I couldn’t have asked for this second round of writing tutoring to go smoother! I was excited to collect my tutees’ drafts and email them about setting up conferences. This time, my conferences were divided across two weeks, which made it a little easier to fit into their schedule and mine. Most students decided to schedule their meetings with me the same day, time, and location as last round, so this was easy for me to remember.

I particularly enjoyed this round because I really got to know who my tutees were. It was wonderful to see their faces again and to talk about how their semester was going. In the beginning of all my conferences, we talked about what grade the student received on the last paper, and whether or not he or she was satisfied with this grade. Some of my tutees were disappointed, and others were just content. The first paper is always the most challenging, I told them, because there’s no way of knowing what Professor Hill exactly expects out of them. I told them that every professor has a particular expectation of each student with each paper, and by the second paper, he or she will have a designated “spot” in his or her mind for the student. “The sooner you’re able to speak with the professor –connect with him and be able to understand what he expects out of your writing –the sooner he’ll be able to characterize this spot and be able to connect with your writing.” This all may have sounded philosophical and meaningless to my tutees, but I truly believe in what I was telling them (for those who actually got what I was saying, thank you). I’ve always recognized the value in connecting with professors before it’s too late in the semester. It’s better for both parties, and especially your grade.

With this encouragement to open up the conferences, I found the remaining time to be especially useful and meaningful for both me and my tutees. I can confidently say I conducted my best conferences this round, and walked away feeling like I really helped my tutees toward becoming better writers, not just producing a better second paper. One student in particular had struggled with the last paper, and hadn’t received the grade she wanted. We delved deeply into this paper’s thesis, ripped it apart some, and closely examined the sources she was working with together. It seemed like all she needed was a fresh perspective to help her analyze what she already saw out of the sources, and a push to develop her ideas to their full extent. Another student wasn’t sure how to interpret the prompt, and ended up writing a paper that met almost none of the requirements. All he needed was some reassurance and reaffirmation of what the paper was asking, and together we worked to craft a thesis off of the ideas he already had written. It turned out a potential thesis was hidden within one of his jumbled paragraphs, and I know I helped him envision how it could apply to the works of photojournalism he still had to analyze. These in-depth interactions between my tutees and I made the half hour block of time seem like 5 minutes. Again, I encouraged my tutees to send me that second draft to look over one last time, and I did receive a few.

The most difficult aspect of this tutoring process so far occurred in this round, where I had to convince some students to stay positive about the professor and the class. Some students were developing a “bad taste in their mouth,” based off their previous paper’s grade and the length, detail, and somewhat obscure aspects of this new paper’s prompt (like the last one, they said). I knew it was my job to encourage them to stay positive through the rest of the semester and connect with the professor in every way possible. Whatever questions he or she has about the prompt and their writing shouldn’t go unasked, I told them, and they definitely shouldn’t label the class as “boring” or “annoying” going forward. They could, however, continue to label it challenging, and strive to overcome the challenges so there’s something to be proud of at the end of the semester. I loved taking challenging courses throughout my college career, I told them, because there is always something to be learned and appreciated at the end. I think my words were encouraging enough to my tutees that they left our conferences outwardly confident, and even happier.

I am saddened by the fact I only have one round of tutoring left. This will be for their lengthier research papers, the prompt for which I don’t have yet. I am excited to tutor this round, though, because it seems like these students are yearning for a little more room (word count) and freedom (a more loosely-interpreted prompt) in their writing. For this final paper, I will be sure to discuss to the prompt with Professor Hill directly to ensure I can help his students achieve all his expectations. I’ve heard mixed feedback about his written comments in terms of the language, concision, and depth of analysis he is looking for, and I want to make sure they nail this for their final, most weighted paper.

Check back for another post to round out my semester of tutoring!

Boy, was this a busy week! I’m happy and feeling satisfied having completed my first round of tutoring papers for Jason Hill’s course “After Photojournalism?” This first paper (“dispatch”) called to evaluate the effectiveness of the photos in a particular photojournalistic essay in a 1950s LIFE Magazine (pretty interesting!). I truly felt like a UD professor working one-on-one with my tutees’ papers, helping them further develop their ideas and cite their sources correctly.

So, how am I as a tutor? So far, I’ve noticed I’m a huge fan of “pushing the thesis” just a little bit more. I encouraged almost every student to challenge their ideas and develop them to the full extent. I’m not as much as a grammar-freak as I thought I would be; I found myself paying closer attention to diction and sentence flow than punctuation. I like the openness and casual environment I’ve been able to establish with my tutees the most. I remember being so shy and awkward with my Writing Fellow freshman year, and I’m so glad to see my tutees are as outgoing as I’ve sworn myself to be in this situation. No awkward silences, and no uncomfortable introductory conversations.

This first round was a learning experience for me, of course, in how exactly to interpret the prompt and best guide my tutees toward fulfilling it. For example, Professor Hill requires his students cite Chicago style, and brilliant me had no idea what this meant. So accustomed to MLA, I was at a loss of how to tell my tutees how to cite that way. I directed them to use Purdue Owl (“Yes, it is spelled like the chicken,” I told them), which is an online resource that can tell you everything and anything about citing. I wanted to be absolutely sure they followed this specific requirement on the prompt, and that they used the best source possible, not me, to do so. There were specific “tasks” to complete on the prompt, like utilizing an outside source, editorial, and advertisement that supported the analysis and arguments about the photojournalistic essay. I made absolutely sure each student’s dispatch contained this. Some students particularly struggled with thesis formation –as most students, including myself, do –and then specifically citing evidence to push it. I suggested ways to do this and stressed its importance, and my tutees were very receptive to this. I always closed my conferences by telling my them to feel free to send me a second draft (“This is something I enjoy doing, don’t worry”).

Round one: complete. I was scared initially, but that feeling went away mid-way through my first conference. By the time it was over, my brain was smiling and saying “I can do this, I got this. I’m a writing tutor, and these guys are counting on me.” Well, I can’t wait until the next round already. I am looking forward to seeing my “little minions” write in their own voices and styles in the next paper!