Blog #7Note taking

I will refer to my sessions as a note taker as "silent sessions."

During my silent session I noticed both the tutor and the student were engaged in the practice. They both leaned in to review the written material and they both participated in the conversation. Although it was a tutoring session, it was more like an exchange of dialogue than a tutor-student relationship.

I noticed tutor had thorough knowledge and understanding of not only the assignment, but the written material as well. This allowed the tutor the ability to point out different focal points to the student. This action clearly helps the student locate key concepts and will help create a focus for the response essay.

The best strategy I saw the tutor use was in getting the student started. The student had a lot of details in her head at the time, but she wasn't sure exactly how to begin because of the way the original material was organized. It created problems in determining a focus; however, the tutor was quickly able to assist by going through the material with the student and holding what I call "comforting conversation" to draw out ideas on what she thought the author was trying to say in his writing.

Some things I notice about taking the notes:

I need a system, there was talking going on...so I had to abbreviate a great of words and commit detail to memory. That tells me I need some type of shorthand or code words.

My writing was sloppy, so that I will attribute to not having a system in place to handle the speed at which I was required to write the notes.

I had the urge to talk, yes it was hard to remain silent and just observe without actually saying "Try this....or maybe you should do it this way"
practice listening skills

I like absorbing two differing perspectives on tutoring and being tutored. You actually get to pick up pointers as if you were being tutored, and its a valuable coaching opportunity for when you actually tutor someone else. Its just like being a "fly on the wall." It takes you out of the picture while you get an objective view of everything taking place during the session.