Funny, i thought i was taking existentialism next semester

so apparently our class is a place where we can undermine each other's fields of study now. i still fail to see how a discussion on tutoring approaches turned into a crazy existential debate about whether or not psychological disorders were actually just a philosophical fabrication of my mind. that was uncalled for and unnecessary. i wasn't even the one that brought up disorders, yet somehow i managed to become the target of a "your major and future phd are completely pointless" tyraid. maybe i'm studying psychology because i want to figure out why some people end up being such jerks.

catching up.

I did my first observation in January. I remember how Karissa was very polite to her tutee and gave her the time to settle down and then asked what concerns she had regarding the paper. This also happened when I observed Karissa the second time with another client. She asked the tutee to read her paper out loud and took notes as the session went on. When the tutee finished reading her essay, Karissa went over all the positives. I noticed how Karissa used this discussion to lead to the part where she felt a little confused or needed to be worded. This way, the tutee did not hear all their positives at once and become high. Nor did she hear all the negatives in their paper and become depressed. Even though I liked Karissa’s session, I feel that a strategy like that can only be carried after a long period of experience at the center. The way Karissa transitioned between the positives and negatives in the paper, as apposed to just dealing with positives first and then negatives amazed me. It also made me realize that as I gain experience at the center, I need to figure out a plan, which helps my best qualities as a minimalist-tutoring stand out.

Reflections on my Reading Response

After thinking about our discussion that shot off of Ryan's comments during Thursday's class, I realized that I made the mistake of grouping learning disabled students with new ESL students.  Shame on me.  Just because they use a different structure for their language and have troubles expressing themselves in English does not make them in any way similar to a learning disabled student.  They are disabled in a sense because of their lack of knowledge and experience using the language, but I was just plain wrong in making any form of comparison between the two.  Just wanted to throw out that confession. See you all in class.

- Nascar Kass