My first experience observing a tutoring session was very interesting and I got to see firsthand how a tutoring session might go. I came in to observe the session just as it was starting. The tutor was reading the writers assignment out loud. The writer had come to get help starting her essay.
When the tutor finished reading the assignment, she
immediately asked her what she thought about the question that it was asking.
The writer began to spill out her thoughts and ideas, so the tutor instructed
her to write them down. They continued to talk and the tutor asked more and
more question about the topic of the assignment. The tutor told them that they
were brainstorming ideas for the paper.
After the writer had a good amount of ideas on paper the tutor then began to help her outline her essay with all the ideas she had written down. They began with the thesis and then went on to each body paragraph, only writing one or two sentences for each section. Throughout this whole process they worked together through conversation and the tutor asking questions. This was an excellent example of collaborative tutoring. I also noticed that the tutor addressed a lot of lower order concerns when it came to the writers grammar and sentence structure which I thought might not be necessary. However, the tutor did do a great job of addressing higher order concerns that pushed the session in a positive direction. The tutor was also toeing the line with falling into the trap of giving the writer therapy. Quite a few times the conversation between them became very personal and kind of veered of topic, but for the most part the session ran smoothly. In the end the writer finished getting out her ideas as well as outlining her essay, and I believe the session was a great success.
