Issue #1: Blind Spots
When
professors give writing assignments, these assignments might have blind spots.
A blind spot is a gap on an assignment, a crack where students can fall
through. One example used by the featured article showcases a gay student,
Joseph, required to choose magazine ads displaying people of the opposite sex.
His choices had to be sexually attractive to him. Joseph confirmed that the
opposite sex is not attractive to him.
Solution: Transcend
Tutoring to Advocacy
To
address blind spots, the article suggests that writing tutors must assume the
role of advocate. In Joseph’s case, his tutor (or their supervisor with the
tutor’s assistance) contacted the professor and asked if the assignments could
be altered to remove the blind spot. The professor, after apologizing for the
gap, made that part of the assignment more precise and inclusive.
Issue #2: The “Banking
Education” Concept
“Banking Education” is a
term coined by Paulo Freire, describing that knowledge is handed down to people
without it by people who possess it. An illustration of this theory can look
like this:
Faculty à Student
Students
may experience this concept through the stereotype that the professor is always
right. In Joseph’s experience above, he struggled with his assignment’s blind
spot and came to the writing center for advice. One possibility of why Joseph
became stuck on the magazine ad part of the assignment could be because of
fear, that any answer or action he took contrary to his professor’s desires would
anger his professor and earn him a consequence. His professor holds the
knowledge after all, and is always right.
Solution: Reframe
the Stereotype
To
combat banking education, tutors must first recognize that they do not want to
create hostility between students and their professors, and between the writing
center and the professors. Therefore, instead of siding with a party, simply
reframe the stereotype of “the professor is always right” to “the professor is the
audience”! By framing professors as audiences assignments are tailored to, students
may be able to see their professors not as someone to fear, but as someone the
students, with their own ingenuity, can provide a satisfying product to. This
reframing of the stereotype gives students a sense of agency, like they have
knowledge to give.
This article's link, titled "Empathetic Tutoring in the Third Space": https://writinglabnewsletter.org/archives/v36/36.9-10.pdf
Foreword
The article's main concern is empathy, but for this post, I
chose to cover blind spots and banking education, also discussed by the article.
I did so in the hopes that serving the techniques
piecemeal would make learning more efficient for us at MSU Denver’s Writing
Center.
While I wrote this post, I enjoyed
dissecting the articles into smaller components. It made trying to transmit a
giant mess of information a whole lot simpler and easier. What thoughts can you
offer on this technique? What thoughts do you have on anything discussed above? Express them in the comments!
For the next post, I'm thinking of expanding on this article and relaying the empathy aspect. See you then!
