WSP Program Info Site - Tutor Session #1

Writing Tutoring Session 1

The first Writing Tutoring session introduces students to the purpose of the tutoring sessions and how best to use tutoring support throughout the week. Tutors ask students to write out one writing goal for the evening. Tutors then have students sign up for 15-minute time slots in which students can further explore the concept of academic writing as a conversation and writing as a process. Tutors build on what students learned during the Writing Workshop and during the fellow-led analytical reading session on Sunday to help them locate, interpret, and articulate an author’s idea (i.e., what They Say).

Learning Objectives

Understand the value and importance of receiving feedback and asking for support
Articulate one writing goal to achieve by the end of the session
(See Writing Workshop one-pager for Unit 1 for learning objectives related to the assignment)

Readings

Below are required readings that students complete the night before and discuss in their study groups with fellows and in a seminar with faculty. Students also have the newest edition (6th) of They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, so tutors should use this text to explain conventions of academic writing as applicable.

Allen, Danielle. Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality.

New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2014. (pp. 21- 38; 42-44; 72-78; 85-88).

Tocqueville, Alexis de. Democracy in America. Translated by Harvey C. Mansfield and Delba Winthrop.

Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2000. (pp. 3-15; 45-55).

What Students Know

Students will have attended a seminar in the morning titled, The Ideal of American Democracy, during which they will have discussed the above readings. They will have attended a three-hour Writing Workshop in which they will have discussed the fundamentals of academic essay writing and explored the above texts to identify ideas worth exploring in writing. Students will also have had fellow-led sessions on mindset and note-taking, and analytical reading. As you plan for the first Tutoring Session, it's important to recognize that WSP students come from diverse backgrounds and have different levels of experience in the classroom–some have had college-level courses while others haven’t been in a classroom for some time.

Your Role

Writing Tutors provide a core service in our academic boot camps by ensuring that WSP participants feel comfortable and confident in academic writing, including asking for support with their writing. Your role is, ultimately, to be yourself; to share your expertise with participants and to run the class like you would with traditional college students. We highly encourage you to find ways to connect with participants and to share any advice you have for them as they transition from military service to higher education.

Note: The following are broad guidelines and not meant to be prescriptive. All units are flexible so that faculty can teach to their expertise and highlight important and interesting aspects of their work. Keep in mind the reading that students will have done for the day.