time and effort. It seems to me that these are also the most critical aspects in terms of the difference pointed out above, in 3 (and wouldn’t it be a clear indication of how a tutee really feels about editing versus working on their paper, if they are not listening or answer questions carefully, or are getting annoyed that it is taking much longer than they expected?).

T:
I find that working on all three fronts will show the student exactly where I am going with their pieces to the big puzzle. Smaller orders of concerns such as the three listed above seem to be most of what I am thinking about when tutoring. The higher orders of concerns such as the general idea of the paper, and the flow of the piece are in the back of my mind, as I feel that smaller order concerns really do affect the piece more than higher order concerns do, because if you didn’t have any small orders, there would not be any large order concerns.

M:
5. In addition, when the tutee seemed uncertain about a sentence revision suggestion, Tim pointed out that it is merely a suggestion, which I find a particularly useful technique for putting a slipping dynamic back on track.
I suppose that I could keep going, but this entry may get a bit too long…

T:
To me, this session seemed to be very routine. The tutee initially wanted me to edit her piece, but I was not going to let that happen. After explaining what us tutors do in the Writing Center, the tutee seemed to be more understanding of the ways in which this session would proceed. When this situation happens, many of times I get a hint that the students eventually lose interest in their small order concerns. However, I refuse to sit back and “edit” their work. It just isn’t right to let the student boss me over and take advantage of tutors as peer editors. It seems as many tutees come in with very high expectations, and leave with a mediocre result. Perhaps the tutees think that appointments are an hour and not simply a half an hour? Or tutees really do believe that we are an editing service…