What I have learned about being a Writing Tutor

I have learned many things when it comes to being a writing tutor. The most important fact in being a writing tutor is that...




I never thought I’d want to become a writing tutor, but my mind changed after I did my first observation at LaGuardia's writing center. Professor Gallagher did a good job in preparing us prior to the observation. It was a good feeling to see how relieved some students were after receiving help from a writing tutor. I just only begun ENG220 (Teaching Writing), and I never thought I’d learn so much about becoming a writing tutor and teaching writing. Writing is an art, it takes time and effort. I personally like the student-centered tutoring approach where the writer does most of the talking and most of the work. I also praise collaborative tutoring because it gives the tutor a change to encourage the writer and conversate to prompt and probe questions in which could help to expand on the writer’s paper. By conversating, the tutee will get a sense of what he/she will put in their paper. As a tutor, it is your job to be available when the writer needs you. Tutoring writing is not a therapy session where personal matters are discussed. It is also important for the tutor to avoid being overly critical about a writers work. It is important to reinforce and focus on the positives while pointing out areas that could use a revision or a second thought. Tutors have to be aware of the ideas of the writer and respect them, not try and change them. I've also learned about the recursive stage-process model and how it works. In this model, writers are able to plan, write, hesitate, revise, scrap, and then rewrite. The three essential parts of the process are prewriting, writing, and then rewriting. By following this process, writers have a better chance of developing a successful piece of writing. I've also learned that a piece of writing consist of both HOC's (High Order Concerns) and LOC's (Low Order Concerns). HOC's include clarity of the thesis or focus, good development and information, effective structure or organization and appropriate voice or tone. LOC's include punctuation, sentence structure, grammar and spelling. While both HOC's and LOC's are important, it is more important for a tutor to focus on the HOC's in a writers work. In the paper I completed about James Moffett, his idea that writing consists of both physical and mental activities is an idea in which I totally agree with. I also praise Moffett for explaining that writing is a revision of inner speech. He feels that a student cannot write something that he/she cannot say or think themselves. I too believe that inner speech takes place before one can write about it. Writing is fun and it is a creative process in which takes time, patience, and effort. I have learned so much about being a tutor and teaching writing and we are not even half way through the semester! I have learned what tutoring writing is and what it isn't and I look forward to learning much more in the next upcoming class sessions in my ENG220 teaching writing class.