I finally found my blog! Now I jsut have to remember that it is under my student email account an not my faculty one. Anyhow, reflections for the week... I really loved the article that we read for Tuesday that focused on different styles of tutorials by McAndrew and Reigstad. The strategies and techniques used, in many cases, were very applicable and useful. I loved that the piece was organized into the different foci that consultations often take, including focus-oriented, developmental and organizational. I really loved the headline/bumper sticker idea, as well as nutshelling and making a promise. I think these are all easy, effective strategies to use in a consultation, or for me, even to articulate to my students. I was happy to get a few new ways to pull ideas out of readers brains, and in the structure secction, I was stoked to see the coloring technique, as it is one that I have personally used and have often recommended to others.
I felt that Muriel Harris's article, "Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers", discusses an issue that many new tutors may not have though existed: the reluctant writer. I even forget that they exist sometimes. Then I encounter one and I remember, like the writer from 102 that came into the center to work on a research paper. She obviously wasn't happy about needing to come to the center, nor did she like writing research papers at all. Luckily I was able to make her trust me and to buy in to my assistance, and we had a really great session that highlighted how she could choose to organize her paper to make it clearer and better overall, with the focus being on her choice, and not on her having organizational issues. Reflecting on "Talk to Me", in light of this encounter, I appreciate that Harris gives several scenarios for how these writers may act, and why. Even more importantly, her structure of the article gives comcrete examples for tutors to learn from that actually show how to deal with these situations. I know that I will refer to it just to keep in mind some of the strategies I may need or want to employ in some of these "unsuspected" resistant-writer encounters.
Hi, Annie!
ReplyDeleteI agree--Harris' piece is invaluable when it comes to preparing consultants for scenarios they are likely unaware of. I also *super* appreciate at how Harris gets at the "why" of why students might be unresponsive. It reminds us to treat them as whole humans. This can be hard to do when we're churning out sessions every 30 minutes. It also definitely connects with the need to focus on the pre-textual portion of our relationships. We can start to crack away at whatever it is that is making the student unresponsive.
Oh, and there are a few unresponsive folks in our first-year writing classes. I have a hard time understanding why someone would choose to be unresponsive to any teacher (that's like Greek to me!), but a few do. I'm glad you don't have any this semester! I've only come across something like 4 or so in the five years I've been teaching, so it is pretty rare. But like in the Center, when one does come along, I do try to treat it as a challenge as opposed to a threat. I think that's a healthy way of thinking about it!
Hope you're feeling better!
~mk