Transcript ASC 287: Writing Center Assistant Training

ASC 282: Peer Tutor
Training
The 12-Step Tutor Cycle:
Beginning Steps (Steps 1-4)
Step 1: Greeting and Climate
Setting
 Purpose: Set up the session for
success
 Methods:
Warm, genuine greeting
Chair and table arrangement
Eye contact
Positive body language and verbal
choices
 Keep your hands off the client’s work!
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Promote the Client's
Independence!
Step 2: Identification of Task
 Purpose: Determine the reason for the visit
 Methods:
 Ask! (kindly, indirectly if necessary: “How is
your biology class coming along?”)
 Follow-up questions
 Narrow general statements into specific items
 Determine what he/she already knows about
the task
 Pause, restate, empathize—prompts him/her to
specify further and gives him/her a chance to
agree or disagree
Promote the Client's
Independence!
Step 2 (continued)
Don’t accept “I want you to correct my
homework”
 We don’t do that! You shouldn’t
provide that service to anyone! That
should not be any client’s task for the
tutorial!
 More on this later . . .
Promote the Client's
Independence!
Step 3: Breaking the Task into
Parts
 Purpose: Determine how much can be
accomplished in one session and how much time to
spend on each part
 Methods:
 Restate
 “So, you’ve got to write a summary essay and do ten
practice problems and study for a quiz?”
 Prompt
 “Do you think we can do that in the time we have?”
 “Which of those three is most important to you?
Where should we start in case we run out of time?”
Promote the Client's
Independence!
Step 4: Identifying Thought
Processes that Underlie the Task
 Purpose: Help the client learn how to
approach this type of task next time
 Methods:
 Ask what he/she knows about how to do it (the
studying or learning strategy or technique
involved)
 Make course materials (textbook, handouts,
workbooks, lecture notes, etc.) the source of
information, rather than you! Ask client to refer
to them—help him/her get information for
himself/herself
Promote the Client's
Independence!
Step 4 (continued)
Summary of this step:
 What is the process for doing this
type of task, and where is the process
explained?
 How can you apply this when the client
asks merely for you to correct or do
his/her work?
 What can you do when the client has no
course materials?
Promote the Client's
Independence!
Summary
 What message has been in the footer of
each slide?
 How does it relate to
 Your keeping your hands off the client’s work?
 Your asking the client to identify the tasks in the
agenda?
 Your referring to course materials rather than
simply providing information yourself?
 Your refusing to serve as a correcting or
homework service?
Promote the Client's
Independence!
Summary (continued)
 To what extent have you applied
these four steps in the tutorials
you’ve already conducted?
 How difficult will it be to implement
them in future tutorials?
 Keep in mind how these steps set you
up for success with the next steps in
the tutoring cycle . . .
Promote the Client's
Independence!
ASC 282: Peer Tutor Training
The 12-Step Tutor Cycle:
Task Steps (Steps 5-8)
Step 5: Setting an Agenda for the
Session
 Purpose: Accomplish the task
efficiently in the time available
 Methods:
 Give client a hand in shaping agenda
(e.g., “Well, we have 25 minutes; how
shall we use them?”)
 Be explicit about how long to spend on
what
 Be flexible if you need less or more time
on a particular item
Promote the Client's
Independence!
Step 6: Addressing the Task
 Purpose: Conduct the business of
tutoring
 Method:
 Ask questions
 Actively listen
 Help client find information in course
materials (rather than from you)
 Explain occasionally to keep tutorial
moving along
Promote the Client's
Independence!
Step 7: Client Summary of Content
 Purpose: Determine results—what/how
much of the content client understands
 Method:
 Look/listen for “the light bulb effect” (e.g., “Oh,
I get it now!”)
 Ask client to explain what he/she now
understands from the tutorial
 Evaluate accuracy of client’s summary
 Review areas of misunderstanding or “shallow”
understanding
 Prompt him/her
 Redirect him/her to course materials
Promote the Client's
Independence!
Step 8: Client Summary of
Underlying Process
 Purpose: Determine results—what/how
much of the process client understands
 Method:
 Ask client to explain the process (e.g., “If a
friend asked you how to do these problems,
what would you say?” or “How will you solve a
similar problem on the test?”)
 Evaluate accuracy of client’s summary
 Review areas of misunderstanding or “shallow”
understanding
 Prompt him/her
 Redirect him/her to course materials
Promote the Client's
Independence!
Summary
 Why is “Do you understand?” not a
good way to determine what/how
much the client now understands?
 Why is Step 8 (Client Summary of
Underlying Process) so important?
[Consider the message in the footer
of each slide.]
Promote the Client's
Independence!
ASC 282: Peer Tutor Training
The 12-Step Tutor Cycle:
Closing Steps (Steps 9-12)
Step 9: Confirmation
 Purpose: Congratulate client on
his/her new understanding
 Method:
 Reinforce specific accomplishments (not
“Good job!” but “Good job getting all the
variables on the same side of the equals
sign.”)
 Direct comments at the client’s work, not
at the client
Promote the Client's
Independence!
Step 10: What Next?
 Purpose: Help client connect the
tutorial to the progress of the course
itself—see “the big picture”
 Method:
 Ask client to articulate this connection
 “Well, where do you go from here in this
course?”
 “What will you do next, and how will what
we’ve done help you?”
Promote the Client's
Independence!
Step 11: Arranging and Planning
the Next Session
 Purpose: There are three
 Take care of scheduling next appointment while
client is already here
 Promote consistency in tutoring to maximize the
client’s gains
 Help client anticipate upcoming learning
 Method:
 Ask, “What would you like to work on next
week?”
 Set up a time and date for next appointment
Promote the Client's
Independence!
Step 12: Closing and Goodbye
 Purpose: End tutorial session on a
positive note
 Method:
 Sincere goodbye
 Thanks to the client (e.g., “Thanks for
being so well prepared”)
 Positive body language and verbal
messages
Promote the Client's
Independence!
Summary
“Evaluating is like perfume; a little goes a long
way, and it’s best to apply it in key spots.”
 How can too much praise be overwhelming
for a client?
 How can praising a client’s work rather than
the client help promote his/her
independence?
How can you remember the 12 steps until
they become ingrained as habit for you?
Promote the Client's
Independence!