As I was sitting on the light rail heading home this afternoon, I was thinking about how the reality of my internship differed from my expectations. I am considered a tutor, but honestly, sometimes I feel more like a counselor. So many of my sessions with students are focused on giving them confidence: confidence to succeed. It appears that my simple acts of empathizing and having faith in them allows them to move past their writer's block and/or anxiety, or whatever it is that discourages them. With this idea in mind, I found the article "Mapping the Meaning of "Help": Tutor Training and the Sense of Self-Efficacy." Essentially, it's about "the need to raise students’ expectation that they will be able to complete a writing task."
There are four components: 1) Success through effort (getting better-mastery)
2) Modeling (showing not just telling)
3) Persuasion and encouragement (moving students away from self- defeating thoughts)
4) Reducing anxiety (sharing concerns and empathizing)
Another idea is to make sure students leave with something: a renewed sense of confidence in their writing ability, a strong thesis sentence or a even just "a plan." Any of these "somethings" allow the student to move forward as a writer; moving forward equates to becoming a better writer. The article states that "faith is an important component." This article is helpful to those of us who wonder "Did I really help my student today?" After reading this article I can honestly say YES.
http://emil.uwc.utexas.edu/praxis/?q=node/336
No comments:
Post a Comment