Writing, Technology and Tutoring Strategies: A Workshop for Literacy Tutors

1. Writing, Technology and Tutoring Strategies: A Workshop for Literacy Tutors Dr. Dana Driscoll, Ashley Cerku, Brittany Forth, and Samantha Hyrns Department of Writing and Rhetoric, Oakland University Session contact: driscoll@oakland.edu

2. Workshop Overview • Morning Session: • Introductions • Introduction to Writing Process and the Rhetorical Situation • Tutoring Writing • Afternoon Session: Lifelong Literacy Practices and Tutoring with Technology • Building Lifelong Literacy Practices in Tutees • Tutoring with Technology • Responding to Student Texts

3. 8:30 – 9:00 a.m: What would you like to learn? Please take a few minutes to write down, on a sticky note in front of you, what you are interesting in learning and/or what questions you have about writing, tutoring writing, or tutoring with technology.

4. Introductions

5. Freewrite What do you enjoy most about being a tutor? How do you help your clients become better writers?

6. Part I: Key Writing Concepts for Tutors Writing Processes and Rhetorical Situations

7. Writing Process: Basics • A typical view of the Writing Process • Invention / prewriting  drafting (arrangement, style)  revision  editing  final product (delivery) • Revision: substantial textual changes, reseeing the text • Editing: for sentence-level changes and grammatical correctness* • Kent (2000) argues for a post-process theory of writing encapsulates the fundamental idea that no codifiable or generalizable writing process exists—rather, each person develops their own process. He argues that writing is a process that cannot be captured by a generalized process or “big theory” (1) • Discussion question: Have you worked with your clients on the writing process? If so, how?

8. Writing Process Discussion • What are some ways you might help clients who are working through each stage of the writing process? • Invention / prewriting • Drafting • Revising • Editing / proofreading • What challenges do clients face at each stage?

9. Writing Process Tutoring • Invention/Prewriting • Creating a central focus (or thesis) • Developing an Outline • Reverse Outlining • Brainstorming/Mindmapping • Drafting • Talking through drafts • Giving students time to write • Reading “partial drafts” • Talking about writing habits

10. Writing Process Tutoring • Revision • Reading through the draft aloud • Responding as a reader • Asking good questions • Editing/Proofreading • Teaching clients to edit their own work by identifying systematic errors • Teaching clients editing strategies (reading aloud, reading work line-by-line backwards) • Providing clients with information/resources on grammar, puncutation, style • For all of these areas, asking good questions can help lead writers to better understand their own writing process.What kinds of questions could you ask for each of these areas?

11. Activity: Writing Process Scenarios In pairs or small groups, discuss each of the writing situations on the worksheet. Think about how you might, as a tutor, assist this student in various stages of the writing process.

12. The Rhetorical Situation • “The Rhetorical Situation” is a way that writing specialists use to describe the situation in which people write. • While each situation is unique, a writer’s ability to understand and adapt to the rhetorical situation is a critical principle in overall writing success. • The Rhetorical Situation is something that you can use in every tutorial or writing situation. • For more information on the Rhetorical situation, see the Purdue OWL: owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/625/03

13. The Rhetorical Situation The Audience: Who is reading (attitudes, motivations, education, beliefs, ideology) The Context When, where, what material conditions, what social/societal conditions, time The Message The Medium of Delivery The Purpose Why the piece was written (to persuade, to Inform, to entertain) The Rhetor Who is speaking/writing/communicating.

14. The Audience • Who is the audience? • What do they already know (or what can you assume they know)? • What do they need to know? • How much are they willing to read? • What are their expectations? • Are there specific terminology, evidence, or ways of communicating that are expected? • What are their values/ideologies and how might that impact the way they’ll read?

15. The Purpose • Why are they writing this specific piece? • What do they hope to achieve with this specific project? • Does what they hope to achieve align with what they already have written? • Is their purpose clear? • Is their purpose appropriate for the rhetorical situation?

16. The Context • In what circumstances will the material be read? (e.g. online, quickly, slowly) • What else has been occurring that may impact the reading of this piece? (e.g. is it timely?) • What are the specific features of the organization, area, or culture that may need to be considered? • Is the context personal, workplace, or academic? How might this context affect the writing? • Note: ELL learners or those who are relatively new to the country have substantial difficulty understanding the context and what is expected of writing in the US.

17. The Rhetor / Author • Who is the rhetor? • Is that important? • How does the rhetor establish credibility? • What might the rhetor do to establish more credibility?

18. Activity: The Rhetorical Situation In small groups/pairs, Please consider the rhetorical situation (audience, purpose, context, message, medium) for each document. Next, discuss how you would use this knowledge to assist the writer. Discuss any other ways you might best help the writer.

19. Part II: Writing Tutoring Strategies

20. Tutoring Strategies • Higher-order vs. Lower-Order Concerns • Editors vs. Tutors • Directive vs. Non-directive tutoring • Strategies for tutoring for literacy

21. The overall goal in tutoring writing is to make better writers not just better texts. --North (1985)This is a central philosophy in tutoring writing. Why do you think this is so?

22. Higher-Order and Lower-Order Concerns in Writing • When tutoring, there are essentially two “levels” of every text that a writing tutor needs to pay attention to. • Higher order concerns (rhetorical situation, organization, focus/thesis, use of evidence/support) • Lower-order concerns (grammar, sentence structure, formatting, etc.)

23. Higher Order Concerns (HOCs)and Lower Order Concerns (LOCs) • You want to pay attention to HOCs in writing because there could be a lot more wrong with a paper than just the grammar! • Good tutoring practice suggests when tutoring writing, pay attention to HOCs before LOCs. Why do you think this is so? • Go back to our suggestions from the “Rhetorical situation” activity. What did we focus on in our last activity? • HOCs • Thesis or Focus • Rhetorical situation: audience • Rhetorical situation: purpose • Rhetorical situation: context • Organization • Evidence and support • LOCs • Sentence structure • punctuation, • word choice • Spelling • Vocabulary use • Parallelism • Formatting

24. Don’t just be an editor! Longman (2008) states: “editors are often seen as expert wordsmiths, always knowing the right word, the correct grammatical fix, or the key passage to delete.” Unfortunately, editors only help fix writing but do not necessarily assist writers in being independent learners! LOCs include Grammar, and should be addressed after any HOCs (in almost all cases)

25. Editors Vs. Tutors • Editors (Directive) • Focus on text • Take ownership of text • Proofread • Give advice read silently • Look for things to improve • Work with an “ideal” text in mind • Make corrections on the page • Tell writers what to do • Tutors (Directive/Non-Directive) • Focus on the writer’s development • Make sure the writer takes ownership of text • Start with higher-order concerns • Ask questions • Ask the writer to read aloud • Comment on things that are working • Trust the writer’s idea of a text • Keep hands off and let writers make corrections; help them learn correctness • Ask them their plans for revision

26. Directive Tutoring • Directive tutoring is when a tutor provides a tutee with direct instruction, direct guidance, and overall, drives the focus of the session. This usually results in the tutor talking more than the tutee and for the tutor to take the lead role in the session. Some features of directive tutoring include: • Tutor chooses where the session is heading and what is to be accomplished • Tutor directs the tutee to concerns that are revealed in writing • Tutor reads paper, sometimes aloud, sometimes silently • Tutor provides direct instruction, models, lectures, etc. • Tutor sits across from tutee • Tutor marks tutees work/paper • What do you see as the benefits of this approach? The drawbacks?

27. Non-Directive / Indirective Tutoring • A non-directive tutoring style encourages the tutee to take control of the tutorial, choosing the areas of focus, and encouraging them to take control of their own writing and learning processes. A non-directive tutoring session includes: • Substantial amounts of the tutor asking questions • Tutor engages in an effective use of silence and wait time in order to allow tutee to think, respond, and reflect • Tutee and tutor sharing talking time • Tutor sits side-by-side with tutee • Tutee marks/makes notes on his/her work • Tutorial is more of a discussion/collaboration • What do you see as the benefits of this approach? The drawbacks?

28. Tutoring as Contextual • Directive tutoring puts too much control in the tutor’s hands and may lead to over-dependence on the tutor rather than independent learning. • Ethical issues: overdependence, no independent learning, who “owns” the work? • Non-directive tutoring can seem like the tutor is not helping the tutee enough, which may lead to frustration. • Ethical issues: frustration, confusion, inappropriate for student needs, too much collaboration? • We advocate a mix of both directive and non-directive styles, as the learner’s needs. Some research from our own center has shown that tutees may need more directive tutoring at first, but as they gain confidence as writers, sessions can become more non-directive.

29. Engaging Tutees in the Writing Session – Best Practices • Ask questions • Questions to monitor understanding • Questions to confirm your understanding of their task/goals • Questions about their text • Questions about their writing process • Have them read aloud or have you read aloud • Establish comfort (writing is a very scary thing!) • Make the tutee repeat key concepts that you said.

30. Transfer of Learning Transfer of learning = ability of tutee to take knowledge from one session and apply it in new areas The best way to help a person with life long learning is to help them learn a concept they can transfer to other situations. How might we encourage transfer in tutorials?

31. Activity: Indirective vs. Directive Tutoring Role-Play Each of you will be given a “brainstorming” scenario where a writer is in the process of planning to engage in a writing task. Taking turns in the tutor and tutee roles, practice tutoring in a non-directive manner. Be prepared to discuss your experiences with the group!

32. During Lunch During lunch, please take a few minutes to write down on a sticky note: Any questions you have that have not been answered thus far Three key concepts that you learned from the morning session

33. Lifelong Literacy Practices

34. Remember... One of the most important things to do is encourage practice of writing. That is one of the easiest ways to get better at something—to practice. • Gladwell (2008) suggests that to become an expert in anything, 10,000 hours is the minimum time required. • The next slides will ask us to consider what kinds of activities we might encourage our tutees to engage in to practice with writing.

35. In what ways have you worked to encourage tutees to engage in literacy (writing, reading) practices?

36. Small, Everyday Literacy Practices Write out grocery lists Help children with homework Post a status or tweet online Read to your child Write down every person you saw in one day and what they said to you Write down something positive about yourself everyday

37. Journaling & Creative Writing Journal ideas include: Dream Journal, Art Journal, Free writing Journal, Idea Journal, Inspirational Writing Journal, Life Events (Diary), Reader’s Journal, Travel journal Creative writing activities may include: Fiction (start short!), Poetry, autobiography, screenwriting, freewriting All of these activities can encourage tutees to engage in literacy practices every day, to find writing enjoyable, and to begin to build their own confidence with a text.

38. Other Ideas For ELL Learners – Television and sitcoms can be rich areas for learning about everyday language use. Ask them to choose and watch a weekly television sitcom, and write down their questions or unfamilar vocabulary. For All Learners – Even starting small—writing a sentence or two each day, about one’s day, can really boost confidence. For All Learners – positivity, encouragement, and embracing the term “writer” for themselves is one way that you can encourage writing in their everyday lives.

39. Any questions or other ideas for encouraging lifelong learning?

40. Tutoring with Technology:Literacy, Resources, and New Media

41. Outline • Technological Literacy - Definition and activity • Online Resources • Find what online resources you can use in tutoring sessions • Information Literacy • The life cycle of information • New Media • Definition and its importance • Implementing Technology • Strategies and activities to help incorporate and tutor technology in sessions • Working with Technology on Student Writing (Activity) • Final Discussion and Wrap-up

42. Technological Literacy The ability to interpret and understand technology and be capable of using technology to engage in literate and everyday tasks. What are examples of technological literacy today? Why is knowing about technological literacy important for our tutees? How are your tutees already technologically literate?

43. Writing Through the Centuries 20th century 21st century Talk aloud Interact with the text Zoomed out: talk about the whole • Read aloud • Get beyond the text • Zoomed in: talk about the words Adopted from McKinney, 2011, p. 359

44. Online Resources What resources have you as tutors used in your sessions? What resources or activities would you like to use?

45. Online Resources • Purdue Owl • Search “Purdue Owl” • Homepage: owl.english.purdue.edu • “Suggested Resources” - Site Map - English as a Second Language - Adult Basic Education

46. Online Resources • Dave’s ESL Cafe • Search “Dave’s ESL Cafe” • Homepage: www.eslcafe.com • Jobs • “Job Links” – “USA” – “Cool Works - Jobs in Great Places” • Stuff For Teachers • “Idea Cookbook” • Stuff For Students • “Grammar Lessons”

47. Other Online Resources • Skype Promotes technological literacy and is another medium for clients to learn. Tutor in a different medium by conducting a session or follow-up session with the use of video chatting. FREE www.skype.com Install, add friends/tutees, call, video call, and instant message • Hulu Have ESL students watch their favorite series and talk about it in their next session. Promotes individual learning and collaboration. FREE www.hulu.com Watch t.v. episodes and clips

48. Information Literacy Life Cycle Adopted from Horton, 2008, p. 59-61

49. Information Literacy Life Cycle 1. Realize that a need or problem exists that requires info. for its satisfactory resolution 2. Know how to accurately identify & define the info. needed to meet the need or solve problem 3. Know how to determine if the needed info. exists or not 4. Know how to find needed info. if known to exist 5. Know how to create, or cause to be created, unavailable info. (i.e. create new knowledge) 6. Know how to fully understand found info., or know where to go for help if needed to understand Adopted from Horton, 2008, p. 59-61

50. Information Literacy Life Cycle 7. Know how to organize, analyze, interpret, and evaluate info., including source reliability 8. Know how to communicate and present info. to others in appropriate/usable formats/mediums 9. Know how to utilize info. to solve a problem, make a decision, or meet a need 10. Know how to preserve, store, reuse, record and archive info. for future use 11. Know how to dispose of info. no longer needed, and safeguard info. that should be protected Adopted from Horton, 2008, p. 59-61