My First Tutoring Experience

      Today was my first tutoring session and it went pretty well. At first I was nervous and scared because I didn’t know what to expect.  I thought I wouldn’t know what to talk about for one whole hour but I got through it perfecting fine.  I thought I would get someone who didn’t want my help or wouldn’t care about what I had to say.  It was actually the total opposite.  The tutee I got was really nice and enjoyed my help.  We started by introducing ourselves and then we found a room to get started.  I asked her if she had her paper as well as the article she had to write about.  I first asked what her paper was on and what the article was about.  Then I told her to read me the article so we could both hear it aloud.  Next, I told her to read the paper she wrote aloud.  Her paper was good and she followed the instructions well.  After she read me her paper, we went through each paragraph fixing some mistakes and adding things to them.  What we really worked on was her conclusion because she basically only had two sentences.  So I told her to develop it more and try to connect the conclusion with her introduction and thesis.  We spoke about possible things to write and I gave her some examples to play around with.  We finally got her conclusion much longer than it was.  And she felt confident about it and her whole paper.  I really like her personal connection to the article.  It interested me the most because I had a personal connection to it as well.  She told me that this was the first revision she did and her first paper she did was much longer and it kind of went off topic.  She also had the draft with her and let me read it.  In fact, she was correct it did go off topic with the article they had to read, but it was good information to use for a different topic.  Overall, my experience was great and I enjoyed it. She told me that this was actually the most help she got and she went to the Writing Center three times so far this semester.  Out of the three times she went she said only the first session was the most that helped her.  I found that to be very interesting and shocking at the same time.  I was glad I made a difference and was able to help with the paper.  Once the hour was done I suggested if she wanted to send me her second revised paper so I can look over it or for our next session.

Response to CATW Essay Hype

            While reading this students essay it seemed to me that they understood the article very well.  The student gave a good summary of the article in the first paragraph.  He states that advertisements are taking over people’s lives and that is true because everywhere you go there is an ad in every direction.  Yes, it is true too that they are controlling people’s lives because they see that product as fulfilling their faults.  I agree with the student on this it is very true.  Also in the first paragraph the student used outside reading to related to the article.  The example of the Industrial Revolution I feel was a great example to use because that was the beginning of the advertisements.  I believe that the student could have shorted the introduction and made some it in to a second paragraph or combined it into the second paragraph.  For example, where it says, “Kalle Lasn provides several examples to portray why advertisement are mesmerizing…” that could have been the start of a new paragraph.

            The student also used another good example of obesity as an outside example to use in his/her paper in the second paragraph.  I found that very interesting and would have never thought of that.  As I said before, I believe that some of paragraph one should have been incorporated into paragraph two.  It fits in with all of the other examples his is giving us.

            The organization of this paper could have been better and made paragraph one shorter.  The language use was good and had a few mistakes but over all I could read this paper without any misunderstandings of what the writer was trying to say.

            I give this paper a passing grade because they have followed the directions.  The student summarized the article, gave the author’s most important idea; which was the over use of advertisements, choose 1 significant idea of the author, gave outside examples, and the grammar wasn’t that bad; just a couple of missed spelled words.  The organization of paper could have been better as well.

Important/ Favorite/ Most useful of the 3 aspects of the Process: Retospective Structuring, Felt Sense and Projective Sturcturing

            I believe that between Retrospective structuring, Felt sense and Projective structuring. The one that is most important is Retrospective structuring.  The reason why is because whenever you first start to write, if it is a paper or free-write you are jotting down a train of thoughts.  You are putting ideas and sentences down is any order that they come into your mind.  Then after you can go over it and re-read it and fix it so that you can come up something better to work with.  It is like a starting point basically.  You can fix it and change words or sentences to better develop your idea or main idea.

            I also feel that Felt sense plays an important part as well because you have make sure what you are writing feels right within yourself.  It has to make sense to you and really come out the way you want it to.  You have to ask yourself a series of questions in order to know if feels good.  For example, “Does what I am saying make sense?” and “Is this what I really want to say?”  You have to go back to what you have written and see if that is  really what you wanted to get across.

Tutoring Do's and Don'ts

Tutoring Do’s:

·         Listen to the tutee while they are talking.

·         Take into inconsideration what problem they are having and try to help them with it.

·         Be relaxed and comfortable so that the tutee can be at ease and feel welcomed.

·         Have good posture and look available.

·         Have good eye contact.

·         Tone of voice should be sweet and welcoming.

·         Read over the tutee’s writing and see if you understand what they are trying to say in the paper. If you don’t understand, ask the tutee “Is this what you were saying in your paper? This is what I am getting from your paper…”

·         Ask questions about the student’s paper.

·         Give the student feedback on their paper but do not “cheerlead” on what the student has written.

·         High Order Concerns (HOC’s).

·         Look for Thesis.

Tutoring Don’ts:

·         Avoid eye contact and looking pass the tutee at someone or something else.

·         Bad posture. For example: slouching, being too relaxed, or legs on top of the desk.

·         Play with your phone or answering a call while you are in a session with a student.

·         Your tone of voice sounds mean and tough.

·         Lower Order Concerns (LOC’s).

·         Grammar.

·         Speaking about your personal life or personal experience you’ve had.

·         Rushing through a session with a tutee.

·         Eating or drinking during the session.

·         Using the computer and ignoring the student.

·         Not listening to the student.

·         Doing all of the work for the student.

Sondra Perl- Felt Sense (Draft 2)

Cecily Rodriguez

Prof. Gallagher

ENG 220- 0878

Oct. 2^nd, 2011

Sondra Perl- Felt Sense (Draft 2)

            According to Sondra Perl, while writing it does not occur with words but with “feelings or non-verbalized perceptions…the move occurs inside the writer, to what is physically felt” (Perl 30-31).  Perl uses this “feeling” called Felt Sense which refers to ones feelings about writing a paper, as the most important idea.  In order to write a great piece of writing you have go into your feelings about what you are attempting to write about.  It needs to feel right within ones self.

            Sondra Perl is a professor of English at the Herbert H. Lehman College of The New York City University of New York.  She is also the founder of the New York City Writing Project.  Perl also specializes in Composition and Rhetoric.  She gets this term of felt sense from Eugene Gendlin, who is a philosopher at the University of Chicago.  As Gendlin defines it

the soft underbelly of thought…a kind of bodily awareness that…can be used as a tool…a bodily awareness that…encompasses everything you feel and know about a given subject at a given time…It is felt in the body, yet it has meanings. It is body and mind before they split apart (Perl 31).

Felt sense is with in the body and deals with feeling while writing and also before your pen touches the paper.  This is true because when you are writing a paper, first you have to write what you know on the topic itself and also incorporate your feelings along with it.  It is has to make sense and feel right within the body itself.  You can not just write anything and not have feelings about what you have written.  Your gut has to let you know that what you have written is best for you and the topic.

            In Cortes Island, British Columbia, Canada, there was a retreat in the Hollyhock Retreat Center.  This is Canada’s leading Educational Retreat Center and Sondra Perl was going to be holding a workshop there called Felt Sense, Writing with the Body.  During this time Perl was going to be talking about felt sense and how “writing connects the mind and body.  Learn to listen to what your body knows, to what is on the edge, but not yet in words, to cultivate ‘Felt Sense’ so that your writing comes alive.  Felt sense is the key to understanding how new ideas come to us” (Web).  This shows us that she is dedicated to her work.  She is having a workshop for anyone who writes or anyone who has the desire to write. She is willing to help others create greater pieces of writing.

            Felt sense is what writers use in order to guide themselves when they are planning, drafting, and revising.  We have to ask ourselves a series of questions.  For example, is this right or wrong?  Are the words I picked right for me rather than for the paper?  “Do they capture what I’m trying to say?  If not what is missing” (Perl 33).  All of theses questions contribute to felt sense.  It deals with how we feel about what we have written.  We have to feel it in our gut.  Before we write we have to think about what we feel about the topic. For any topic we need to think about images, words, ideas, phrases and even our own thoughts and feelings in order to write a well processed paper.  You have to feel what you write within yourself.  Write what you feel is right but also it has to be on the topic at hand.  So, it should also be what feels right to you when it come to that certain topic.

            In Sondra Perl’s Composing Guidelines, she has a list of things you can do in order to “discover what is on your mind” (Belanoff and Elbow 36).  These guidelines are what experienced writer’s do in order to write a perfect paper.  They continue to write even when they don’t know where this will take them.  The more you just write the more you will learn from yourself.  You should pause and ask yourself, “What is this all about?...periodically check what you have written against internal sense of where you’re going or what you wanted to say—your ‘felt sense’ (Belanoff and Elbow 36).  I can relate to these things because while actually writing this paper, I did not know where I would end up by the second paragraph.  I had no idea what I was writing about.  But I kept on writing, paused and thought what I would write about and what point I wanted to get across.  I also stopped after every paragraph to read what I wrote, to see if it made sense and if it felt good in my gut, in my “felt sense”.

            While reading Perl’s work what appealed to me to be the most important idea was this “felt sense”.  I had no idea what it was or what it meant.  While I kept on reading, it clicked in my mind that it is a feeling in your body, that tells you what you have written is right or wrong for you.  It is your gut feeling.  This is important because we use our felt sense almost everyday, for whenever we need to write.  Not just for a school paper, but for work too.  Sondra Perl made it clear that felt sense is the most important idea because you have to go with your body and gut feeling in order to write a well written paper.  Feelings, along with the topic you are given will fall into place and give you a great piece of writing.

Work Cited

• Belanoff, Pat and Elbow, Peter.  Sondra Perl’s Composing Guidelines, A Community of Writers: A Course in Writing.  1987.  P. 36-40.
• Perl, Sondra.  Understanding Composing.  P. 29-35.
• Felt Sense, Writing with the Body.  www.stu.ca/inkshed/perl.pdf.  Web.  2004.

How I feel about becoming a Writing Tutor

When I first took this class last semester, I was shocked to find out that we were actually going to be tutoring ENG 099 students. I didn't think that the class would be about that. I thought it would be learning how to teach Writing to a class, like with a lesson plan and everything. But I was in for a whole new thing.

Now actually taking the class again, I am actually nervous because I am continuing the class. I feel scared because I going to be tutoring a grown person, not a child because my Major is Early Childhood Education. It is actually scary and exciting at the same time because now I can get more experience with people to help me better my skills as a Writer. I get to help someone out with a paper and get to give them feedback on their Writing. I think that is pretty cool. College for a class, I actually got to help students and tutor them for a credit."

I want to be able to help someone with the best of my ability and be able to make a change in their life. I want to be able to help them with something that they are having trouble with. I am also kind of scared because I don't want to give the wrong information or have a person who just doesn't want to put effort into their work. I want to be able to help this person achieve their goals and make sure they have a well written paper.

Sondra Perl- Felt Sense (Draft 1)

Cecily Rodriguez

Prof. Gallagher

ENG 220- 0878

Sept. 16^th, 2001

Sondra Perl- Felt Sense (Draft 1)

I was given the question, what is the most important idea Sondra Perl has contributed to in the field of theorizing the writing process? In order for me to answer this question I needed to find out who this Sondra Perl is. Sondra Perl is a professor of English at the Herbert H. Lehman College of The New York City University of New York. She is also the founder of the New York City Writing Project. Perl also specializes in Composition and Rhetoric. While reading some of her work I came to the conclusion that the most important idea to Sondra Perl is “Felt Sense”.

According to Perl, while writing it does not occur with words but with “feelings or non-verbalized perceptions…the move occurs inside the writer, to what is physically felt” (Perl 30-31). The term felt sense comes from Eugene Gendlin who is a philosopher at the University of Chicago. As Gendlin puts it

the soft underbelly of thought…a kind of bodily awareness that…can be used as a tool…a bodily awareness that…encompasses everything you feel and know about a given subject at a given time…It is felt in the body, yet it has meanings. It is body and mind before they split apart (Perl 31).

Felt sense is with in the body and deals with feeling while writing and also before your pen touches the paper.

In a flyer I seen to meet Sondra Perl called Felt Sense, Writing with the Body. This flyer was for a workshop which talks about felt sense and how “writing connects the mind and body. Learn to listen to what your body knows, to what is on the edge, but not yet in words, to cultivate ‘Felt Sense’ so that your writing comes alive. Felt sense is the key to understanding how new ideas come to us” (Web). Before we write we have to think about what we feel about the topic. For any topic we need to think about images, words, ideas, phrases and even our own thoughts and feelings in order to write a well processed paper. You have to feel what you write within yourself. Write what you feel is right, not just on the topic itself.

Felt sense is what writers use in order to guide themselves when they are planning, drafting, and revising. We have to ask ourselves a series of questions. For example, is this right or wrong? Are the words I picked right for me rather than for the paper? “Do they capture what I’m trying to say? If not what is missing” (Perl 33). All of theses questions contribute to felt sense. It deals with how we feel about what we have written. We have to feel it in our gut.

In Sondra Perl’s Composing Guidelines, she has a list of things you can do in order to “discover what is on your mind” (Belanoff and Elbow 36). These guidelines are what experienced writer’s do in order to write a perfect paper. They continue to write even when they don’t know where this will take them. The more you write the more you will learn from yourself. You should pause and ask yourself, “What is this all about?...periodically check what you have written against internal sense of where you’re going or what you wanted to say—your ‘felt sense’ (Belanoff and Elbow 36). I can relate to these things because while actually writing this paper, I did not know where I would end up by the second paragraph. I had no idea what I was writing about. But I kept on writing, paused and thought what I would write about and what point I wanted to get across. I also stopped after every paragraph to read what I wrote, to see if it made sense and if it felt good in my gut, in my “felt sense”.

While reading Perl’s work what appealed to me to be the most important idea was this “felt sense”. I had no idea what it was or what it meant. While I kept on reading, it clicked in my mind that it is a feeling in your body, that tells you what you have written is right or wrong for you. It is your gut feeling. I felt it was a perfect topic to write about because not many people know what felt sense is. It is also important because we use our felt sense almost everyday, for whenever we need to write. Not just for a school paper, but for work too.

Work Cited

• Belanoff, Pat and Elbow, Peter. Sondra Perl’s Composing Guidelines, A Community of Writers: A Course in Writing. 1987. P. 36-40.
• Perl, Sondra. Understanding Composing. P. 29-35.
• Felt Sense, Writing with the Body. www.stu.ca/inkshed/perl.pdf. Web. 2004.