week 14 José
I find that working with a student from a very different discipline than mine is some of the most rewarding work I do at the Writing Center. One field that I particularly enjoy is medicine. On a personal level, I happen to get along with physicians and have several friends in that profession. And even though I am acquainted with some of the basic tenets of the science, my knowledge is nowhere near sufficient to engage academically with the problems I was presented by students. Nevertheless, it is always interesting and rewarding to ask the student about the subject they bring, and being receptive, I suppose, helps the student feel confident and assertive about what they want.
One particular tutee was a nursing student who brought in various forms for a clinical study that she was translating into spanish. Since these forms were aimed at non-technical readers or participants, I had little trouble interpreting what she wanted to have the form say at various points. As some of my classmates have stated in their respective responses to this blog prompt, it helps to focus on the writerly aspect of the work. That is, mainly form over content. Of course, we know these two registers can sometimes be difficult to separate, and on this point I think what I have talked about but haven't properly qualified, i.e. openness to experience, is an important factor in the development of a tutoring of this nature.
I had another student that was a pre-Med major. He was outlining, in a short paper, some of the principal areas of research geared towards a cure for diabetes. He himself has this condition, and so we spoke at some length about the research, go beyond the scope of the paper, which incidentally, I venture the hypothesis, might have improved the outcome of our efforts with regards to the text.
I think being receptive and trying to understand the significance of the field, however far from one's own nominal interests, can greatly benefit the tutor-tutee relationship. To state the matter succinctly, if somewhat cryptically, we might paraphrase Hegel in saying: the absolute finds its unity through the diremption of its parts.
One particular tutee was a nursing student who brought in various forms for a clinical study that she was translating into spanish. Since these forms were aimed at non-technical readers or participants, I had little trouble interpreting what she wanted to have the form say at various points. As some of my classmates have stated in their respective responses to this blog prompt, it helps to focus on the writerly aspect of the work. That is, mainly form over content. Of course, we know these two registers can sometimes be difficult to separate, and on this point I think what I have talked about but haven't properly qualified, i.e. openness to experience, is an important factor in the development of a tutoring of this nature.
I had another student that was a pre-Med major. He was outlining, in a short paper, some of the principal areas of research geared towards a cure for diabetes. He himself has this condition, and so we spoke at some length about the research, go beyond the scope of the paper, which incidentally, I venture the hypothesis, might have improved the outcome of our efforts with regards to the text.
I think being receptive and trying to understand the significance of the field, however far from one's own nominal interests, can greatly benefit the tutor-tutee relationship. To state the matter succinctly, if somewhat cryptically, we might paraphrase Hegel in saying: the absolute finds its unity through the diremption of its parts.
I had to look up "diremption." I've never heard it before. Thanks for the new word! Spanish for present and future health care workers seems to be a big attracting nursing and pre-med students to your Department. Future medical translators, too. Fortunately, so much of the medical vocabulary for diseases and conditions is cognate with English, like diabetico. Some of it is even spelled the same like "diabetes" itself. Body parts and organs though are not though, e.g. heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, or bladder. But stomach and esophagus are.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds to me like there's something really rewarding about helping those students reach their patients/audience. Very cool!
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