Tag Archives: My Education

Tutoring Self Evaluation – Fall 2004

Below is the text of my tutoring self evaluation for this quarter. This is technically an internal document for use by the Center’s Director, but I see no problem with sharing it with everyone else.

* * *

Tutoring Self Evaluation – Fall 2004
Peter Ellis

I have found that my tutoring this quarter has been a mess of questions combined with a series of realizations about my weaknesses in tutoring. The big thing I’ve noticed this quarter is the difference between program tutoring and drop-in tutoring. I’ve missed the personal connection that comes with being assigned to a particular program and tutoring the same assignments repeatedly; now, I’m forced to budget time trying to get a sense of what the actual assignment is. This is an odd issue in time management for me, since some people take five minutes just to tell me what they’re working on.

I have noticed a slight lack of confidence this quarter as well, since I have had to deal with situations where the advice I gave was often only given once. I rarely (if ever) got feedback on how a particular tactic or idea worked. I felt a little awkward at times recommending the same advice to others, since I had no idea of the advice had worked in previous circumstances or not. This is something I continue to struggle with, and I’m not entirely sure how to negate the effects of this.

Recognizing that tutoring is really an ongoing process of learning and tweaking strategies, it seems like my tool bag has remained much the same over the last quarter, with a few interesting new tricks added into it. I do wish, though, that I had more substantive information on grammar and the language to communicate with others about grammatical errors and quirks. I also feel a weakness surrounding my position in a tutoring session � I don’t always allow the student to run the session. It sometimes feels as if I am in control too much, which is something I have always struggled with.
In terms of my work as head of the Web Team, I feel as if we’ve made significant progress this quarter in developing a web presence. Some of that progress has been hard-gained, and it seems like perhaps more could have been done, but I’m satisfied with my work in that arena as a whole.

Looking ahead, I feel like I definitely need to work more on reviewing grammar and fine-tuning my communication skills. Next quarter, I hope to expand my knowledge of grammar by attending some of the Grammar Rodeo workshops. In addition, I hope to continue work on the web site so that it presents the Writing Center as a unique and creative space for writers on campus.

Winter Class and Work Schedules

Class Schedule for The Novel: Life and Form

Mon: 9:00AM – 12:00PM
Tue: 10:00AM – 12:00PM
Wed: 9:00AM – 12:00PM
Thu: 10:00AM – 12:00PM
Fri: 9:00AM – 12:00PM

Requested Work Hours for Winter 2005

Sun: No hours (0)
Mon: 2:00PM – 6:00PM (4)
Tue: 2:00PM – 6:00PM (4)
Wed: No hours (0)
Thu: 1:00PM – 6:00PM (5)
Fri: No hours (0)

The Winter 2005 work hours are subject to approval. Those hours also include three hours of work time on the Writing Center’s web site. That makes 16 hours/week of work.

No more class!

The title says it — no more class days remaining in Fall Quarter. The quarter itself isn’t over yet, though — I still have an evaluation appointment with my faculty late Wednesday. I have a meeting earlier that day, so I may just stay on campus and read or something. I’m also working on the 17th on the Writing Center’s web site to try and clear stuff that’s been sitting on my to do list all quarter.

All my books, with the exception of one, have been ordered for next quarter’s program, The Novel: Life and Form. I already contacted the faculty for that one, Thad Curtz, via e-mail to get a sense of reading order, and I know where to start. I’ll probably try not to read more than one of the books before the class starts, though — I don’t want to risk reading so far ahead that I don’t remember the book by the time I have to be able to talk about it.

Perhaps I’ll post some of my writings from this quarter online…

Winter 2005

Winter 2005
Dec 06, 2004 06:45
Total Credit Hours: 16.000

Novel Life and Form – PRGM NOVEL 01
Associated Term: Winter 2005
CRN: 20039
Status: **Web Registered** on Dec 06, 2004
Assigned Instructor: Thad Curtz
Grade Mode: Credit/No Credit
Credits: 16.000
Level: Undergraduate
Campus: Olympia

Another quarter almost down the tubes…

Winter Quarter 2005

Contrary to some of my previous academic planning, I’ve decided to get out of political economy (and political sciences in general) and diversify my academic portfolio even more. The Academic Fair was today, 4-6pm, so I wandered around and picked up program syllabi for The Novel: Life and Form with Thad Curtz and Changing Minds, Changing Course with Virginia Hill. I had previously been considering 500 Years of Globalization with Jeanne Hahn, but I think that’s a little much for me.

Right now, I think my primary choice is The Novel: Life and Form, with Changing Minds, Changing Course as a close second. This might switch as my registration time ticket gets nearer and I start looking back at some of my other work.

Amanda and me attended one of the Writing Center’s Self Evaluation workshops tonight. I went because I wanted to review and get hints of what to tell students when I see them for evaluations; Amanda went because she needed to know how to do evaluations in the first place. I think both of us got something out of it.

Only four class days remaining (12/2, 12/7-12/9), plus evaluations, plus a few days of work (at minimum Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, with the possibility–at this point, likelihood–of additional hours during evaluation week).

Readers and Writers

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the difference between readers and writers. This is mainly because Evergreen’s Writing Center is in the process of updating its mission statement, revising it to a “mission and core values” statement. As tutors, we serve Evergreen’s population by providing objective feedback on particular pieces of writing, whether that writing is academic or personal. As we’ve begun the revision process, a question came up regarding the difference between a reader and a writer, and what role both of those actors play in the process of a tutoring session.

I have argued that the role of the tutor is rarely one of a writer. According to dictionary.com:

writer, n.
One who writes, especially as an occupation.

The role of a writer, then, is to actually write text in the literal sense of the word. However, in tutoring, the role of the writer changes somewhat — as a tutor, writers are expected to be able to correct on an expert level any problems related to grammar, sentence structure, paper structure, and flow, as well as having a fairly good command of different styles of writing. Certainly, these expectations are not beyond the ability of a writing tutor, but it is one part of this, the idea of writers working on an expert level, that doesn’t quite jibe with the role of an undergraduate writing tutor on a predominantly undergraduate campus (I have tutored graduate students, but this is beyond the scope of this entry).

Now, compare this against dictionary.com’s definition of a reader. I have only included part of this definition, since these parts apply to the discussion:

Reader, n.
1. One who reads. Specifically: (a) One whose distinctive office is to read prayers in a church. (b) (University of Oxford, Eng.) One who reads lectures on scientific subjects. –Lyell. (c) A proof reader. (d) One who reads manuscripts offered for publication and advises regarding their merit.
2. One who reads much; one who is studious.

This definition immediately comes much closer to the role of a writing tutor: “one who reads manuscripts and advises regarding their merit; one who reads much, one who is studious”. A tutor’s job is not to critique a work word by word or phrase by phrase; rather, our job is to provide advice to those who come in regarding the state of their paper and make suggestions for improvement, along with the process of asking questions about the work and providing an objective viewpoint for any piece of writing. In addition, the term reader does not implicitly imply any sort of expertise. In actuality, the term reader is much fairer to apply to writing tutors, because we do not engage in the physical act of writing, but instead appreciate it and assist it from a higher level.

As a result, it seems to me appropriate to apply the idea of a writing tutor as reader to my part in recasting the Writing Center’s mission statement. The word comes much closer to the ideal that we try to promote as an active part of the College’s writing community.

A Trip to TESC

Amanda and I spent most of Sunday wandering around Capital Mall and doing some shopping — I’ve figured out now that Best Buy probably has new DVDs at cheaper prices than most other places in the mall, though I do have a Suncoast Rewards card, which makes it a toss-up as to where I pick up stuff. GameStop, also in the mall, has a pretty eclectic used DVD selection that goes from somewhere between $9.99 to somewhere around $15, I think. I picked up Quantum Leap Season 1, a weird-assed film called Donnie Darko, and Amelie, which my mother has been bugging me about watching. We also went over to the Olive Garden (which I didn’t know was in Olympia until we got there) and had lunch — I had a fantastic dish, the steak-Gorgonzola fettuccine (I think that’s what it’s called). It’s quite good, with what I think is a red wine/vinegar sauce covering steak tips and fettuccine, all blended with Gorgonzola cheese. I’ve never had anything like it.

Amanda and I both had to go to the College this morning — I had a meeting with the head of the Web Team and she was being picked up to go home, though she had a couple things she had wanted to do first. We caught the 48 and got onto campus about 15 minutes early, which meant that I was able to go to both the Bookstore and the Writing Center with her right before I had to dart off to my meeting at 10.

The library’s remodel is underway, apparently, since I had to take a detour around the main staircase, which is currently blocked off my construction work at the top of the stairs on the third floor. I had to detour around and through the construction, which wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be, but it’s good to see those changes are underway. The meeting itself went fine — we just talked about the accessibility work I’ve been working on very intermittently throughout the summer, and I met the person I’ll probably be working very closely with this year on accessibility issues for the next version of Evergreen’s site template (yes, there is already a new version of that template in the works, which isn’t surprising to me, but might be surprising to others). After that, I hopped route 41 and came home, ate, and did some more poster-related stuff. I found a use for the screen that used to belong to my grandmother — it works fantastically as a backdrop to the amber-shade torchiere I’m using in my room as main lighting. All my despair.com posters are up, though there are still a couple posters I have no idea what to do with, and I have one entire wall that’s essentially blank except for my Far Side calendar. I’ll have to figure out how to fix that.

I decided to make a trip back to the College with my laptop so that I could quickly check my e-mail and let my clients know why I wasn’t filling their client requests. That took a while (and thank goodness for daily passes on the Intercity Transit system, which paid for itself on the third and fourth trips), and the library started closing just as I finished that, but it worked out alright. I’m slated (or so I’ve been told) to work in the Writing Center on web page stuff on Thursday and Friday of this week, so perhaps the very long to-do list that we’ve been crafting all summer will actually get shorter. We’ll see.

It’s odd being in this apartment alone, but it gives me a chance to loaf for a while. We’ll see what happens.

Bored Considerations

Ah, in my woefully isolated state clear out here in Snohomish, there’s really not all that much to do.

Good thing, too. Gives me the chance to sit around and wait until next Friday, when I finally move into my apartment. Well, okay — when I finally get the keys and finish the paperwork so I can start moving in. Big difference there, right?

Anyway, here’s how I’m doing on reading my books for class. Anything struck out has been completed.

Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (in progress)
Noam Chomsky, The Chomsky Reader (select readings only)
John Locke, Second Treatise on Government
George Orwell, 1984
Angela Davis, The Angela Y. Davis Reader
Thomas J. McCormick, America’s Half Century: United States Foreign Policy in the Cold War and After
Kevin Phillips, American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush
Larry Everest, Oil, Power, and Empire: Iraq and the U.S. Global Agenda
Douglass V. Popora, How Holocausts Happen: The United States in Central America
Mike Prokosch and Laura Raymond, The Global Activist’s Handbook: Local Ways to Change the World

Thus, 2 completed, 8 remaining.

Does anyone actually read this stuff? If so, e-mail me, for God’s sake! I feel like I’m on an empty stage yammering at a nonexistent audience here (probably not far from the truth).

Evergreen Orientation Week

Evergreen has posted its preliminary New Student Orientation schedule. This doesn’t make much of a difference to me, but does give me an idea of what’s going on on campus that week. This way, I know what’s going on during the Writing Center’s tutor retreat on Wednesday and Thursday of that week. The only thing I’ll likely attend is the All-Student Convocation on Friday.

Hopefully, I’ll hear about my apartment in a couple weeks.

Masters in Computer Science at Evergreen

There’s a very obscure recommendation for a Masters in Computer Science program at Evergreen which I may have mentioned before. It’s an interesting proposal, since it integrates both the undergrad and potential graduate curriculums. I have to say, though, that Data to Information was one hell of a trial, and that was only the introductory course. I’m not sure I’d want to try a Masters program knowing how hard the introductory one was. That said, it would be a very interesting program to see implemented.