Reading Blog 3

Bedford Guide Ch. 3

    Chapter 3 of the Bedford Guide discusses the stages of the writing process you will find students at and how best to navigate these stages. It covers all areas from the prewriting process, to the writing of the paper itself, to revision.

    One section of the reading that stood out to me was the section about the prewriting process, particularly the brainstorming aspect. The section covers how a tutor might assist the student in giving them a brainstorming method and responding to the ideas they develop, but this made me think about scenarios where a student might be at the absolute baseline and is struggling to even conjure ideas.  I typically don’t write down brainstorming ideas, but I usually have them in mind when I begin writing. However, for some friends that I have helped, they have seemed lost even in thinking about what to write about and would struggle with writing down any brainstorming ideas.

    It is from this that I question how might a tutor suggest/guide a student to an idea while maintaining originality?

Oxford Guide

    The Oxford Guide text is an in depth explanation of what the tutoring process is (a conversation) and the many different parts of the process that make it so, such as its task-oriented and asymmetrical nature. It also details actions to take as a tutor to best assist students, such as offering praise or listening.

    One of the aspects of the tutoring process that I found noteworthy was the interpersonal aspect. It is in this section that the author emphasizes the importance of empathy in understanding a student’s background and attitude toward writing. This idea is reminiscent of themes from other texts that we have read, such as the one that criticizes the use of deficit thinking and instead proposes to take into account a student’s background and circumstance when tutoring. It is through this that we can foster a connection with students and make them feel more comfortable sharing their writing and receiving feedback.

    One question I have is how can a tutor navigate the inevitable situation where a student who makes themself difficult to work with and empathize with comes in for help?