❀ Tutoring Philosophy ❀
My Philosophy on Tutoring and Presentation
My tutoring philosophy covers my perspectives on tutoring, such as how I view it, go about it, and the methods I use in practice.
Though I value being taken seriously in terms of my work and my academic reputation, I also believe there is an advantage to expressing yourself more casually. Though I am a tutor at the Writing Center, I also think it's important to show that I am your peer more than anything else, and that I'm some that both can be easily related to, and that can relate to you and your work! Plus, I believe expressing some silliness and playfulness in how I design certain things or present myself in some cases can help ease the anxiety that comes with trying tutoring for the first time.
The graphic to the right was created for a discussion post during ENG 395 after reading chapter 3 of Harry C. Denny's book "Facing the Center: Toward an Identity Politics of One-to-One Mentoring".
Creating a Safe Space: My Tutoring Philosophy
My personal tutoring philosophy centers around the anxiety that comes with asking for or receiving help, and creating a safe space where you can feel not only comfortable having a stranger look at your work, but empowered and motivated by the end of it as well.
You can read through my complete tutoring philosophy here for more information!!
Tutoring Methods I Use in The Writing Center
Reading Aloud
In the Writing Center, we practice reading aloud since it helps the brain process the content better, while also giving you the opportunity to notice anything that doesn't sound quite how you want it to when it's read by someone else. Whether it's you or me reading aloud, both methods have proven to be extremely helpful!
Focusing on the Big Picture
It might seem like tutoring is all about 'fixing' grammar and telling you what is 'wrong' or 'right', but that's not the case! More often than not, we're here to help you flesh out ideas, reorganize and structure your work, and get your ideas onto the paper as best you can! If you'd like to focus more on grammar and sentence flow, though, I'm always happy to help.
Fidget Toys, Breathing Exercises, and Taking Walks
Tutoring in and of itself is very anxiety-inducing, and I aim to minimize that anxiety as much as possible. If you're someone who fidgets when they're nervous, this is a judgement-free zone! Depending on what you feel you need to best focus and feel comfortable, we can also change the environment of our session. If you're having trouble breathing, or you think you might have an anxiety attack, I have several breathing exercises we can do together to help as well that have helped me before.
What I Can Help You With
Anything, really! I'm here as a Writing Center tutor to help you with whatever work you need help on. Just because I may be more familiar with some types of writing more than others, doesn't mean I can't help, or that I'm not willing to learn! In fact, I would love the opportunity to learn about other topics or types of writing. With that said, if you're looking for help on something specific by someone who has more experience with that specific type of writing, here's what I feel the most confident helping with!
Creative Writing
I'm a creative writing minor, and I've been in love with this style of writing ever since I was a kid. For an example of my creative writing work, you can take a look at Autosarcophagy in the 'Writing Samples' tab.
Scientific Documents
As a computer science major, I'm used to working on scientific documents in STEM fields. [i might mention the SRS in my 'Writing Samples' tab if I can get permission to share it]
New Media
I'm a creative person, and I love documents that have a focus on design elements. For examples of my work with new media, you can see my presenation in the 'Writing Center Internship' tab or my white paper in the 'Writing Samples' tab.
ENG 101
Currently, I'm working as a tutor in a section of ENG 101, so I'm familiar with all of the course content and grading rubrics for the class.
If you have any questions at all about how I tutor, what I can help you with, or anything about the Writing Center, please don't hesitate to email me! I love answering emails (this isn't sarcasm, I genuinely enjoy it for some reason) so please reach out! And if you've read this far through my website, thank you!!