After reading chapter 6 and 7, I decided to blog on chapter 6 since it had many things I wanted to discuss. In the first half of the chapter, Ryan talks about how we can help the tutee during our consultation session by carrying the session on a computer. I am not fond of this idea for many reasons.

First: It will hard for students to read the paper. But considering that many of them spend a lot of time in front of their computer… I will not state this as my top issue.
Second: Many students like to hand write their essays, instead of type them. But, as Ryan states… that should not be an issue since most students type their papers anyway. So, this is not a biggy also.
Third: My biggest concern is something that Ryan stated. “Free writing at the computer can be a quick and convenient way to get started.” In my experience at the library, I have noticed that the few students who come there to work on their paper have pretty much done free writing and not revised. I feel that when working with these students, rephrasing the material is much harder on computer than on paper. When using the computer, students tend to free write but are scared to summarize and say that summarizing the material is the hardest part for them. These students are completely different when they write on paper. I feel that writing on paper challenges the students to rephrase their sentences a few times and this makes the paper better. I know it is more time consuming, but over time… I feel we create better writers.
I also feel that having something on paper helps me focus better.