Writing Center Observation #2

March 23, 2015 

For the Second observation, the tutor began by reading the tutee's essay, without asking questions or making an attempt to have a conversation. As the tutor was reading the tutees essay, she began to look for grammar and punctuation. 
At the beginning I didn't know there was a Session Report paper that had options on why the student went to the writing center. The options were: 

* Paper Revision

*Grammar Review

*Paper Development

Paper Revision was checked off in the session report, meaning that the student wanted a paper revision, NOT A GRAMMAR REVIEW. The whole session consisted of  grammar revision. Checking for grammar and punctuation is considered a Low Order concern (LOC). I think there's nothing wrong with correcting her grammar but that was the only thing that the tutor was focusing on, rather that what the student went to the session for.

In the session, the tutor's phone rang and said "Excuse me, I have to take this call". Then after she finished her important phone call, she started to explain to the student and to me why the phone call was so important and apologized again. 

On a positive note, I found it well done by the tutor was that she encouraged the student to read her essays "out loud, SLOWLY" and that was she will find her errors easier and faster. The tutor also told us that when we are writing about literature or art, we have to write in the present tense. The tutor also explained what a research is and who the researchers were in the article. The tutor explained to the student to not "throw in initials", unless she has already spelled out the complete word before the initial.
Ex: IRB --->  Institutional Review Board
The tutor also taught us that for the number's 1-10, you have to write the word out. and for 11- infinity, you can write out the number. That was something new I learned.

During the session, I also noticed that the students paragraphs were very short and the tutor didn't point it out. I didn't think that this tutoring session was the best, but it was a good experience to learn on what not to do in a tutoring session.