For this assignment, we were to experience tutoring another student in a voluntary capacity. I chose to tutor a fellow student at Goshen College, who we will call Kurt O’Bannon. Kurt is a 19-year-old, male history student who I met with three times to work on history papers. Each meeting lasted about two hours; initially I thought this would be too long of a period of time, but Kurt was able to stay focused and get a lot of work done each time. Kurt excels at connecting historic events to current events, and has a knack for memorizing names and dates. However, writing papers is not his strong point; as an English Education major, I saw this weakness as the major point for us to work on.
I focused on two main aspects of writing academic papers: the revision process, and proper use of the Chicago citation style. Each time – before we would meet – Kurt would write out a complete draft of his paper. I would read over the draft making notes, and then review the draft and notes with Kurt. In this way, he was able to hear another person read his paper aloud, enabling him to catch mistakes himself. In instances where he didn’t, my notes were then there to help guide him to the correct answer. After working together through revision, we would then go back through one final time and double-check each citation, making sure they were completely mistake-free.
It was exciting to see the progress which occurred from the first paper we worked on to the third (and final) paper. By the third paper, he was committing almost no mistakes with Chicago citations. I think due to his ability to memorize, when Kurt was provided with a bit of structure, he was able to memorize the mechanics of the Chicago style. The progress in revision skills was less immediately apparent, but no less present. Often, he would catch mistakes when reading the paper out loud before I needed to read it aloud with him; essentially, he was able to apply the methods I was introducing to him on his own. By the end of our time together, I was simply acting as a support, rather than someone who was driving the revision process. Though our meetings have come to an end, we still occasionally exchange emails related to the papers, if he has a specific question which he needs help working through.
Working with a student who was not explicitly an English student was insightful for me: I was able to see the way in which English studies are applicable to every aspect of learning. In order to be an effective communicator through writing, knowing how to properly structure a paper is essential. In addition, learning the Chicago citation style furthered my own knowledge base, and helped me learn how to work through something with a student. Though I didn’t know the Chicago style before tutoring Kurt, I was able to use my own questions to increase Kurt’s confidence in his own knowledge of the style (as he would know the answer to my question), or to help Kurt know what questions to ask when he didn’t already know the answer. Though it may not always be with citation styles, I see this skill as being crucial to teaching. I will never know all the answers; but if I am able to turn my own learning into student learning – essentially to learn alongside them – it can create a new aspect of student learning, and another layer of a relationship between my students and I.
This tutoring experience, though not my first one, furthered my excitement for becoming a teacher. Developing a greater understanding of my student and seeing the progress he made over the course of our work was invigorating, as was the way in which I was able to successfully change my teaching style through the course of our work. This was one more successful step in feeling prepared for my chosen vocation of teaching.
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