See you tomorrow--

Roosevelt's 4th floor is quiet now, but it won't be for too long. Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow at our first 2010-2011 WCenter meeting--

Observing Cathryn

I observed one Cathryn Molloy’s sessions. All semester it has been just the two of us on Fridays from ten to one. I always enjoy my time in the writing center with Cathryn. She always come in extremely perky and immediately makes me feel at home by asking if I want tea. She always wakes me up more than the coffee I am drinking.

Anyway, the session I observed was between her and a senior boy who was majoring Electrical Engineering. When she asked him what his paper was on her told her that it was about the economy. He informed her that his paper was “high stakes” and he needed her to do some intensive editing for him. He also told her to let him know if he needed to elaborate on any aspects of his paper. Cathryn explained that she would do her best because she did not have any background in the topic he was writing about.

Cathryn began reading his paper and immediately complimented him. She told him that he was brave to tackle such a complicated topic. After the compliment and positive reinforcement Cathryn began correcting his grammar. She told him to put a colon instead of a period and explained why he had to put the colon there; “a colon indicates a list.” Thus, she was teaching him how to utilize a colon for other papers as well; she was teaching not editing.

I observed how Cathryn phrased her sentences when tutoring to ensure that the student felt comfortable with her. For example, Cathryn used phrases like:

“Oh! this makes more sense to me”

“I think that’s what you meant here”

“this is interesting but I think you should clarify what you mean to the audience “

“Amazing”

“wow, so cool!”

“it’s really great how you give a term and define it!”

When the student’s session was over he seemed extremely happy with his session, a session that was filled with facilitative tutoring. This session exemplifies why Cathryn is an amazing tutor and teacher. Cathryn does more than just edit; she explains how and why the changes that are made are necessary. She also compliments the strong aspects of the paper, which makes the student more comfortable being critiqued on his or her weak moments.

I feel as if I am always subconsciously observing her sessions on Fridays. Cathryn is an outgoing, friendly, warm person. She is a natural born teacher and tutor. Her sessions appear effortless. I always feel inspired when I observe her and I am sure other tutors feel that same.

Session observation

Last week I observed one of Meghan's sessions. Unfortunately for Meghan, it seemed to be such an agonizing session! The tutee just didn't seem to care at all, didn't voice any opinions, and was just completely indifferent and mostly silent. Meghan tried so hard to get him to talk! I admired how she used various methods and kept changing her tactic to try to get this tutee involved, but he just wasn't cooperating. Not that he was actively resistant -- he just didn't do anything.

He had an assignment to write a literary analysis paper and said that he didn't know where to start or how to write this kind of paper. He had brought the text he was supposed to analyze, so Meghan tried to get him involved by asking him questions about the text. She started with questions like "Why did you think the author decided to do that?" -- he didn't know -- and then she moved to more general questions like "Did you like this part?" -- and he still didn't know!

It seemed like Meghan was trying to come at the issue from so many different angles, trying to get the student engaged and trying to find something that would get him to express an opinion or even a little bit of interest, but he wasn't having it. She tried to move onto an even more general topic by asking him what books he liked, if there was anything he'd read in high school (he was a freshman) that interested him. He said he'd liked Brave New World, and Meghan asked him what he liked about it, what themes he saw in it. He said he didn't know... "I don't like to read."

At this point I was feeling so badly for Meghan because I think she's a great tutor and she was trying so hard to get this student involved! I felt like we were in Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener" -- where Bartleby would say "I would prefer not to," this tutee said "I don't know."

Meghan moved on to give some suggestions to the student for how to start this kind of a paper, how to look for themes in a text. The student was a kinesiology major so Meghan even tried to apply literary analysis to his field, to get him interested, by saying that the sciences require logical thinking, which is also true of analyzing a text. Meghan showed the student how to access the reference databases to search for secondary sources, and encouraged him to read some scholarly essays about the text he had to analyze, to get ideas about what other people thought about this text. She encouraged him to come back to the writing center when he had a draft.

The student asked for a required visit slip and left. As he walked out I thought that I had possibly never seen a tutee so indifferent! Sure, I get some tutees who say they hate writing/reading, but at least they have an opinion. This student didn't want to express any opinions, really.

What to do with a tutee who is so completely ambivalent? I thought that Meghan's methods were great -- she tried really hard to find something that the student could connect to, something that would serve as a jumping-off point to get him talking. I feel that, in most cases, this would be a great method to use. It was unfortunate that this student wasn't responsive to it!

A $20 Proposal

My last session of the day was filled with anxiety and plain old hyper-ness. For starters, my session before the last one went over about 5 minutes, and I rushed out to grab my next tutee, whom I will refer to as X. He was sprawled all over the waiting area like many tutees and the collection of all his possessions was like watching a juggling act. Turns out, that 5 minutes was excruciating for him and he almost left..part of me wishes that he had simply done so. X pushed the laptop towards me, thought thankfully not all the way in front of me, so at least he had that going for him. The assignment was unclear, he just directed me to sections of this large word doc at random; I am left with a pretty unclear vision of what he was even doing, but supposedly I really helped since that was a phrase that came out of his mouth every five minutes or so. I got a slightly creepy vibe from him from he very start, but on top of that, he was in a super hurry and was literally bouncing around, leaving me to feel like all I wanted to do was get him out of there. Unfortunately, it was also one of those instances where even though time is up, he just kept having one more question or one little section he wanted me to read. Why am I always a sucker for that "one more little thing"?

But the absolute best part of it all, after I finally answered all the little questions and could start packing up my own stuff, I was offered $20 to meet him in the library to go back over the whole thing with him later on. Hmmmm, let me think about that one. I said no if only because I couldn't handle anymore of his rush, rush, rush attitude. Though, after an hour has passed I do feel like I had a missed opportunity to take the money and reinvest it in some Indian food at the emporium for dinner, with enough left over to go get my eyebrows waxed.

In all seriousness, this offer did bring to mind all the times I've heard tutors talk about giving out their personal email addresses to tutees for further help and I can't help but wonder what types of extra burdens (maybe not so much burden, but ...) we place on ourselves because we feel connected to our tutees and really have this spirit of helpfulness. While it was easy to say no to X because I really just wanted to get away, those tutees who become a part of our community by coming in regularly are much harder to say no to.

My Best Session of the Semester

On Tuesday, I had a student come in to work on a 10-minute English presentation. When we sat down and she began to talk about the assignment, her eyes welled up and she was on the verge of crying. Right then I knew I had to switch up my approach to something very laid back and confident.

We talked about the pressures of giving a presentation, and I gave her some tips on how I, a very shy student, overcame my fear of presentations. After that, we decided to start on the outline. I gave her the pen, but it didn't seem to be going as smooth as I expected, so I told her I would take notes while she went through a mock presentation.

It worked out great. She had notes to go off of in order to make her note cards, and she felt like she had a good understanding of the texts she was working with.

The best part is: I saw her yesterday, and she told me she received an "A".

Observing Nikki

This past Tuesday Nikki and I were lucky enough to both have appointments at opposite times. While observing Nikki I noticed how energetic and friendly she was throughout the session. From the beginning the tutee, a freshman girl, was very quiet and unwilling to truly learn the points Nikki was making. However, Nikki was persistant and I really appreciated the tactics she was taking and being able to witness her tutoring take place. When the tutee walked in, Nikki sat down next to her but positioned her body so that they were face to face. She talked to the tutee as if they had been friends and used strategies that I use during my sessions as well. She makes the tutee read out loud and is very interactive with the paper. When Nikki asks questions, she gives the tutee plenty of time to think and revise on their own. There was one instance when the tutee didn't quite understand what the question was, Nikki casually rephrased the question and then went into further detail about the point she was trying to make. What I really liked about what Nikki did throughout the session was after the tutee had read a couple of sentences, Nikki would ask the tutee about it. This made the lethargic tutee have to participate and actually think about what she was putting into her essay. I thought this was extremely clever and effective for the tutee. Also, after the selected portion is read, Nikki summarizes what they just went over to make sure that the writer is getting across what is intended. Only making the tutee more involved in the session, whether she wanted to be or not. Overall, I thought the session was very successful and though the tutee could have been more willing Nikki handled herself, and the essay, with poise and enthusiasm, like any great tutor would.

Community and Food

The other day as I was walking to my car after yoga with a grumbling tummy, I found myself struck with memories from when I was an undergraduate student at SUNY Albany. I had been a part of the Women’s Studies Teaching Collective during my time there. As part of the Collective, I had the opportunity to aid in the development of an introductory course to feminisms (which we did as a group of 30) and then team teach the course (I taught with 2 other girls and we were overseen by a graduate student). It was a very unique experience not only because the department let undergrads teach other undergrads, but because so much of our time was spent building community. Our main source of community building was a series of monthly pot luck meetings outside of our regularly scheduled class periods. We rotated the location, sometimes meeting in someone’s apartment off campus, other times meeting in someone’s dorm room (this was reserved for those of us who lived in the larger apartment style dorms since the whole group of use with all of our various foods would never fit in a regular suite style room). The locations allowed us to relax and to get a glimpse of someone else’s real life , but I feel it was the food that really bonded us.
When we prepare food for others, we open up ourselves and offer a piece of us alongside a morsel. It is a gift of our time, our energy, and our affection. The dishes that appear at pot lucks can also tell a lot about the bringer/preparer. We tend to bring comfort foods, foods we are proud of, foods that remind us of our families and traditions. Even people who are too busy to make food, but who bring crackers and cheese or chips and dip expose a part of themselves – that they are busy and that these are the types of foods they gravitate towards, perhaps even as a comfort.
I can think of other instances as well that support a linkage between food and community. When my ex was working on Casey Farm, we would attend periodic pot lucks where all the local farmers, their families, and pets would bring veggies fresh from the pasture, meats that had grazed in their fields, oysters taken right out of the bay, and seasonal berries fresh picked only hours ago. There was the common element of the love of the Earth and the love of fresh foods, but it was the presenting of that food and the sharing of the meal that made conversation, music, and tomato tossing possible. And now, as a single lady looking to establish my own community in a state that is still very foreign to me, I’ve found a book club that comes complete with pot luck brunches once a month.
You may be asking by this point what the connection of food and community has to do with the Writing Center. Ideally, I would like to offer up the suggestion of a pot luck send off, a celebration of the time we have spent together and an offering of ourselves to the community we strive on a daily basis to shape and form. With such little time left and the chaos that the end of the semester brings, I’m not sure that it is even feasible to strive for such an event, so perhaps it is more of a suggestion for future orientations, as the community continues to grow and change, food can provide the catalyst to new conversations and opportunities.
But, as this idea has stewed, I also wanted to connect food and community to writing. In “Consuming Prose: The Delectable Rhetoric of Food Writing,” Lynn Bloom quotes food historian Massimo Montanari discussing food as a type of discourse:

"“Just as in verbal sentences, one or more protagonists,” the principal
foods, whether meat or grain dishes (equivalent to nouns), “are in the
center of the action,” accompanied—in their syntactic place—by appetizers,
side dishes, desserts.Condiments serve as the meal’s adjectives and adverbs.
“Food acquires full expressive capacity,” concludes Montanari, “thanks to the
rhetoric that in every language is its necessary complement. Rhetoric is the
adaptation of speech to the argument,to the effects one wants to arouse or
create. If the discourse is food, that means the way it is prepared, served,
and eaten”. "(Bloom 347)

So perhaps in preparing a dish for a pot luck, one is intrinsically creating a story about themselves. It may be an introduction of the self to a new community or it may be a reinforcement of who the individual is – especially when calling upon grandma’s famous apple pie recipe or traditional hot tamales!

You can take this as food for thought or let it marinate a bit as I did to come to a better grasp of what the presentation of food can mean for the presentation of self and the building of community. After all, when we define community as a group of people with some common interest or aspect, what greater commonality do we have than the need for food?