First Tutoring Experiance

                Kunga and I began our tutoring session with me introducing myself. After which he introduced himself. I began with asking if he was nervous, which he was, and I told him that it was ok and he should take a deep breath and relax. After he had calmed down a bit, I told him I would like to read through his essay aloud and if I could use a pencil to mark up the areas we need to fix. He was fine with me doing this.

            I read his essay aloud and found that it was well written, and could only find grammatical, punctuation and spelling errors. But I could also see that the essay he had written would easily pass the CATW. All of his ideas were comprehendible. I quickly went through the checklist (mentally) of what the CATW requires to give a passing grade. He had introduced the article’s name and author’s name right in the beginning. He summarized the most important ideas of the author. He developed the idea and explained its significance. He included a personal experience. And finally he gave a brief conclusion to his essay.

            After reading through his essay, I told him it was well written and organized. I told him we needed to focus on some of his grammatical, punctuation and spelling errors. After which I asked him to read out loud his essay in front of me, and when he did he seemed to recognize some of his own mistakes. Out of his entire essay about two or three sentences were confusing (they were not getting his message across appropriately), which he realized when he read them out loud. I asked him what he was trying to say in those sentences, and had him write it down. He did not recognize the spelling errors and I told him the spellings for those words.

At one point in the essay he had used the word “loading board”, which in his country means “billboards”. And at first I could not understand what a loading board was, and I asked him to explain a little, which he did. I then understood that he was talking about a billboard, and I explained to him that in the United States we call the big board’s with advertisements on them, billboards.

He was also switching back and forth from past to present tense, and I explained to him that when an essay it is best to stick to one tense throughout the entire essay, preferable present. And he choose to keep the tense present. We had about fifteen minutes left in the session being over and we began conversing about if he knew when the exam was? And he did not. He also told me he was not concerned if he passed or failed because he had other exams to worry about. He eventually asked me if I thought his essay would pass the CATW, and I said I believed it would pass.

After looking back at the session, I would have made him start writing his paper on a new page, so that it could be submitted to his teacher with the corrections he made.

Misinterpretation of Projective Structuring

I feel Sondra Perl’s description of the misinterpretation of projective structuring by writers is important. This is because often writers feel pressured and contort their ideas to comply with the feelings of their readers. Writers sometimes misinterpret projective structuring and begin writing within certain rules. Perl explains that although the rules of writing are important, they can often create writer’s block and limit the writer’s potential and thinking. The writer begins writing to please his readers and avoid expressing his/her thoughts.

 I have always been against this sort of writing. I believe limiting someone’s style of writing and his/her thoughts is cruel, because not everyone thinks the same way. And the differences in our opinions/thoughts are what make us who we are. I personally would not like writing/thinking what someone else wants me to write/think. I am capable of making my own thoughts and I like expressing them through writing. People can differ from the way I think, and that is their right to differ from my opinions but I would not change my thinking/writing to please other people.  

Tutoring Do's and Don'ts

Do's:-

1. Always be prepared
2. Be professional
3. Be punctual
4. Set boundaries
5. Avoid using cell phones
6. Be patient
7. Avoid constant criticism
8. Remain calm in hostile situations
9. Be alert yet friendly
10. Watch your body language

Don'ts:-

1. Do not write on students papers
2. Do not write students papers
3. Do not yell at students
4. Do not discuss personal problems with students
5. Do not abuse/curse in front of students

Amnah's Seminar in Teaching Writing Revision

Amnah Butt

ENG220.0905

9/28/12

Myself As a Student:-

            Life constantly revolves around education and knowledge. We are always learning and grasping new concepts as we make our way through life. It has always been a top priority of mine to maintain a high academic standard in school. However, life has not always been uncomplicated. My journey from being a top of the class high school graduate from Pakistan to being considered not up to par for college in America, was one of the most difficult periods in my life.

            I was planning on being enrolled in a college as soon as possible, but upon further perseverance I discovered that my diploma from Pakistan was considered worthless in the United States. My alternatives were to get my GED or repeat four years of high school. At this point, I was ready to pack my bags and head back to Pakistan. Knowing that I was too young to be on my own, my parents enrolled me in high school, despite my disapproval.

            High school was not what I had expected it to be. My first day ended up in tears. I condemned the way the high school functioned. I was often disgusted by the way students disrespected their teachers. It was an act I had never seen before, and I was overwhelmed by it all. Despite all my pessimism, I continued going to school. Two months had passed since I had started school, yet my discontent and grief continued to prevail. This caught the attention of my parents and my guidance counselor. They tried their hardest to convince me to stay in America and in high school. Soon all my teachers got involved, mostly because I was extremely respectful towards them and my grades were very high. They saw my potential and they did not want to see me fail.

My guidance counselor, my teachers and my parents teamed up to set up a program which would accelerate my time in graduating from high school. I began taking evening classes and saw myself succeed in school. Despite having a rigorous schedule, I was motivated in staying and completing my education.

A year and a half later, it was graduation day and I had finally gotten the reward of my hard work and determination. My high school experience shaped my career path of wanting to become a teacher. If I did not have the support of my teachers, counselors and my parents, I doubt I would have stayed in America to complete high school. I want to be able to help students who are in difficult situations and need support and motivation to get them through the complicated times. I was fortunate enough to have an amazing support system to keep me going, whereas often students are not fortunate enough to have people encouraging them to finish high school. A teacher is a highly influential person in a child’s life, and I want to be able to provide students with the motivation and inspiration in accomplishing their goals. 

Myself As a Student

Myself As a Student:-

            Life constantly revolves around education and knowledge. We are always learning and grasping new concepts as we make our way through life. It has always been a top priority of mine to maintain a high academic standard in school. However, life has not always been uncomplicated. My journey from being a top of the class high school graduate from Pakistan to being considered not up to par for college in America, was one of the most difficult periods in my life.

            I planned on getting enrolled in a college as soon as possible, but upon further perseverance I discovered that my diploma from Pakistan was considered worthless in the United States. My alternatives were to get my GED or repeat four years of high school. At this point, I was ready to pack my bags and head back to Pakistan. I was too young to be on my own in Pakistan so my parents decided to enroll my in high school.

            It was nothing what I had expected. My first day ended up in tears. I condemned the way high schools functioned. I was often disgusted by the way students disrespected their teachers. It was something I had never seen before, and I was overwhelmed by it all. Despite all my pessimism, I continued going to school. Two months has passed since I had started school yet my discontent and grief continued to prevail. This caught the attention of my parents and my guidance counselor. They tried their hardest to convince me to stay here. Soon all my teachers got involved, mostly because I was extremely respectful towards them and my grades were very high. They all had high hopes for me and they did not want to see me fail.

My guidance counselor, my teachers and my parents teamed up to set up a program which would accelerate my time in graduating from high school. I began taking evening classes and seeing myself succeeding in school, despite having a rigorous schedule helped motivate me in staying and completing my high school education.

A year and a half later, it was graduation day and I had finally gotten the reward of my hard work and determination. My high school experience shaped my career path of wanting to become a teacher. If I didn’t have the support of my teachers, counselors and my parents, I doubt I would have stayed in America to complete high school. I want to be able to help students who are in difficult situations and need support and motivation to get them through the complicated times. I was fortunate enough to have an amazing support system to keep me going, whereas often students are not fortunate enough to have people encouraging them to finish high school. A teacher is a highly influential person in a child’s life, and I want to be able to provide students with the motivation and inspiration in accomplishing their goals.