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Articles 1 - 23 of 23
Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Pictures Of Words: The Importance Of Visual Strategies In Tutoring Writing, Kylie Smith
Pictures Of Words: The Importance Of Visual Strategies In Tutoring Writing, Kylie Smith
Tutor's Column
An estimated 65% of people are visual learners. Additionally, research suggests that most people are more likely to remember learned concepts when those concepts are attached to visual aids. Unfortunately, Writing Center tutors often forget the importance of using visual strategies when tutoring writing concepts. The implementation of quick and simple visual strategies in tutoring sessions will help students retain information and help them become independent writers for life.
On The Right Note, Carolyn Baird
On The Right Note, Carolyn Baird
Tutor's Column
This is a cross-disciplinary comparison of violin playing and tutoring writing. As a violinist and a tutor, I have found that my mindset and way of tutoring is greatly influenced by my experience as a violinist. There are many valuable parallels from the violin world that can be used as tutors in how we approach students, how we critique their writing, and how we think about tutoring in general. I hope to pull out those similarities to provide some insights on how to improve giving feedback in a tutoring situation.
Becoming A Goat: Leaving Mediocracy To The Sheep, Heidi Bonkemeyer Roskelley
Becoming A Goat: Leaving Mediocracy To The Sheep, Heidi Bonkemeyer Roskelley
Tutor's Column
Many new tutors can become quickly overwhelmed by their lack of experience coupled with a driving desire to perform well in the tutoring session. This dream to become a great tutor can be quickly snuffed out by lacking the confidence and the knowledge of how to achieve our full potential as tutors. In this essay, I will discuss two specific ways that we, as tutors, can go from “good” to “great” and ultimately become the tutors we strive to be. Through adaptability and positivity, we can leave behind the anxiety-stricken herd of aimless sheep and strike out on our own …
What's Another Name For Bull****?, Nicole Hurst
What's Another Name For Bull****?, Nicole Hurst
Tutor's Column
Pretension is present in almost every aspect of academic writing. The desire to sound “smart” or professional is a normal reaction that appears when students try to mimic a style that they don’t fully understand. Dealing with academic BS in high-level writing is as much a part of tutoring as flow and conventions. Oftentimes, students need help to recognize the importance of personal voice and author’s intent in “good” writing, as well as the role the audience plays in crafting academic writing.
Writer Empowerment: Seeing Through The Veil Of Disinterest, Jay Paine
Writer Empowerment: Seeing Through The Veil Of Disinterest, Jay Paine
Tutor's Column
Students sometimes come to the writing center uninterested in their writing, however, a student’s disinterest may be indicative of not knowing how to proceed with their writing. A solution to help combat a writer’s disinterest entails asking open-ended questions. Sometimes the phrasing of open-ended questions does not resonate with the student, however, simply rephrasing an open-ended question can help the writer understand where and how they can continue writing their paper which ultimately empowers the student.
We Found Language In A Lonely Place: A Rumination Into Quieting The Fears Of El Students And Quieting Our Own Fears About Effectively Tutoring Them, Zoe Baldwin
Tutor's Column
This text shares the concern that many tutors face in effectively tutoring EL students by helping their confidence as writers, addressing their concerns, and helping them build long-term writing skills. The text will address what tutors can do in their tutoring sessions to help EL students with their writing concerns. There is discussion about some of the most common EL concerns such as grammar, or cohesion. These concerns are met with suggestions such as addressing grammar, talking about the ideas that the writer wants to convey, brainstorming ideas and getting them to write them down, and being mindful of how …
Escaping The Spiral: How Peer Tutoring Disrupts Perfectionistic Tendencies, Anne Schill
Escaping The Spiral: How Peer Tutoring Disrupts Perfectionistic Tendencies, Anne Schill
Tutor's Column
This column examines how the peer tutoring setting allows for both students and tutors to relinquish perfectionistic tendencies. Peer tutoring gives students permission to bring in imperfect work and realize such an action won’t cause the world to implode. It also teaches tutors to not expect themselves to know absolutely everything, but rather develop ways to get help with solutions. This column is part personal experience, part research. I provide my own experience as both a student and a tutor, as well as citing Rebecca Knight’s Harvard Business Review article, “How to Manage Your Perfectionism.” Perfectionistic expectations and cycles must …
Finding Place For Printing, Ian Duncan
Finding Place For Printing, Ian Duncan
Tutor's Column
This column examines the benfits and drawbacks of printed papers and digital essays in tutoring scenarios. It considers their roles in the learning of students, and it suggests a compromise by finding the value of both mediums of writing.
How About You Give It A Try: Hands-On Tutoring Sessions, Mikayla Tobler
How About You Give It A Try: Hands-On Tutoring Sessions, Mikayla Tobler
Tutor's Column
The idea of asking a student to practice a skill first occurred to me when I was tutoring a student with an essay where I noticed that the student consistently missed opportunities to include sensory imagery. Within that session, I explained sensory imagery and asked the student to practice applying it. The success I felt after watching the student improve during this session motivated me to try it in many more. I’ve found that this technique works best when a student feels unsure about what to work on with a tutor. The tutor can then go through the student’s work …
Redefining Labels: The Session Is Ours For The Taking, Erica Snow
Redefining Labels: The Session Is Ours For The Taking, Erica Snow
Tutor's Column
There is a wealth of resources available for any writing center tutor struggling with a particular aspect of sessions regarding the student, but equally important is for a tutor to receive adequate training on their own psyche in the tutoring experience. Through simple methods, this paper offers strategies for tutors to increase their own self-care and create a more positive outlook on tutoring experiences. Engaging these strategies in their own practice will equip tutors to better help the students, as well as encourage a healthier state of mind.
More Than Writing: The Application Of The Writing Process, Logan Kelley
More Than Writing: The Application Of The Writing Process, Logan Kelley
Tutor's Column
Beginning writers often struggle to apply the writing process. In order to help them understand this concept, it is helpful for tutors to draw connections with outside disciplines that the student is already familiar with. Most problem-solving approaches contain parallels with the writing process. Educational research shows that meaningful connections will help students apply difficult concepts. Tutors will best support beginning writers by helping them develop a consistent application of the writing process.
A Science Writing Center As A Catalyst For Improving Undergraduate Writing Skills In The Sciences, Andrew J. Felton
A Science Writing Center As A Catalyst For Improving Undergraduate Writing Skills In The Sciences, Andrew J. Felton
Tutor's Column
Having earned a PhD in the sciences, I am keenly aware that writing skills are at the core of being a successful scientist. Undergraduate students in the sciences not only face the immediate demands of complex course material, but in many cases the prospect of a career in which writing skills can determine professional success. Unfortunately, due to the complexity of science course material, writing assignments, revisions, and feedback to students are given relatively little attention. The Utah State University Science Writing Center is unique platform in its ability to address this limitation; bringing together a diverse pool of …
The Right Answer: Intuition In Tutoring Sessions, Hunter E. Henrichsen
The Right Answer: Intuition In Tutoring Sessions, Hunter E. Henrichsen
Tutor's Column
In a writing center, following intuition is important. Tutor insecurities, lack of experience, and misconceptions can lead students to deny that intuition. Tutors who learn to recognize that lack of experience can learn from sessions where that intuition is denied. Coworkers and other resources are important to building that intuition and helping to create effective, independent writers rather than effective papers.
Don’T Overlook The Power Of Praise, Andrea Whittier
Don’T Overlook The Power Of Praise, Andrea Whittier
Tutor's Column
Writing center tutors should prioritize the use of praise in sessions with each student, whether or not the student may respond the way the tutor expects. For some students, this brings energy to the session that fuels discussion about the paper, and for other students, this may function as a tool to show them the positive culture of the writing center.
140%: Helping Students With Reading Disabilities, Emily Joy Powell
140%: Helping Students With Reading Disabilities, Emily Joy Powell
Tutor's Column
Tutoring students with reading disabilities will take more than a simple knowledge of reading disabilities in general; it takes knowing how to ask specific questions and fighting against popular stereotypes to create a successful tutoring session. Studies show that one in five students have some type of reading disability. There are ways for tutors to make these students feel more comfortable and confident in their ability to write, however, these techniques must be practiced. While mastering these techniques can be profoundly beneficial for students with reading disabilities, they are valuable to apply in all tutoring sessions.
“All Right Stop, Collaborate, And Listen”: A Writing Center’S Role In Community Collaboration, Riley Anderton
“All Right Stop, Collaborate, And Listen”: A Writing Center’S Role In Community Collaboration, Riley Anderton
Tutor's Column
Writing centers become inextricable parts of the community that surrounds them. Community ties allow writing centers the chance to nurture a love for writing outside of the confines of a university classroom. This column aims to explore the ways in which writing center tutors have the ability to cultivate practices of writing through engaging in community collaboration. The Utah State Writing Center has created a community collaboration known as Helicon West. Helicon West is an event in which members from the University and community have a chance to listen to writing as well as share their own during open mic …
How Not To Panic In The Face Of Panic, Emily Abel
How Not To Panic In The Face Of Panic, Emily Abel
Tutor's Column
While tutors may not interact daily with students who have reached a point of panic, they should be prepared to handle these potentially precarious situations. A student who is truly at the end of their rope likely needs specific tutoring techniques not always focused on in other sessions. Tutors have the potential to be a turning point in a stressed student’s life, if they have taken the time to learn how. This essay equips tutors with a strategic plan, including specific phrases, to coax a student out of their panic and into state of confidence.
Professionalism In The Writing Center: Combining Compassion And Composition, Carrigan Price
Professionalism In The Writing Center: Combining Compassion And Composition, Carrigan Price
Tutor's Column
Much is demanded from peer tutors if they are to be perceived as professionals; they must be a listening ear, a helping hand, and an expert writer in order to effectively help students. However, tutors’ behavior must adapt to each individual student, paper, and session. Truly professional tutors ignore traditional definitions of professionalism in favor of providing students the help and advice they most need. Tutors need to pay attention to students’ initial behavior, students’ body language throughout the session, and their own feelings of comfort or discomfort in order to appropriately react to the private and personal content of …
Making Sandcastles With The Sands Of Time, Sophia Thimmes
Making Sandcastles With The Sands Of Time, Sophia Thimmes
Tutor's Column
Rushing through a tutoring session can seem alluringly efficient, but this theorized efficiency is a faulty conception. In a tutoring session, moving through content too quickly can lead to discussion based only on surface level observations. By being fully present and taking the time to explore ideas in depth, a tutor is able to supply a Writing Center visitor with much more helpful and in-depth insights.
Balancing Give-And-Take In Tutoring, Stephanie Fielding
Balancing Give-And-Take In Tutoring, Stephanie Fielding
Tutor's Column
Satisfaction in a session increases for both sides when a tutor uses active listening as the mediator between student participation and tutor guidance. Part of the session needs to be devoted to hearing the student’s concerns, which makes the student feel validated. However, at appropriate times, the tutor also needs to provide the student with feedback, and active listening contributes to the tutor’s knowledge of what to say to the student. Active listening can also help diffuse tense tutoring situations.
Preparing To Perform: The Power Of Observations In Tutor Education, Jordan Forest
Preparing To Perform: The Power Of Observations In Tutor Education, Jordan Forest
Tutor's Column
One powerful tool for further developing our education as writing tutors is peer observations. Observations give us the opportunity to develop new skills and— as one surveyed tutor puts it— add to our toolbox. In order to benefit from observations, we can see to ask questions in a way that provokes further knowledge and insight. Additionally, we can utilize the time after a session in order to ask specific questions to the peer we observed. Through these processes, our own tutoring skills and knowledge can be expanded.
Mind The Gap: Exploring Mindfulness As A Tool For Tutors, Students, And Everyone In Between, Ashley Thompson
Mind The Gap: Exploring Mindfulness As A Tool For Tutors, Students, And Everyone In Between, Ashley Thompson
Tutor's Column
Tutors, students, and anyone else involved in academics tend to shoulder oversized cognitive loads. Those who are under stress need tactics for dealing with emotional burdens in order to continue functioning and performing at the highest level. In writing labs and other peer-headed facilities for academic help, tutors can use mindfulness to increase their own emotional capacity while helping students regulate their own emotions as well. Simple strategies and mindfulness practices can be implemented by individuals at the front lines of tutoring centers to accomplish goals of stress relief and emotional health. By implementing simple practices to refocus on the …
Breathe: Helping Students With Mental Disabilities- And Helping Yourself, Miranda Cundick
Breathe: Helping Students With Mental Disabilities- And Helping Yourself, Miranda Cundick
Tutor's Column
1 in 5 people in the United States suffer from some sort of mental illness; it follows that at least 1 in 5 students that we tutor would as well. College can be stressful, and as tutors we can help alleviate some of this stress by being mindful of and informed about the many mental health problems USU students can face- and by learning how to help.