Problem Posing Exercise

Problem Posing Exercise: Evaluation of Tutoring at the Writing Center

Now that we have observed tutoring at the Writing Center, we will write an evaluation of what we saw in the form of a letter to Bert Eisenstadt, who manages the Writing Center. This exercise will be our preparation for writing that letter.

Part A: What Seems Good at the Writing Center

Step 1: Identify and describe the best tutoring experience you witnessed over the last four weeks of observing tutoring at the Writing Center.

Step 2: Which strategy from our course readings best describes what you witnessed? Explain the strategy and cite the source. If what you witnessed does not resemble anything we read about, then describe the tutor’s strategy as best you can. 

Step 3: How did you know the strategy worked? In other words, what evidence from the tutoring session makes you sure it worked? What learning outcomes did you observe?

Part B: What Seems Not To Work at the Writing Center

Step 1: Briefly identify and describe a problem you witnessed during a tutoring session you observed at the Writing Center.

Step 2: Which “tutoring don’t” from our course readings best describes what you witnessed? Present a quotation (identify the source and page number) that describes the problem, then continue the description in your own words, emphasizing what this “tutoring don’t” means to you in a way that will set the reader up for step 3.

Step 3: Describe what you saw in detail when you observed the problem. Describe how it relates to your definition of the problem in steps 1 & 2.

Step 4: Propose a solution to the problem based on strategies and “tutoring dos” from the course reading. Describe what strategy the Writing Center Manager might present in a tutor training session to remedy this problem.