Journal #1 – Compare Strategies
Chapters two and three help ease some of the anxiety I’m feeling as I’m preparing to head into my first session in the upcoming weeks. They address a lot of issues that may arise during a session that I was really nervous for and didn’t quite know how to approach if I was faced with it! One of the first issues they help address is how to break the ice when you first meet with a writer. I’m not a naturally outgoing person, so this was something I’ve sort of been dreading about these sessions. Gillespie and Lerner give plenty of examples and questions to ask to get a feel for each writer. One of the examples they give asks suggests starting with asking if the writer has ever been to one of these sessions. All of these examples of conversations and experiences gives me things I can take into my own sessions. Another potential challenge I was wrestling with in my head involved managing the expectations of the writers. I felt as though some writers would have the preconceived idea that my job was to do the work for them, which obviously isn’t the case. This is also helped by getting an idea of if the writer has worked with us before, and if not then we can give them a rundown of how sessions usually go. It was also reassuring to hear that us as writing fellows do not need to be experts on the subjects that students are writing about. One of my biggest anxieties was not being able to properly help people because I couldn’t remember everything.
There are many things that stick about these chapters that I’m going to carry with me and utilize. In chapter two, Gillespie and Lerner outline a typical writing process. I find it helpful that it’s written out and explained. They also give examples of questions you should be asking yourself as you move through each stage, which are questions I can ask the students coming to me for help to guide them through the process. It’s helpful to see the order in which to address problems with someone’s writing laid out. Like in peer review last semester in ENG110, we start with the “higher-order” concerns first (also known as global concerns) like structure, organization, ideas, and then we move to the local revisions which are smaller things like grammar and sentence structure. It was also really helpful to think of each session as having a conversation about writing. It gave me an idea of how I should be conducting myself with students. Lastly, the tables on pages 33 and 45 were especially useful to break down all of the aspects of being a writing fellow.
Journal #2 – Holistic Comment
I think the author of this piece has pulled three interesting texts to analyze and compare. I wasn’t able to find a definite thesis for this paper, so I would encourage the author to work on clearly defining his main idea. In the introduction to this paper, they seemed to be very focused on morals, but as the paper progresses, less is said about morals and the emphasis seems to be on ethics. I would try to merge these two ideas together or just pick one to solely write about. I also thought the introduction was a bit choppy. I liked that they introduced the three texts before discussing them, but they seemed to be sort of randomly described without putting any thought into how these texts connect to the main theme. At the end of the introduction, we are introduced to the idea of ignorance, as well.
Moving into the first text, the author talks about why people don’t focus on how lobsters are prepared. They bring up the idea of the “troubled middle,” which I think could use its own paragraph and more detailed explanation. The end of the paragraph seems a bit redundant – it could be said in a more concise manner. I would like to see the author go into more depth here about the “why” of us feeling no guilt for consuming lobster. The paragraph itself seems a bit long and I would cut it into two paragraphs after the part about the troubled middle, just to avoid losing readers to a wall of text.
The second text brings up such an interesting and taboo topic in our society. I would love to see this explored more. The entire paragraph lacks a strong tie to the ethics/morals theme, so that’s something I’d lock into and emphasize more. Comparing death of a lobster to human death is an interesting point, but I think the connection needs to be explored more.
The third text is broken up into two different places in this essay. In the first spot, the morals are discussed. I think the connection between morals and culture is something to be explored here. I would also make a solid connection at the end between the lobsters and household pets. Ignorance is another topic of this paper that is brought into play at the end, using the third text here as well. I think there could be an interesting connection between ignorance and ethics that definitely needs more detail. I would either add detail to this or scrap the ignorance idea completely.
The conclusion doesn’t tie in all the points mentioned throughout the paper. I would be sure to mention morals and ignorance as well.
Strategies that would be helpful to stimulate revision would be to maybe highlight everywhere that a main idea is mentioned to give an idea of how often each point is referenced, to see where the imbalances are. One strength of this paper was how every text was connected back to David Foster Wallace and the beginnings of all the connections were there. A weakness was the lack of detail for some of the connections.
Journal #3 – Chapter 6: Tutoring Practice
The first technique that really stuck out to me while reading this was the idea of making the writer feel like the expert. Taking notes on their paper is something that will benefit myself as the tutor, but also make them feel like I’m learning something from their writing. I think framing the session in this way will bring a good energy and make the writer open up more. I found the examples of this kind of notetaking extremely helpful. Asking questions is another key idea that will allow you to show the writer where the paper needs more development. In Jessi’s notes, she listens to where the reader naturally pauses (as one would for a paragraph) and makes note of it in her notes. This allows the writer to see how their paper naturally flows and where they should think about breaking up paragraphs, if they haven’t already. The flowchart for how the mock tutoring session should go was really helpful because it pointed out what we should be getting out of it. This will allow us to step inside the mind of our tutees and see how they’d feel being in this situation.
Journal #4 – Mock Tutoring Reflection
I thought the mock tutoring sessions were a really insightful exercise. In this session, I was acting as the writer seeking the help of the writing fellow, Sydney. In the exercise, I chose to be the cooperative student who was okay with reading their work aloud. I wanted to get a sense for how a student would feel when put into this position. Surprisingly – or maybe unsurprisingly because I’m a quieter person – I was even a little uncomfortable reading my work out loud, despite knowing that this was just a fake session and had no bearing on anything. I felt myself trying to get through it as quickly as possible while also trying to do my paper justice while reading. This will make me a lot more empathetic toward students in my sessions. It did help that Sydney showed signs of active listening, which Riley noted in her observations. Sydney nodded as I was talking, had her body pointed toward me, did not get distracted by anything (phone, laptop, etc.), and she took notes about what I was saying. As chapter 6 of the book predicted, all of these things – but especially the notetaking – made me feel important! It was nice to see how a good session could make someone feel, even if it was fake. I plan on taking these tips into all of my future sessions. I found it interesting to hear about the observations of the other two groups. They gave examples of how to handle a disinterested, unengaged student, as well as a student bringing a paper that is almost complete. I think this exercise brought a sense of realness to the techniques we had read about and previously discussed in class.
Journal 5 – On My Mind in Week 5
It seems a little late for me to be getting into the game, but I am meeting with the class as a whole this Thursday. I’m writing this prior to meeting with the class, so I’m a little nervous. I’ve prepared some notes on my phone as far as what I want to say to them. I’m hoping they’ll be open and receptive to this process. Their first writing assignment will also be assigned then, as well, so I am anticipating meeting with students next week to help them. I’m worried that I won’t be able to help them. I’m also worried that I don’t know how to help them, since the practice we’ve been doing in class is obviously not geared toward scientific writing. The practice we’ve had in class as far as how to make them feel comfortable, etc. has been helpful, but I’m worried about giving them help that isn’t good.
It is now Thursday and I have met with the lab I’m working with for the first time. After meeting with them, I am way less nervous about the process of helping them out this semester! I’m feeling a lot better about this now. I’m going to start scheduling sessions by the beginning of next week and I’m looking forward to the process! The class seems like a good group of students!
Journal #6 – Reading Strategies
I haven’t had a session with a student yet – that’s coming up at the end of this week – so I cannot speak to their reading strategies quite yet. In lab, I circulated around the room to assist in their peer editing, and I did overhear a student mentioning that she reads her writing out loud to herself to catch errors, which is obviously a good strategy. This chapter of the book offers quite a few strategies for reading that I, myself, employ while reading to understand something. I always sit down to read with a pen and sticky notes in hand. I usually will mark pages in the book that are interesting or confusing to me with a sticky note that has a quick note jotted down on it. I also think that when you’re reading a text for the purpose of writing about it, the strategy of having a piece of paper with you can be helpful. This would allow you to jot down whatever you find interesting or difficult to understand, and it can also help you brainstorm ideas for the writing you have to do. Changing environment is a good strategy for when you feel like you’re hitting a wall in your reading and understanding. Environment is a huge part of reading for me. I need somewhere quiet and comfy, but not too comfy that I’d fall asleep. Fortunately, I have not experienced any of the examples that start on page 109. Having these examples is good because it shows me what not to do during a session.
Journal #7 – Interacting with Faculty Partners
Interacting with your Writing Fellow faculty partner can be nerve-wracking if you’re not used to closely working with someone of authority. Over the summer, I was nervous when I had to be the one to reach out to Prof. Friar and initiate contact. I didn’t know what to say and I didn’t want to come off the wrong way, either. One piece of advice I would give to a new fellow is to be respectful! I would assume that if they’ve made it to be in this position to be a fellow, they’re probably not someone who is disrespectful or rude, but a reminder never hurts. If you show respect toward your faculty partner, they will treat you the same! It will feel good to have them treat you as an equal. It will also feel a little weird when they start to give you more freedom to make decisions. You’ll also need to be communicating frequently with them, even if it feels like you may be annoying them. It is good to be updating them after sessions with students because writing fellows have an inside knowledge of what the students are struggling with. Students definitely feel more comfortable asking a writing fellow rather than the professor questions, so writing fellows should be reporting back to the professor if it seems like a majority of the class is struggling with something. My final piece of advice is not to be nervous! The professor is more than likely grateful for your help and happy to work with you, so just enjoy it!
Journal #8 – Interdisciplinary and Online Tutoring
This chapter is an interesting one. As a biology major, I often feel out of place in the discussions about writing for the humanities. I wouldn’t know where to begin if I was placed in one of those classes! This section was almost like a confidence booster. If someone really is a good tutor, they don’t need to be a content expert. Good tutoring practices can help just as much as someone who is an expert on the situation. It’s also good to know when to ask for help from another tutor or to redirect the student to another resource. I liked that they pointed out that you, as a writing fellow, shouldn’t be the only reader of the paper. I feel like sometimes some of my students forget that SASC also exists, as well as their professor and the TA for the class. They have so many resources, so I will try to remind them about them all.
The second part of this chapter tackles online tutoring sessions. As a writing fellow, I have already experienced some of this. The night before the last writing assignment was due, a few students shared their papers with me via Google and asked me to take a look at their final drafts. One student had actually highlighted specific concerns, which was really nice! I liked the examples (pgs 162-163) of different tips on how to interact electronically with a student’s work. It was reassuring to see that I had already followed some of these tips when I looked over those students’ papers. The parts about making it personal and “responding as a reader” (aka asking questions) were things I already employed. I liked the tip about keeping it to three areas of concern in a writer’s paper to not overwhelm them. Sometimes as a writing fellow, once I get into the groove of understanding a student’s paper and I’m in their head, I find it hard to know where to stop. This is a good tip I will keep in mind for my sessions upcoming!
Journal #9 – Podcast
Journal #10 – “What If…”
Similar to what is discussed in chapter 13 of the book, I am also experiencing trouble under the category of “The writer is not familiar with a format that you are familiar with.” This was something I expected when I agreed to take on a first-year level biology course. After three semesters of getting scientific writing conventions drilled into my head, I feel very comfortable writing lab reports. The freshmen, understandably, are not comfortable in the slightest. I hate to be the bad guy that tears apart their paper, but I cannot in good conscience let them leave a session with their methods section written in present tense.
On the other hand, I’ve been trying different strategies in sessions to combat this unsurety when it comes to scientific writing. One strategy that seems to be working so far is to go through a few sentences in the methods section (using this as an example because that’s what all of my sessions worked on this week) and show them a better way to word sentences. When I wrote my first lab report, I felt it would have helped tremendously to see a few examples of what to do so that I could write a better paper on my own (and confidently, too). I’ve started to see it click in my students’ heads once they see an example of what to do, which is exciting!
Journal #11 –
Journal #12 – Outline of Presentation
The topic area I want to focus on for my presentation, and ultimately final essay, is writing across the disciplines with a focus on how good writing (and English/writing classes) can affect STEM majors in their studies and their careers. It would also be interesting to explore how my role as a writing fellow for a biology course affects these students, as I feel that I effectively serve as a bridge between the two disciplines. A paper that I found looked into this specifically. I think the connection between someone’s success in STEM and their ability to write effectively would be interesting to explore. I couldn’t find a research article suggesting any possible link between a student’s performance in their respective STEM major and their history with writing. This is something I’d like to look into further.
Journal #13 – Final Journal
While it may not seem like it at first, the Writing Fellows program works very smoothly with the Biological Sciences program. Sometimes, getting sucked in too deep with scientific writing can make someone lose track of the writing process itself. This program can help biological sciences majors to learn a way of writing that can benefit them in every aspect, not just science. Helping others learn to write can make you a much better writer at the end.
I wish my tutees would understand that this program is about so much more than just teaching kids how to write. This program can give you a sense of purpose and a self-confidence you may have never had before. It can build a connection with the professors that transcends the usual. You get to see behind the scenes as a professor, which gives you a new respect for the work they do! This program has had a tremendous impact on my life.
