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1..2..3..START!
Tick-tock, tick-tock. As the clock struck 1:15 pm, the time of the tutor’s appointment, the tutee came rushing in. The tutor greeted the student and introduced me to them as well. I took a seat at the next table over while the tutor sat next to the student, closing the gap between the two of them. This student was the same one from my previous observation, despite the tutors being different the assignment was the same: a rhetorical analysis on an image of the student’s choice. In my first observation, I compared the session to a moon-landing—a gradual process, however, this session was a race against time like the countdown before take-off, because the assignment was due at 2 pm. Luckily, the student only needed a closing paragraph and minor edits throughout.
TIME-CRUNCH
The tutor began by reading over the student’s paper and asked if they could see the assignment directions as well as the image that they were writing the analysis on. After, the tutor asked the student what they were focusing on throughout the analysis, which they then responded about a crane within the image. The tutor took a non-directive approach when guiding the tutee to finish the remainder of the paper. By doing so, the tutor was able to present more questions to the tutee and to guide them to explain aspects of their paper further by answering those questions and providing more information related to the analysis. After pointing out areas in which the student could add more detail, they began to work on the organization of the paper by rearranging the paragraphs to chronological order. In doing this, the tutee felt that they should restate their thesis to focus on visual rhetoric versus writing rhetoric. At this point in the session, the tutor and tutee decided to work on the conclusion of the paper.
TICK-TOCK-TICK
In the ticking of the time, the student was uncertain of how to write a proper conclusion without simply restating the thesis. The tutor helped guide the student in restating their original ideas without the conclusion being verbatim of the introduction. The tutor asked the student:
“You talked about colors, emotions, and visuals. How do you think you can bring this all together?”
This prompted the tutee to produce multiple ideas on how to move forward. The tutor grabbed a worksheet from a previous workshop and explained to the student that this may help them progress their writing. They explained the worksheet further and walked the student through applying the tips from the worksheet into their own writing. The tutor began to take a more directive approach in their tutoring style because the student completed their conclusion and the tutor’s focus shifted from higher order concerns related to the format and structure of the paper to concentrate on lower order concerns.
The student wanted to add more to the conclusion but wanted to transition smoothly from one topic to the next within the closing paragraph. Due to the time constraint, the tutor explained it would be best for the student to write everything that they wanted to say out and condensing after if necessary. To help finish the student’s conclusion, the tutor posed a few questions, relating to the student’s purpose for writing their response, such as: why is analyzing this particular photograph important or relevant? The tutor references the worksheet again, re-reading certain aspects that may help the student and guiding them to use the worksheet for examples that way they would know how to apply the information on the sheet in the future on their own.
SPARE TIME
With this finished and spare time, the tutor asked if the tutee would like them to read it over again and comb through for any minor errors. In shifting their focus to this, the tutor was more direct in pointing out minor errors within the paper and some in which the tutee pointed out themselves. With ten minutes remaining, the session was completed and the tutee felt confident to hand in their paper. Before the student left, the tutor asked if they wanted them to email the professor. Once the student left, I talked to the tutor about whether time crunches cause them to feel pressured within sessions. They discussed how typically these types of appointments can be quite frustrating, however, since the student only needed a conclusion, it was less stressful than others. Even within sessions where students have nothing, they work through the paper like they normally would and take it step-by-step, doing their best to work with the student but in a way that still benefits them.
At the end of the day, the tutor can only do so much within a single session. The tutor asked me which type of method do I feel they use, in which I responded a combination of both directive and non-directive depending on where they were within the paper, which I felt was a great tutoring style to move between the two because it is more flexible and catered to the student’s needs or level of writing, rather than being strictly directive or strictly non-directive.
