Tutor vs. Tutor- The Screenplay

Tutor vs. Tutor

English 99 student, Mary Jane walks timidly into the writing center. She signs in and is assigned to Dr. Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll walks past Mary Jane quickly and directs her to follow her.

Dr. Jekyll: Where’s the paper? I only have 30 minutes to review it before my meeting!
Mary Jane looks for her paper frantically and finally locates it in her disheveled bag

Jekyll: Could you hurry up I don’t have all day. Time’s a ticking as she points to her watch.

Mary Jane: timidly Here is my paper. I don’t know if I am doing the assignment properly

Dr. Jekyll: Are you are college student? The Writing Center does not write papers for students.

Mary Jane: timidly Yes, I am practicing for my CATW examination. This is a practice test.
Mary Jane hands the paper to Dr. Jekyll

Dr. Jekyll: I can already see there are several errors. I see comma splices, run- on sentences, fragments. This needs a lot of work!
Takes out red pen and begins marking Mary Jane’s paper.

Mary Jane: Um. Can you use a different color?

Dr. Jekyll: Red is my color.
Continues marking up the paper

Mary Jane: I thought you would help me. What am I doing wrong?

Dr. Jekyll: Everything is wrong. Your ideas make no sense, your topic sentence sucks. This conclusion is trash and that is where this paper belongs! Gets up and throws it in the garbage. I need some coffee.
Dr. Jekyll takes a sip of her coffee and suddenly becomes Ms. Hyde.

Ms. Hyde: When did you get here? How may I be of assistance?
Mary Jane looks confused

Mary Jane: Um, I um gave you my paper and you said it was all wrong. Then you threw it in the trash.

Ms. Hyde: Sometimes I get a little dramatic when I haven’t had my coffee. Let’s get that paper and see what we can do.
Mary Jane goes and retrieves the paper from the trash can.

Mary Jane: Here it is.

Ms. Hyde: Can I see the prompt from the practice examination?
Mary Jane goes into her folder and retrieves the prompt.

Ms. Hyde: I am going to take a few minutes to read over the prompt. Take this time to re-read your essay and see if there are any areas you can correct on your own.
Mary Jane reads over her work as Ms. Hyde reads the prompt.

Mary Jane: I think I need help structuring my ideas. It seems like they are all over the place.

Ms. Hyde: That’s a good observation; let me take a look at your work so that I may assist you.

Mary Jane: Ok. Thank you
Ms. Hyde looks over the work and sees that Mary Jane does have structuring issues.

Ms. Hyde: I see that you were correct in your assessment of your work. I can help you. Have you ever used an outline?

Mary Jane: Not really. I don’t know how to create one. I normally just wing it.

Ms. Hyde: Well, ask yourself what is the significant idea of the prompt. Then choose three main ideas from the prompt to support your ideas. Take out a sheet of paper.
Mary Jane takes out a sheet of paper and a pen.

Mary Jane: This is definitely something I can see myself doing on my own. This is a good way for me to organize my writing!

Ms. Hyde: That is one of the key things we wish to do at the Writing Center, give students tools that they can eventually use of their own.

Mary Jane: I am glad that I came today. Looks at watch. I have to get to class. I will return to the Center tomorrow. Can I request you?

Ms. Hyde: Sure! Just make sure I’ve had my coffee. Laughs cynically.

Third Time's a Charm

During the third tutoring session, I had the opportunity to work with the same student I have worked with since the beginning. She had gotten back a practice CATW essay on Fast Food and the effects it has on young people's health. The prompt discussed Fast Food and how advertising affects children, especially their health. The article highlighted the fact that children are being diagnosed with adult disease like diabetes and heart disease. After reading the CATW prompt and the student's essay, it was evidence that the student had good ideas and a clear understanding but needs help developing and formulating the overall structure of her written work. To help her develop her ideas, I used the focused free writing technique that is demonstrated in the Tutoring Writing book. I asked her to describe what she would like to say in the essay without worrying about grammatical errors or spelling. As she began to write, she was able to come up with additional ideas that could be used in her essay. The student had many good points in her essay, however, they were unorganized. Using my version of the coloring technique that I renamed, numbering, we went through her entire essay and numbered key points that were related.

Second Time Around

Upon entering the English 99 class for the second session, I was less nervous. I was informed that I would have the opportunity to tutor the same students as the last session so I was eager to see if they took the advice and writing tips from the first session. I was honored that the students were also eager to begin the tutoring session and even stated that I was a great help to them. Both students took out there notes from the last session and showed me the work they had done on their own during the week. Both students made improvements on their summaries of the articles and used the tip I suggested of taking three main points from the article and incorporating it into their summary.