Journal 11
Journal 11
This week, there was an unexpected closure of the URWC, so I was only able to assist one student. I helped the student revise an existing business proposal group project composed of the recommendations from each individual member; the recommendations were aimed towards a small business owner selling plants primarily at in-person vending events about how to improve their social media accounts.
Summary: This student's assignment was unlike any I had experienced before in that the professor had the students work together with an actual business owner to construct a business proposal that would then be turned in to both the professor and the business owner for review. As it was an assignment meant for a real-world application, my approach naturally changed. Rather than looking at the assignment as I generally do, from the perspective of the professor grading the assignment, I looked at the project from the perspective of the business owner themselves. I tried to think how the tone, specificity of the recommendation, and cohesiveness of the project would leave an impression if I was earnestly looking for advice to improve my own shop. A large portion of the session was spent specifying which steps the recommendations wanted the business owner to take and how they could be applied to their situation: many of them were too general to really be of use in action. The other portion was spent on clarifying tone, avoiding needless repetition, and structuring each recommendation to prevent multiple ideas from being lumped into one section.
Challenges: As I continue to explore different assignments, professor, classes, and students, I continue to be challenged in my typical approaches as a tutor. When provided with less clear-cut rubrics and grading criteria, such as in this instance where the main assessment is done case-by-case based on how well the recommendations match the intended clientele, providing feedback also becomes less clear-cut. Whatever feedback I choose to provide must be based upon my own personal tastes and understandings. Whether a recommendation is worded too strongly and sounds commanding or whether it is overexplaining a simple concept and therefore comes off as condescending is left to my discretion. Of course, my suggestions for the paper are only suggestions and the student is not required to follow them, so I found myself presenting two options and the potential effects of those options to give the student more agency. While providing these options is ideal in most situations and I try my best to follow this format when I judge I am able to, this approach also depends on the degree of expertise the student has in the subject. Sometimes, the student instead faces choice paralysis and cannot decide between what seems like two equally effective revisions, but this student had already given this paper a lot of thought and was capable of implementing their own changes as we progressed.
Ideas or theories: Given that the assignment was a group project rather than an individual project, I was reminded of the importance of taking notes: they not only help the student remember what we talked about and reinforce our time spent together but also help others continue to provide assistance based off of my advice. As the member who attended the tutoring session was only one part of a five member group, they had to relay any suggestions I made to them later on. My notes, then, became essential as it would be hard enough for her to remember any suggestions I made for her part alone. I must also consider if the student seeks out help with their professor or a different tutor later on; in these instances, proof of what we have covered so far is integral to figuring out how to move forward with the paper and which areas to go back and review.
Most of the writing I have done in terms of this internship have been for the course component of the internship (in other words, the journal entries and various assignments), but what writing I have done for the URWC itself has been in the form of notes for the students, notes for the professors, and notes for myself. A small amount of writing has been exchanged between me and the URWC in the case of absences or inquiries about operational concerns. When scrawling down quick jots of information for the student, I have had to adjust my approach based off of both the content and the student themselves. Sometimes, a student will proactively take notes based on our meetings themselves, but otherwise, I have automatically begun taking physical notes on a piece of blank paper that the student can leave the center with. Typically, I am used to providing notes or feedback digitally on the drafts themselves, but taking notes physically has bypassed some electronic errors, confusion, and has saved me time in typing. Generally, my tone is unimportant, but the detail in the content itself must be paid special attention to. When writing in brief, word choice becomes very important as even the slightest deviation from my intended meaning can throw off the notes entirely. For students who needed more help with a particular area, that area especially needed to be detailed. Writing notes for myself required no large adjustment, and writing to the URWC was very similar to other formal communication channels I have used for work purposes.
I would recommend they immediately begin taking notes for every single student they meet: one copy for themselves (likely a brief about the general session, specific points of reference that could be interesting, and further areas of study or research) and one copy for the students (more detailed with examples and clear connections made between the suggestion or critique to the areas those suggestions or critiques are aimed at). Preparing either a digital document they would feel comfortable sharing to the students that is easily accessible or physical paper are the only steps necessary to begin. However, some training could be done to figure out how to best take notes without disrupting the session itself too much.