Basic Techniques to Use When Working with Students

You will be familiar with:◦ Directive vs. Non-Directive Tutoring ◦ Open and Closed Questioning◦ Best Practices for Essay Tutoring (Are there

any??)◦ Resources to Develop Tutoring Techniques

Directive Non-Directive

1. Tutor tells the student what they should focus on during the session.

2. The tutor imparts knowledge to student.

3. Answers questions, explains.

4. Tutor holds role of authority

1. Student tells the tutor what they want to focus on during the session.

2. The tutor asks questions, draws knowledge out of the student.

3. Opens Dialogue4. Creates equal

relationship

“In one-to-one conversational tutorials, tutors can encourage students to talk through their own writing process and to bounce ideas off of their tutor, thereby allowing the tutor to more readily engage with the writer's imagination. In contrast, when tutors provide only direction without collaboration, students are not as likely to engage as readily with their ideas, only the "rights“ and "wrongs" of the words they've chosen to express them.

-Lani Varga and Jessica Ilko The College of Wooster Peer Tutoring Handbook

“When I started tutoring in the Writing Lab I was worried about being non-directive. It’s a hard skill to learn, and only experience makes it easier. However, with more tutoring, I have established patterns to focus on non-directive tactics. “

Claire Schmidt, University of Missouri

Peter Carino, a professor at Indiana State University, argues for a more balanced approach to tutoring that involves both directive and non-directive techniques in “Power and Authority in Peer Tutoring”

The non-directive approach is largely based on writing center’s fear of faculty concerns over plagiarism.

A directive approach is entirely appropriate for low level students.

A tutorial session can shift back and forth between directive and non-directive approaches.

A session can also shift back and forth with both tutor and student serving as the authority during various points in the tutorial.

More student knowledge, less tutor knowledge = more nondirective methods

Less Student Knowledge, more tutor knowledge = more directive methods

Both directive and non-directive techniques can be useful in different situations and with different students.

Using open ended questions is one non-directive technique used to create opportunities to open a dialogue about a text.

◦ Compare: Do you like your thesis? (Closed Question) How did you come up with your thesis statement?

(Open Question)

Find a partner Sit across from one another One Person ask 5 closed ended questions. Switch The other person now asks 5 closed ended

questions Now repeat asking 2 open ended questions

each. Discuss the differences between open and

closed ended questions. Why would one be more beneficial to tutoring than the other?

Tutor: After reading through your paper, I am wondering why you spent the first page writing about you and your friends on the way to the theatre.

Student: I don’t know. That’s What happened. We had a hard time finding a parking space.

Tutor: Do you think that’s important for the reader’s to know? Student: Well, I thought I would put it in to get started and I

thought it was neat the way we got lucky and got a space just when we thought we’d be late. I wanted to start with something interesting, and I thought the play was really serious, heavy.

Tutor: It is interesting, but how do you see it relating to the play? Student: I don’t know. Should I take it out? Tutor: That’s up to you. What do you think?

Carino, Peter “Power and Authority in Peer Tutoring”

Tutors do not to write on student papers. Students to write on their own papers. Tutors want to preserve student ownership

of his or her paper. Tutors focus on Higher Order (HO) concerns

first and Lower Order (LO) concerns last. Tutors mention the positives about the

essay as well as the areas that need improvement.

Tutor does mark on paper highlighting areas of concern without fixing the issue.

Tutor gives expert feedback on what techniques and strategies are available to the student to fix the paper.

Tutor assumes the role of authority.

Once again, finding a balance between the two approaches is key…Just remember that the guiding principal is that you should never, ever let the student plagiaries your ideas or work.

If a paper is at the point when focusing on just the grammar is necessary, please do so.

One technique that is especially effective with ESL students is to point at a problem area and ask them a guided question.

“Should an article go before this noun?” “This sentence sounds awkward. How do you

think we can make it clearer?” “Is this the best preposition for this phrase?”

Patters of error is a term we use for mistakes or errors a student repeatedly makes.

You can tell the student that you will help him/her identify and fix the errors in the first paragraph or even the first page and let him/her fix the rest of the errors in the paper.

What Important Themes Pop Out for You?