Tutoring Session Recording & Reflecting

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I'm in my first semester as a grad student, tutoring at both an on-campus Writing Center and a more general learning center at Long Island University in New York. One of the classes in which I am enrolled is Individual and Small Group Writing Instruction, in which we read various texts pertaining to tutoring, discuss different pedagogies and accepted practices, and discuss tutoring. One of the big projects for the semester has been to record a tutoring session (which I finally managed to do this past Thursday after trying for nearly a month!), transcribing the session (my project for yesterday), and then to write a reflective piece about it - all in the name of becoming a better tutor, of course. I was very lucky insofar that I spent three years as a writing center tutor as an undergrad; my then-director was a bit advocate of self-reflection, and I found it easy to implement.

However, this is my first in-depth self-reflective analytical study. Admittedly, at this point, I have only a very brief mental sketch, but I do have an idea of the types of issues to address - using especially Gillespie & Lerner's The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring as a guide - but I"m curious if anyone else has done a more extensive self-reflective study, and if so, if there were any texts or series of questions you used to help you. I'm interested, for myself as much as anything, what tutors do to reflect and how they question themselves.

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  1. Zachery9:32 AM

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  2. Zachery9:34 AM

    I did a project similar to yours a year or two ago. I created a series of questions for self-reflection that I called a "Guided Observation Report." I can send you a copy if you want.

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  3. Michelle10:29 AM

    Zach,

    I'd be really interested in seeing that! Thank you! If you would be able to e-mail it to me, I'd appreciate it (michelle@masto.com).

    Thanks again!

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