Getting Tutored

Just a brief discussion about being on the other side for the first time...
I took in my teaching philosophy statement, something I need to work on for the job market, and met with a friend and fellow PhD student. What I came with was an old teaching philosophy statement, one I had used for acceptance into the R&W program; my teaching with technology statement from Danielle's class; and a new bunch of rambling thoughts that I'd like to incorporate. These three documents are very different, and we spent the time finding the choice nuggets from each one and talking about how to make connections between them to create one flowing document.

Here are some of the things I noticed: One, I did a lot of talking, about what I wanted, what I had struggled with, and what I was hoping to accomplish. Two, she read silently, which was fine, probably assuming that there was not much point in my reading aloud. Three, she was very good at picking out the parts she liked and helping me see connections I didn't see myself, yet was hesitant to tell me to cut anything. She did a good job of letting me realize for myself what I needed to cut. It was such a productive and helpful session that I would consider it nearly ideal as a sample writing tutorial. All of the things I would want a tutor to do, she did. And I was a good student, knowing what part I think the students should play in the session. It really was collaborative and went really well.

So I have decided that when I go back for another session, I will take the same documents, but this time I will sign up with someone I don't know. I think the session went so well because we are in the same program and have the same kinds of beliefs and think along the same lines, and she even commented, "This is so nice, being able to spend the entire session on content. I never get to do this!" So obviously not all her sessions go so smoothly.