Prompts for Reflection Paper for Writing Center Tutors
1. Describe the emotional and intellectual reactions you experienced after your first tutoring session. How have both your practical tutoring techniques and your emotional/psychological approach to tutoring changed since that first session?
2. What can you do to improve your tutoring sessions?
3. Metacognition is “the planning, monitoring, and evaluating of one’s intellectual abilities.” In other words, it is an awareness of what you know and how to use what you know. How are you passing on or modeling metacognitive skills to your tutees?
Describe how you are able to help your tutees become independent learners. How do you explain a concept/skill to a tutee without “giving” him/her the answer?
4. Tutees are often nervous/insecure about getting tutoring. What techniques are you using to make them more comfortable?
5. “In order to get a better grade” is the primary reason students seek tutoring.
Inspiring a tutee to love learning and think beyond the grade is difficult. How are you already or how might you be able to inspire in the tutee the love of learning for the sake of learning?
6. Are the writing skills that you work on with your tutee helping you in your own writing? Discuss.
7. Explain this statement: “Tutors learn through tutoring.” Also consider this statement:
“Writers learn by writing.” What are some connections between writing and tutoring that we haven’t discussed?
8. Explain a difficult/uncomfortable experience you had during a tutoring session. How did you handle it? Would you do anything different now? Why or why not?
9. Beyond helping tutees with their specific questions/issues, do you feel it is your responsibility to “challenge” tutees? Explain.
10. Compose your “Philosophy of Tutoring.” Think about learning, collaboration, skills and knowledge, communication, peer-to-peer interaction, authority, etc.
No more than 2-3 pages, informal style, no outside sources, e-mailed electronic copy only.