Ghada Seifeddine Observation #1 on the 4th of March

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In my first observation session at the writing center, I can honestly say that I enjoyed being part of the meeting. I was warmly welcomed by the tutor, as she offered a seat for me to sit next to her. Her student was running late, but she looked calm and patient despite that fact. Introductions between the two of us was made to break the ice. She informed me about the student who was going to show up for the meeting, and asked me if I needed anything before she comes to the tutoring session. It was a smooth atmosphere, and remained so even when the student showed up. The student actually seemed stressed, and what was interesting is the fact that the tutor comforted her with a humorous joke. I noticed that it was not the first time the student comes to meet this particular tutor because there was an established relationship between the two, and the tutor informed me that they were past the pre-textual phase in dealing with the English 203 essay. The student sat in the middle, and had her laptop to read the essay. What the tutor could have done is provide a copy for each, but perhaps it was not needed because of the many meetings that they have had before together on the same essay. The tutor asked the student where the student was in the progress, and the student answered that not much was done because she had an exam the same day. It was smart for the tutor to ask, after what the student has told her about the deadline for the essay, as a reminder and as a way for managing the time to focus on priorities at this stage. After that, the student started to read her essay aloud. She stopped at the introduction, and then the tutor and student both reread aloud again together, making the students recognize where there might be a mistake. Perhaps the most evident error was in the thesis statement which the tutor addressed with a question, instead of an answer. Questions such as what do you think is missing? and do you think something might be wrong here? illustrate what we have learnt to do during our course at the writing center, and from the readings we have had in the course pack. It was clear that the phase between student-tutor was advanced because the tutor was very knowledgeable of what her student wrote before, as she remembered the way the students essay was, which would help her to mark the difference without referring back to the old essay and to save on time. There was one point of reference which did not feel out of place, however. When reading the essays thesis statement, the thesis was rather stated incorrectly, and instead of pointing out to the fact that it was that way, the tutor asked her about what they included in the outline last time. The student took a few moments to remember, and thought of it as logical to include the thesis in the essay too. Even with a few errors in her introduction, the tutor did not fail to make her student more confident, especially when developing more sentences for the short introduction she had. She would say write in your own words which makes the student feel that she has an option, and that is what we talked about in learning the difference between editor and tutor. The tutor will give ownership to the student, and that is what I noticed with the tutor from the very start. When moving on to the body paragraph, and as the writer read through it, I could notice how effective it is to let her read because she was correcting mistakes along the way. The tutor, on the other hand, was silent when she did so which leads us back to the concept of ownership. It is true that we must stop a student if he is making a mistake in his essay, but in this case, silence as agreement was the right manner to go by. At this point, maybe

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the tutor could have asked her what she wanted to work on in the body paragraphs, in case the student had a certain aspect she wanted to focus on. Also, and at times when the student was stuck on an idea, after she has finished reading, the tutor would ask her how she would phrase the sentence to convey a better concept. Instead of doing this orally, it may have been advised for the tutor to make the student write it out, and read it over and over to make sense of what she was saying. I believe that writing it down makes it concrete and visible to revise or consider as an idea that flows well with the essay. All throughout this time, the tutor still had a warm smile on her face, yet was serious throughout. Going along the essay, the tutor went through all general concepts of every paragraph, and lead the way for the student to think more clearly when she was stuck on words. That is rather efficient, and I would have done the same myself. When it comes to supporting details, and reminding the student of following what she wanted to write with reference to her outline, she could have referred back to the outline to see what was written. Perhaps the student did not follow the outline done in previous sessions because of misunderstanding or dislike of an idea. An outline is flexible, and she can always ask her student to write a reverse outline even after she wrote the essay as a way for her to see if the student has a firm grip of what she wants to say in her essay. Correcting sentence structure and citation came last in the session, as the student was running out of time. The tutors ability to blend between content and layout of the essay felt like a great guideline to follow when tutoring, especially in more advanced stages with the student. In the little time left, a recap was mentioned where student asked tutor what would be best to do at this point. The tutor showed delight in the progress, and encouraged her further to reform all what has been discussed. Nonetheless, due to the fact that the essay was due the same day, the tutor showed concern and asked the student if she can take an appointment again in the afternoon, if that would make things easier on her. The way the tutor dealt with this situation made me remember of the time when we deduced from a reading that a tutor is said to be a teacher, guide, nurturer and so on. I believe that the tutor succeeded in doing that, as an overall observation of the essay. I would describe it as an interactive session that ended with a see you next time and a handshake!