Week 12- Bethanny


What are the advantages and disadvantages of the non-fiction “case study” (Loraine) vs. the two more academic case studies we have read (of Lin and Fei)? 

The non-fiction case study was an easy read and it seems very accessible for a broader audience while the previous case studies we have read seemed to be geared towards a more specific audience (in academia). The case study was short, and while some people might see this as a disadvantage (for not including more details in the case study), I think it can also be an advantage because it still communicates the case study in a very clear manner and teaches us (fellow tutors) how to interact with students. Personally, I enjoyed Loraine's case study more as it focused on the practical side of things and was not theory heavy. However, this can be a disadvantage if looked at from an academic perspective. When publishing a case study, academia has its rules and we, as researchers, are to "follow" those rules if we want to get published. So, perhaps Loraine's case would be considered as less credible (?) compared to the case study of Lin and Fei. But, I feel like it is more useful for those who are learning to be tutors.

I can't speak much about the online tutoring experience. My very first appointment will be tomorrow, so maybe I'll be able to share more about it next week.

Comments

  1. Carol SeverinoApril 7, 2020 at 9:13 AM

    Good luck tomorrow with your first appointment! When I'm done interviewing Writing Fellows candidates, I'll make an appointment with you or Jose. My daughter-in-law and granddaughters are stuck in Ecuador, so I'm not using Spanish as much as I was when they were here in my home. I noticed that when I spoke to my daughter-in-law on FB videochat, I had interference from Italian, especially with numbers (of covid cases in Iowa) and prepositions.

    I think what constitutes credibility varies with the genre, just like what constitutes evidence for an argument varies with the discipline (data in the sciences, pertinent quotes in literary criticism). So for me as a writer and reader of creative non-fiction, Goedde's narrative has as much credibility as a typical writing center case study, even a "triangulated" one like the Fei study with confirmation of our interpretations from various sources of data.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mark RheaumeApril 7, 2020 at 11:30 AM

    Speaking of credibility, I found myself preying upon Goedde's prose, waiting for a clumsy slip-up.

    "The two struggles in Lorraine's writing - the story and the telling of it - intersect in the fact that academic style is part of the white American collegiate culture she admires." "In the fact" just doesn't sound quite as solid as the rest of Goedde's writing. "Because," perhaps?

    Brian also tried to build credibility with these un-cited "great teachers," which I think must be more of a symptom of Iowa's famous Writer's Workshop (hold your nose while you read that), and I found those moments to fall the flattest.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Case study - José

For this case study I will write about one of the students that made a habit of coming to the writing center. We'll call her Casey. This student was majoring in Spanish, if I remember correctly, but had at the same time important difficulties in understanding and writing in the language. This should point to a sort of inner discrepancy in the student's experience of her academic life, but I was, of course, in no position to recommend more careful consideration on this matter. It seems evident that she should focus on a different major. Casey came a total of 4 or 5 times for help with either reading a text that she had been assigned, or with the writing of an assignment related to a text. Both of these were somewhat challenging, because the student seemed to be uninvested in the work, and to want it done for her. She brought in the letters of Cortés, a key text in colonial literature, with which I was not fully acquainted at the time. Furthermore, she didn't have any speci...
Read more
                                                                    Options for Blog Post #2   How might tutoring non-native speakers differ from tutoring native speakers?  How might tutoring graduate students differ from tutoring undergrads (see handout)?  How does the writing process chapter apply to your own work as a writer and a writing teacher?   What are your most and least favorite phases of the writing process and why? What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of your own writing process? Of your classroom and (what you know so far about) your writing center students’ writing processes?
Read more

Case Study - Bethanny

Hi everyone! Here is my case study: From English to Spanish Since I don’t have students that I work with throughout the semester, I have decided to write about one student that I worked a few times in the semester. Let’s call her Lily. I am actually familiar with Lily because I was her TA during my first year teaching at the University of Iowa. Back then, I taught an intermediate level course. When I was her TA, I remember that she was a good student who would participate often in class and does her online assignments regularly. Sure, her Spanish was not perfect, but it was above average; I also remember that she wants to minor in Spanish. When she made an appointment at the center, I discovered she is in the writing class (2000 level) that I am teaching now, but with another TA. So, I was familiar with the class material and the assignments that she had to do. When Lily came to see me, she wanted to work on her draft for a chapter essay that was about 600 words. Wh...
Read more