Blog 5: Bedford Guide Chapters 2 & 3; Bruffee

11/17/22

Summary:

    The readings from Week 5 were focused on how a peer tutoring session within a writing centre may be run.  Starting with Chapter 2 of the Bedford Guide, the very basics of the set-up of a tutoring session are layed out.  It is suggested to start with an introduction, ensure that you sit next to the student, let them stay in control of their paper, and keep resources (paper, pens, etc.) nearby.  While the first two suggestions are fairly obvious, the point of letting the writer keep control is important to keep in mind, as you don't want to end up writing the paper for them; it is their paper, after all, and the writing centre is not a paper mill.  The last step may not be as important in this day and age, although being overly-prepared certainly wouldn't hurt.  After this, the guide goes over setting up an agenda to ensure that the session stays focused and covers as much as possible in the given time.  For tutoring itself, it is noted that you should make sure to ask questions when need be, make sure to stay engaged and actively listen, respond to points throughout the paper, and be quiet to give the writer time to think on their own at the proper times.  Each of these points is expanded upon, and the chapter goes on to give tips on ending the session, but for the sake of brevity, we'll move to Chapter 3.

    Chapter 3 is focused on the writing process itself, or more specifically, how to help a writer through said process.  The suggested stages include the prewrite, initial drafting, and the stage of revision and editing.  Another section of note within this chapter is the brainstorming stage, in which the tutor and student work together to figure out how to prepare for writing, with the tutor posing questions to the student's plans so as to facilitate deeper thought into why the student has chosen to include the various steps outlined into their plan.  The chapter goes into much more detail on each specific point after this, but once again for the sake of keeping this post to a reasonable length, Bruffee's article will become the focus.

    As I have now been reminded of the fact that blog posts are separated into three brief sections, I will summarize this reading more concisely.  In essence, it is an argumentative paper explaining why tutoring should ideally be between peers in a conversational setting.  

Commentary:

    For Chapters 2 and 3 of the Bedford guide, there isn't much to cover which I didn't already speak on in the summary, as I forgot how blogs were structured at the time of writing that section.  As for my personal thoughts, I do like how even the most basic steps of preparation are outlined.  This way, there really aren't any questions left unanswered for a prospective tutor in regard to running a session.  Additionally, I found that the detail in both chapters was plentiful, especially in Chapter 3, which would make running a tutoring session not only easier for a beginning tutor, but also more effective for the student.  I don't have much to say about my opinion on the Bruffee reading, aside from "Yeah, I agree."  There really isn't anything I could think of to argue the idea of peer to peer tutoring being optimal, which if I recall correctly to the in-class discussion on this reading, was more of an issue in the period which this writing originates.  These days, I don't think there's much opposition to this view on tutoring.

Question:

    Pertaining to the Bedford Guide, are there any suggestions which may be outdated at this point?  I.e, practices which are no longer considered to be effective?