Thursday, September 20, 2012

Some things I need to remember for tutoring


Jasmine is enrolled in English 114 and Dustin is enrolled in English 214

My main concern is that I won't be able to address their questions effectively or I'll confuse them because I'm giving conflicting information or I'm unable to articulate my point very clearly

The grammar editing tips are useful but I feel that they would benefit students who are in remedial English classes. Dustin and Jasmine's writing isn't grammatically perfect but they have a decent understanding of subject verb agreement and verb tense.

Their primary issues are excessive wordiness or lack of focus.

I like the tip that suggests double checking little words such as "or," "it," and "is." I have already found mistakes like this in Dustin's writing. They aren't serious, but they are mistakes that can be eliminated through proofreading.

I think both students could benefit from reading their essays out loud and slowly as they both tend to lose focus.

Reading aloud also helps with finding grammar errors or rewriting awkward sentences. Dustin has been able to identify and rewrite certain sentences

Asking internal questions could help narrow down their focus and get to the main idea.

I would recommend that both students take the time to carefully proofread.

Certain phrases can be eliminated entirely or replaced with a single word.

Jasmine could certainly use the listed proofreading tips (listen to music or chew gum) as she has already told me that she hates the proofreading process. Anything that can help her focus and get through the process would be helpful.

Searching for pronouns is a good idea because sometimes students use too many pronouns and they forget which noun the pronoun is replacing.

Watch for apostrophes. Distinguishing contractions and possessives is an easy mistake to make but also easily avoidable

Make sure each sentence has an independent clause. I found a couple of comma splices in their writing.

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