Reading aloud with the student

Reading a student’s paper aloud to him helps him encounter his work through someone else’s first experience. Of course, it is polite to ask his permission because the material might be personal. With his permission, then read aloud and ask him to mark any parts that sound awkward. Explain that we will return to these later to address the problem, but that for now, it is enough just to notice the stumbling blocks and mark them. At the end of the reading, compliment the student on something such as how interesting his ideas were, how he organized the body well, or how he wrote a snazzy ending. It is important to compliment the student at this stage because you’ve just finished exposing his work. A compliment helps establish trust and rapport. 

Reading first for content and second for grammar

During the initial reading when you, as tutor, read the student’s paper aloud to her, your mind needs to function on two levels: you are noticing what content problems the paper has and you are noticing what habitual grammar errors the student makes. When you begin to discuss the paper, address content issues first. Do any ideas need expansion? Do the thesis and the topic sentences accurately point to the ideas being expressed? Does the introduction spark interest and does the conclusion finish the job? Have your student suggest changes based on your questions. Encourage her to jot down her solutions so she can remember them later. After the tutor and student work through content issues on the initial reading, then they can return to the paper to address the student’s habitual grammar mistakes. The paper is a wonderful place to reinforce grammar lessons learned in class because the student usually cares a great deal about her own paper.

Tutoring to make the student engage

The tutor can address common grammar issues in ways that make the student think, solve, and learn for herself, instead of simply providing her with the corrections and explaining them. To make the student engage, a tutor can share a memorable example, explain the rule, and then question the student how that rule should be applied to her own sentence. Then, and this can be difficult, the tutor must stop talking, sit quietly, and watch her struggle. Let her figure it out, and when she does, start talking again about how super she is to have discovered the answer. It is her discovery that matters, and not all the knowledge that exists in the tutor’s head.

Addressing fragments in a tutoring session

Fragments are a common, habitual grammar error found in students’ papers. The first time the error occurs in a paper, the tutor should point directly to the mistake and say “This is a fragment” and ask what the student knows about fragments. Build on any positive information the student remembers from class. Next, it helps to ask “Does the fragment belong to the sentence before or after it?” because usually the student has inserted a period in the middle of a long sentence and the fragment is like an orphan unaware that its parent is right next door. However, sometimes the fragment is not a portion of the sentence before or after it, in which case it helps to say “This is a fragment. What word(s) can you add or change to make it a complete sentence?” After addressing the fragment problem directly the first time, then it is best to challenge the student more when the error comes up again. The tutor can say, “There are two fragments in this paragraph. Read the paragraph backwards one sentence at a time to find them. How can you fix them?” This gives the student a method to successfully locate his own fragments.

Addressing run-ons in a tutoring session

Run-ons are often a habitual grammar error for students. I’ve noticed that during the initial reading aloud of the paper, students most often catch and mark their own run-ons; they may not know how to fix them, but they notice that the sentences sound too long. Have them simply put a mark there for later when addressing grammar and congratulate them for noticing the problem. When it’s time to deal with grammar, indicate the first occurrence of run-on directly, saying “This sentence is a run-on. How can you fix it?” See if the student can recall and apply any information about run-ons from class. You may need to review coordinating conjunctions. I like to list the common ones at the top of the student’s paper like this:

            , and

            , but

            , so

            , yet

By listing them like this, the student sees that there should be a comma before them. The next time that the error occurs, the tutor should challenge the student by saying “There are two run-on sentences in this paragraph. Can you find them and fix them?”

Addressing series of three commas in a tutoring session

Series of three commas can be a wonderful first success for students when learning to find their own grammar errors. For some reason, students habitually miss these commas but are quick to learn to see and correct them. The first time the error occurs, the tutor can say, “You have a series of three in this sentence. Where should you put commas?” If the student doesn’t know, I like to teach them this phrase: The American flag is red, white, and blue. I actually say the word “comma” as I write and say the sentence aloud. Then I say, by contrast, the Canadian flag is red and white, no commas! I reiterate that in a series of two there are no commas but in a series of three there are commas. Series of three will show up in many ways: nouns, verbs, adjectives, even adverbs. But it doesn’t matter what type of words they are, the students can tell that they have three of something and that they need to put the appropriate commas in. The next time series of three comes up in the paper, the tutor can simply say “I spy a series of three that needs its commas fixed” and students jump at the chance to find and fix them.

Addressing clauses and phrases that begin sentences

Clauses and phrases at the start of a sentence are a favorite of mine in tutoring sessions because I can usually get a student to laugh. I explain these opening words as extra clothing on a sentence. The sentence starts with a word like when, after, under, or on. I tell the student that the pattern goes like so:

When blah blah blah blah blah, ___what___does___what________.

Under yadda yadda yadda yadda, ___who___does___what________.

The student usually finds it funny that a tutor says “blah blah blah”--a little humor which helps the student feel comfortable. The larger point is that she starts seeing a pattern: A comma should be placed after the long phrase or clause and before the subject and verb. I tell the student, “You start this sentence with a subordinate clause or long phrase. Find the end of it and add a comma.” Next time I can say, “There’s a comma missing in this sentence. Where might it go?” and if the student needs a hint I’ll add “Blah blah blah” and she says, “OH, yeah!” Students seem to take clauses as a challenge and enjoy discovering the ends of them. In later paragraphs, they often start saying, “That’s a long phrase, I think, so does it need a comma?” I celebrate these moments because it means they can fix their own work.

Useful comments when reviewing papers

Students ought to be challenged when receiving feedback on papers. Instead of correcting the commas on the student’s paper, the tutor or teacher can suggest that a sentence needs a comma and challenge the student to figure out where the comma goes. In a course, having students submit their papers electronically will save time because the teacher can use the Review tab on Word 2010 to highlight and insert comments. Typical comments can be written in advance and simply copied and pasted into the comment text bubble. Below is a list of comments that often come up as I tutor. These can be used by tutors and teachers when reviewing papers:

• This is a fragment. Does it belong to the sentence before or after it?
• This is a fragment. What word(s) can you add or change to make it a complete sentence?
• There are two fragments in this paragraph. Read the paragraph backwards one sentence at a time to find them. How can you fix them?
• This sentence is a run-on. How can you fix it?
• There are two run-on sentences in this paragraph. Can you find them and fix them?
• You have a series of three in this sentence. Where should you put commas?
• You start this sentence with a subordinate clause or long phrase. Find the end of it and add a comma.
• When you divide two sentences with a fancy adverbial conjunction like the word however, you need to give it a semicolon and a comma. Where should these go?
• This paragraph is longer than 12 sentences. Where would be a good place to split it?
• How can you rewrite this topic sentence to better preview what you talk about in this paragraph?
• How can you rewrite the thesis sentence to better preview what your body paragraphs talk about?
• Your ideas in the paragraph(s) are scattered. Which ideas belong together? Color-code them so you can easily see which go where, and then reorganize your paragraph(s).

Papers are a treasure trove of opportunity!

We tutors and teachers have an excellent opportunity to make grammar, organization, and communication of content actually matter to the student when the student is most engaged in the subject—in his or her own papers. Exercises in workbooks and classroom PowerPoint presentations are useful tools, but it is my belief that people actually start to care about writing conventions when they want their own ideas and stories to be understood! We miss the chance to engage students with their very own sentences, their very own ideas, their very own material, when we “take it over” to “correct it.” When a student is telling the story of his father’s funeral, he is invested in his sentences and thoughts far more than when reading his textbook. When a student writes her ideas for fixing child support, she is very keen to make her thoughts clear and is much more liable to listen to instruction than when watching it roll across PowerPoint slides.

Students’ papers are a treasure trove of opportunity for education. In future posts, I propose how we can use these treasures to activate learning for the students and avoid fostering the students’ passivity.

Fostering passivity in writing education

Here are two scenarios which I have observed in writing education:

      1)     A student meets with a tutor for advice on a rough draft. The tutor takes the paper from the student and hovers over it with a pen, marking parts that need improvement: inserting commas and paragraph breaks, correcting syntax and word choice, and revising topic sentences and the thesis statement. The student sits beside the tutor, nodding occasionally as the tutor explains why such a correction is needed. The only active thinking the student must do is to explain a few content ideas that the tutor says are missing. 

      2)     A student comes for tutoring with a final draft that has been graded by the teacher. The teacher has marked up the paper with commas and paragraph breaks, syntax and word choice adjustments, and suggestions to revise topic sentences and the thesis sentence. The student asks the tutor for help deciphering the teacher’s notations since the student is not familiar with the editing symbols or simply cannot read the teacher’s handwriting. The teacher has given the student the opportunity to revise the paper for a higher grade. The only active thinking the student must do is to add a few sentences to address a lack of content that the teacher commented upon.

In scenario 1, the tutor has chosen to foster passivity in the student. In scenario 2, the teacher has chosen to foster passivity in the student. The problem in both is that the student is not actively learning how to write better! The student is having most of the work done by the tutor and the teacher who are correcting by editing and not engaging the student in active learning.

In future posts, I offer solutions that can help avoid this problem.