Working at the Writing Center in LaGuardia has given me much to think about. Education like everything else has its own dominoes effect. It has made more real the challenge I will be taking on going into the education field. I learned that even though a person is at a grade level, doesn’t mean they are performing at that level. This can discourage you or motivate you to make a difference. Tutoring taught me that I care and will go that extra mile to make a difference. Although I didn’t work with different personalities, I had the pleasure of repeatedly working with the same tutee that needed a lot of help.
I was so happy and proud to see the progress from the first session to the second. The first time we met up she had no assignment sheet; nothing written on paper; she didn’t even seem to want to be there. I had asked her what the assignment was and her response was “I don’t know something about comparing the Matrix with this dumb movie the Meatrix.” I continued to try to work with her by asking her to tell me what the Meatrix was about. I did this out of pure curiosity and to have some type of conversation going. When she was summarizing the movie, which she did quite well, I asked her if she had anything to write the main points down. That’s when she decided to tell me that their assignment was on a blog online. Luckily there was a computer in the room we were using and were able to log in. I read what she had so far which was only about a sentence. I don’t know how or why I realized that the reason she didn’t want to be there was because she did not understand the assignment. I suggested she then take out a paper and write the main points of both movies. Once she was done I explained to her that she had already done most of the assignment right there on the sheet of paper and all she needed to do was put it in sentences that made sense. I used the outlining method as per our tutoring book, so she can see the ideas she will be using and so she can see what the assignment was asking for (McAndrew and Reigstad 51) . By the time our session was done she had her first paragraph done and her arguments that she would use in her body. I had also given her some techniques to get her to write like just jotting down what comes to mind when thinking of her main topic. This is called free focused writing (McAndrew and Reigstad 46) . This helps the students with development, and in my opinion sticking with the topic.
The next session we had my tutee had a different assignment. I was happy to see she was more prepared and already had a draft. When I read it I was happy to see she had such great ideas in her essay. We went over the essay together by having her read it aloud. At first she refused, but I explained the purpose was so she could hear what her readers read, and be able to pick up her own mistakes. She was really concerned with her spelling and I told her to leave it for last. The main idea is to get out on paper what she wants to say, and get its structure right. When we came to certain words, which it’s spelling obstructed the meaning of her work that’s when I would ask her what she was trying to say and have her sound it out. I was so disappointed when I saw that even sounding out simple words was a challenge for her. This worries me. My tutee has to be at least 20 years old, and her reading and writing level aren’t even at a high school level. She was misspelling simple words like brother, since, advice, to, meat etc. She showed me this spelling book she carries around with her which she uses to help with her spelling. This motivated me because it demonstrated to me that she wants to improve.
We haven’t had much personal conversation, but just from listening to her speak, I don’t think English as spoken in the United States is her first language. I don’t want to make assumptions but her accent seems to be Jamaican although not very thick. This might have some influence in her spelling problem. This idea is supported and better explained by the following quote “Avoidance phenomenon is a concept that comes from studies of second language acquisition. The idea is that students who have not yet mastered a linguistic form, concept, sentence type, grammatical unit, or vocabulary word tend to avoid types of writing that put them in the position of having to produce what they find difficult” (Hayward 71) . This would also explain my tutee’s problem with just being able to put something on paper.
Another contributing factor I believe has to be where she lives and the schools she went to. I read in her essay that she lives in Brooklyn by the 1 and 5 train. This isn’t the worst neighborhood but it isn't the greatest especially in terms of public schools. It is not a hidden fact that students who go to schools in underprivileged neighborhoods don’t get the same education as students who go to schools in better neighborhoods such as Forest Hills. The inequality is clear as described in this quote “New York City’s public schools are subdivided into 32 school districts. District 10 encompasses a large part of the Bronx but is, effectively, two separate districts. One of these districts, Riverdale, is in the Northwest section of the Bronx. Home to many of the city’s most sophisticated and well-educated families, its elementary schools have relatively few low-income students. The other section, to the south and east, is poor and heavily nonwhite. The contrast between public schools in each of these two neighborhoods is obvious to any visitor.” (79) Maybe the teachers teaching at these schools don’t care anymore because the pay isn’t enough to compensate for the conditions they have to work under. Maybe the teachers have given up because the parents of these students aren’t doing their part at home. Maybe it’s the lack of funding and resources the schools get. The point is here is a student who obviously wants to get an education beyond high school, and strive for greatness, and somewhere down the road the community, the education system, and her family failed her. She is now in college with great potential, but her spelling and reading skills are holding her back.
Tutoring at the Writing Center has shown me how important early education is. If our first teachers don’t put in an effort, then it only makes it harder for the student to progress, and his later teachers to teach him. Teaching shouldn’t be about financial compensation, or even recognition. Teaching is about the students. Every child should have the right to a stimulating, abundant academic experience. Where they live, their families’ financial status or educational background should have nothing to do with how much education they receive, or the quality of education they receive. Those who decide to go into the field of education should do so because they want to make a difference, and because they believe how important education is. We forget that today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders, workforce, business owners and parents. If they don’t receive quality education now then we cannot expect a better tomorrow. Our financial problems, political problems, even the inequalities that go on today, will continue strong if education isn’t made part of the solution and looked at as a priority.
Hayward, Nancy. "Insights into Cultural Divides."
McAndrew, Donald A. and Thomas J. Reigstad. Tutoring Writing, A Practical Guide for Conferences. Portamouth,: Boynton/ Cook Publishers, INC., 2001.
"Public Education in New York, Savage Inequalities."
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