Freshman Writing
English 005 - The Writing Tutorial
ENGL 005 is a one-credit course that provides weekly individual tutoring in writing to support selected students in the first-year composition courses, ENGL 004 and ENGL 015, and in other courses as resources permit. With a recommendation, a student may register for ENGL 005 when classes begin. In the fall and spring semesters, one 35-minute tutorial is held per week. In the summer, each weekly tutorial is 60 minutes. ENGL 005 tutors are English department graduate students and lecturers who are also composition staff members professionally familiar with composition course goals. ENGL 005 is designed around the following objectives:
· support students' classroom activities by working closely with their instructors;· help students become more motivated, confident, and independent thinkers and writers;
· help students take responsibility for and maintain ownership of their writing by encouraging their full participation in tutorial sessions;
· help students improve their overall writing skills through effective strategies for all phases of the writing process: planning, drafting, revising, editing, proofreading; and
· create with students a non-threatening, empowering writing space.
Not only does ENGL 005 offer composition instructors a chance to be writing tutors who assist students' in learning about writing more efficiently in a one-on-one, relaxed, personal situation, it provides a unique opportunity for tutors and students to become an active part of a writing community in the Undergraduate Writing Center. Moreover, through working with students, communicating and collaborating with other tutors and composition instructors, and participating in staff meetings and peer observations, tutors gain many benefits that enhance classroom teaching as well.
One-on-One Learning
Learning in this one-on-one tutoring situation is personal, relaxed, and efficient. The tutorial does not have a syllabus of its own and is not a replacement for composition classes or individual conferences between the instructor and student; it complements classroom and conference work. Students are required to attend sessions; to bring assignment sheets, other necessary class materials, writing in progress, and returned papers; and to be prepared to work with the tutor on composition course assignments. Because the goal is to make students as self-sufficient writers as possible, tutors will not do any work for students; instead, tutors will keep responsibility for the writing with the writers and help students to improve their writing skills.
Grading
Students enrolled in ENGL 005 must receive a letter grade. To emphasize the supportive nature of ENGL 005, tutors do not mark papers, discuss paper grades, grade exercises or evaluate the student in any way. A student's ENGL 005 grade is based entirely upon the grade in the composition course taken in conjunction with tutoring. Therefore, the instructor for the composition course, not the tutor, will determine a student's grade. One exception to this rule is that if a student misses too many tutoring sessions, she or he will receive an "F" in ENGL 005. Two lates (more than 10 minutes) equal one cut. In the fall and spring, students must attend a minimum of 12 sessions to pass, 6 in the summer.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF TEACHERS WITH STUDENTS IN ENGL 005
Students can register for ENGL 005 only with a referral from a teacher or academic advisor. To facilitate the referral process, the English department has placed ENGL 005 under course control; therefore, a student cannot register for ENGL 005 until after classes begin. Registration continues during the drop/add period (until all spaces are filled), allowing instructors time to conduct in-class writing to determine which students could profit most from ENGL 005. Because ENGL 005 usually had a full roster as well as a long waiting list, instructors should refer students early and selectively, especially students most likely to profit from a weekly tutorial in writing.
To register, a student should bring a referral, preferably with a writing sample, the composition class syllabus (with assignment due dates, if possible), and his or her semester schedule to the Undergraduate Writing Center, 219 Boucke Building. Here the ENGL 005 Coordinator conducts the registration each semester, assigning each student a regular weekly time that fits into his or her schedule and the rhythm of assigned papers and due dates. Ideally, the tutors and students can work together on drafts as much as possible-before they are handed in for evaluation. When students register for ENGL 005, they are assigned a tutor, and their instructors are notified of their enrollment. Composition instructors should be aware that sometimes their students will enroll on the basis of an advisor's or a previous instructor's recommendation.
Note: Unless students are registered for a full academic load of 12 credits in the fall and spring semesters, they are charged one academic credit for ENGL 005. During summer sessions, all students are charged one academic credit for the tutorial.
Instructor-Tutor Correspondence
The ENGL 005 tutor's weekly communication with the student's instructor is key to the student's success because it creates a tutor-student-instructor triad of cooperation focusing on the student's improvement. Following each session, the tutor sends the instructor a communication log describing the work that the tutor and student have done together. Instructors then respond to the log by the next session to recommend additional work or suggest areas that need special attention. Of course, the instructor and tutor can contact each other in other ways, too.
This continued cooperation, especially with weekly communication logs between the instructor and tutor, is important to the tutoring system. In a very real sense, in each tutorial, the tutor is working with an instructor and a student to develop the student's writing skills. Consequently, instructors' responses are expected and valuable.
Composition instructors can respond to whatever seems appropriate. Even brief responses to tutors' questions or concerns, to what's working, what's not, or suggestions for the next meeting assist the tutorial immensely. Logs of the correspondence are used during tutorials and kept in the students' folders to document students' attendance and progress, as well as the instructors' contributions. For these reasons, logs should be returned promptly to tutors.
Instructors should remember that because these logs are used during tutorials, comments they wouldn't want students to see should be avoided. Instructors and tutors may contact each other directly to discuss topics of a sensitive nature related to students' work and progress, and tutors may do similarly. If you have concerns about any policies or practices, please contact the ENGL 005 Coordinator or the Undergraduate Writing Center Director.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF ENGL 005 TUTORS
Division of Hours
ENGL 005 tutors are assigned to the Undergraduate Writing Center each semester for either a half-course equivalent or a full-course equivalent. ENGL 602: Supervised Instruction for ENGL 005 is offered every fall semester. First-semester and returning tutors have tutoring and staff responsibilities.
A half-course assignment. In the fall and spring semesters, a half-course assignment entails 6.5 hours a week of Undergraduate Writing Center work divided as follows:
· A first-semester tutor, each week in the fall semester, sees eight students for 35 minutes each, attends one 50-minute staff meeting (ENGL 602), and spends the rest of the time completing paperwork.· A returning tutor sees nine students per week for 35 minutes each, participates in scheduling, peer observation, and evaluations, and spends the rest of the time completing paperwork.
In the summer semester, the half-course assignment entails 13 hours. Tutors see eight students for 60 minutes each and complete the paperwork. No regular staff meetings are held, but scheduling and evaluations are conducted.
A full-course assignment. In fall and spring semesters, a full-course assignment entails 13 hours a week of Undergraduate Writing Center work divided as follows:
· A first-semester tutor, each week in the fall semester, sees 17 students for 35 minutes each, attends one 50-minute staff meeting (ENGL 602), and spends the rest of the time completing paperwork.· A returning tutor sees 18 students a week for 35 minutes each; participates in scheduling, peer observation, and evaluations; and spends the rest of the time completing paperwork.
The summer, the full course assignment entails 26 hours. Tutors see 17 students for 60 minutes each and complete the paperwork. No regular staff meetings are held, but scheduling and evaluations are conducted.
Scheduling. Tutors can choose to work M-F in the Undergraduate Writing Center from 9:00 a.m. until late evening. However, tutors are advised to schedule only as many as three students in succession and to work only infrequently during the busy peer tutor hours in the afternoons. Also, first-semester ENGL 005 tutors must register for ENGL 602 and so must reserve that staff meeting time. Preferred tutoring times are honored, but sometimes, tutors are requested to change their time slots so that the number of tutoring stations is adequate, and tutorials are spread evenly throughout the week.
Staff Meetings. At the beginning of each semester, the ENGL 005 Coordinator and the Undergraduate Writing Center Director hold an orientation meeting for all tutors in order to fill out tutoring schedules. This meeting is particularly important because schedules are needed by the first day of classes when ENGL 005 registration begins. Orientation also serves to share tutors' writing backgrounds, to explain current ENGL 005 and Undergraduate Writing Center policies and procedures, and to plan the first week of tutoring. Pertinent background information gathered from tutors assists the registration process of matching students' needs to tutors' interests and expertise-their composition teaching experience at Penn State, as well as their work with developmental/basic writing, learning disabled students, students for whom English is a second language, and visually or hearing impaired students.
Weekly ENGL 602 staff meetings for first-time tutors cover
· becoming familiar with the Undergraduate Writing Center's resources, records, philosophy, and policies;· fulfilling the tutor's role in the student/teacher/tutor triad;
· writing effective communication logs;
· distinguishing between teaching and tutoring;
· learning the pedagogy of collaborative learning and tutoring processes;
· learning guidelines and policies for the tutoring process;
· developing strategies for tutoring writing as a recursive process during planning, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading phases;
· learning the special concerns of students in ENGL 004, ENGL 015, and ENGL 202;
· tutoring reading and response to teachers' marginal and end comments;
· tutoring specialized needs of students: developmental, learning disabled, non-traditional, physically challenged and English as a second language students;
· handling ideological differences during tutorials;
· dealing with tutoring that becomes counseling;
· tutoring via technology; and
· conducting peer observations, evaluations, and grading.
Conduct of Tutorials
ENGL 005 tutorials belong to the student. To provide a productive environment as described in the objectives, tutors hold sessions in the Undergraduate Writing Center or the Computer Learning Center, either in 219 or 217 Boucke-not in teaching offices. To provide a productive environment as described in the objectives, tutors hold sessions in the Undergraduate Writing Center or the overflow room, either in 219 or 220 Boucke-not in teaching offices. Furthermore, tutors need to be prompt and conscientious about attending tutorials, show interest in tutoring, work cordially with students and their instructors, explain points clearly, foster student independence, and help students to meet ENGL 005 objectives through all other appropriate tutoring practices, policies, and procedures.
So that ENGL 005 objectives can be met, tutors strongly emphasize the students' responsibilities. Students are asked to actively engage in their tutorials. Tutors stress that they do not grade or do any work for students, but help students to improve their writing. Therefore, students plan an agenda for each session and bring the appropriate materials every time: the current assignment sheet; the most recent returned assignment with the instructor's comments; a folder containing all old papers, quizzes, exercises, etc.; and the syllabus, textbooks, handouts, and workbooks from the composition course. At any time, if students have to hand an assignment back to the instructor before coming to the tutorial, they make a photocopy of it beforehand.
The student's agenda, comments from the composition instructor's communication log, and the tutor's insights guide the tutorial. All components of the writing process and product are worked on during sessions, but because students learn most about their writing from the drafting, tutors encourage students to write at least a partial draft for sessions and discourage repeated reliance on sessions for planning that s/he can do outside of the tutorial. Most likely, students will learn that working ahead of their class schedule is okay and sometimes necessary in order to take full advantage of ENGL 005.
In addition, tutors place great emphasis on students' promptness and attendance. Students are encouraged to call the Center ahead of time if they are going to be absent or late. Make-up sessions for absences are at the discretion of the tutor. Similarly, if tutors have to miss sessions or will be a few minutes late, they should try to notify students and their instructors ahead of time and reschedule make-ups at the most convenient time. In a pinch, students need not rely totally on the tutors' rescheduling but may take advantage of their instructors' office hours and the Center's peer tutor drop-in hours.
Lastly, at the end of each semester, each student is asked to fill out an ENGL 005 evaluation form, where they have a chance to assess their tutoring activities, writing objectives, and the ENGL 005 tutor. These evaluations, after being reviewed by the tutor, are kept in the tutor's Undergraduate Writing Center file for future reference.
Paperwork-Correspondence and Record-Keeping
Each ENGL 005 student has a folder that remains in the Center at all times because it holds the student's ENGL 005 application and writing sample, the instructor's recommendation, the Undergraduate Writing Center Survey detailing the student's writing background and goals, the tutor's private personal log, and the more public instructor's communication logs.
Immediately after each tutorial, tutors quickly record a brief summary of the tutorial's events on the personal log. Dates, descriptions of achievements, concerns and a tentative agenda for the next week are noted. Lateness and absences are recorded, too. These personal logs must be accurate and up-to-date because they are the basis for writing the instructor's communication log. Moreover, if instructors do not return progress logs promptly or at all, tutors have the personal log backup record for use in preparing future tutorials, ENGL 005 grading, or addressing concerns about student progress.
At the end of the semester, personal logs are used to determine students' grades as well. Based on student attendance, Pass or Fail is indicated on the personal log, and a failure is explained in detail. These personal logs are so important that the ENGL 005 Coordinator checks for their satisfactory and timely completion at several times during the semester. The ENGL 005 Coordinator and Undergraduate Writing Center Director also refer to the personal logs in order to check particular students' progress during the semester, or to verify grades after tutors have left the ENGL 005 staff, and perhaps Penn State.
In addition to the personal log, tutors write out the more public communication log, which is a brief report of the session's events. According to policy, evaluating the student should be avoided; that's the instructor's responsibility. Evaluating the instructor is not the tutor's responsibility, either. Nor should the communication log reveal a tutor's takeover of the student's writing or the instructor's class work or authority. However, a non-evaluative description of the student's preparation, what he or she understands or doesn't about class material and writing tasks, and what works and doesn't in the writing, can be very helpful to the instructor's work with the student and prompt a timely response of feedback and suggestions for future work. In fact, many times during sessions, tutors pull these logs from the student folder and use instructor's comments to help the student create an effective writing agenda.
If a student misses a session, instead of filling out a communication log, tutors send an attendance report to the instructor. Also, if tutors have to miss sessions, they try to inform instructors promptly.
As soon as possible after sessions-to ensure instructors enough time to return the logs for the following week's tutorials-tutors personally deliver logs and attendance reports to instructors' mailboxes. E-mail or campus mail can also be used. Tutors have to remember to check their English department mailbox and Undergraduate Writing Center mailboxes, as well as their e-mail, for returned logs. In the event that instructors fall to respond to logs, tutors can try several avenues, depending on the context.
