Tutoring Nuggets

Body language speaks loudly. I have seen tutors who sit behind a desk with the tutee in front of them. To me, that shouts of "I have all the answers, just ask me the questions." I make a point to sit beside my tutee, and to turn to face him or her as much as possible, in the spirit of partnership. The last thing I want my tutee to think is that I am the oracle. For tutoring to be successful, as much of what I do well as a learner needs to be transfered to my tutee, depending upon his/her challenges and issues. If a tutee can't ultimately be a better self-sufficient learner because of me, then I don't see the point.

Teacher as learner

From my experience, it is very important, sometimes more important than the "expert" mantle, in creating the best learning environment for students. A teacher who is an active learner can model the way to ask illuminating questions, methods for discovering whether information found is reliable and authoritative, and the sense of excited curiosity about something previously unknown. Better than having someone who becomes a fount of facts and truisms, students who have a teacher-learner have someone who can be a partner in questioning, discovering, and wondering, a persistent explorer in spite of barriers and lack of immediate answers. Curiosity and wonder are qualities that most children possess when they begin school, and those that many children gradually lose as they progress. To be a successful learner is to be a successful thinker. This is the best thing we teachers can model for any of our students.

Frankenstein--still relevant today

And I am not talking about the old-time horror movies where the monster just stumbled around and scared people! I have decided to use the novel by Mary Shelley for an upcoming college composition class with a focus on literature. It brings up many interesting issues about scientific intervention in creating life, responsibility for one's scientific creations (which may be alive or not), how to relate to people who are not considered "normal," and more. One major issue with new technology is always "how far is too far?" It would seem that we are always pushing the envelope with any scientific advance. I find it interesting to bring the moral voice into such a discussion and see what boundaries a group of interested people can agree with. In any case, lots of possibilities for writing!

Lit Hit!

I have been revamping my literature curriculum for a new course I will be teaching at a local college. At first, I thought I might have trouble coming up with poems for that section in the curriculum, but I have ended up with more ideas than I can use. I didn't even think I was much of a poetry fan, but apparently I am (!). I left a pad of paper by my desk to write down curriculum ideas, and every couple of days, I would write down another idea, for instance, Robert Frost ("Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Wood") and Dylan Thomas ("Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night). These are poems that I have frequently heard quoted or otherwise used in all sorts of public and private venues. The common, everyday metaphors of the "fork in the road," and of going "off the beaten path" relate back to Frost, for instance. Emma Lazarus, whose poem is on the Statue of Liberty, originated the phrase "Give me your tired, your poor," part of her poem including this line was put to music (I sung it with my high school choir). Of course, popular and classical music is full of poetry, set to music, of course--I am hoping to have students bring in favorite songs and we can talk about how music adds to (or detracts from) the enjoyment of the poetry itself.

More Metaphorical (Meta)fun

One of the nice things about metaphors is that they can release one from whatever is a bother or an annoyance, or just mundane, and allow the mind to float away into abstraction. I think about people who are trapped, for whatever reason, in mind-numbing routines of different kinds; some people who are seriously obsessive-compulsive, for example, might have to wash their hands dozens if not hundreds of times a day. They may have to check certain things before they leave a room, make sure certain objects are placed certain ways before they can do anything else.....I wonder what therapeutic value poetry might provide in such instances (and even lesser cases). A poem is like an emotional burst of description-narration-perception, and the opportunity for leaving compulsions behind is large (I think). To just look out a window and begin comparing concrete things seen to those not seen but imagined....an irrational, nonsensical opportunity to play with perception could be a welcome distraction maybe, or even a release of all the pent-up anxiety an obsessive-compulsive person is constantly trying to assuage.

Metaphor what?

They are everywhere, these pesky metaphors...in simple references such as "I am feeling up today" or "I'll see you around," we are pretending, for example, that there is actual motion in some direction. When we make comparisons, our imaginations often take flight (there it is again!) and show the breadth of our ability to observe, create, and generally describe. Some mountains look like hot fudge sundaes, complete with whipped cream (snow), while others resemble a breast, perhaps, or a giant dinosaur foot. Without metaphors, we would be left with tall, brown, white, long, short, wide, very wide, and so on. Limited descriptions, at best. Think about some of your favorite ways of describing things, or maybe everyday language you like to use often. You'd be surprised how frequently those metaphors can occur!

"Sub-bole" or delicious understatement!

Ah yes, we have all done it. "How are you?" someone asks, when we are steaming mad, and we say something like "oh, a little perturbed." Huh? Or, we have just seen a movie we loved, and respond to an inquiry about it with "not bad" or something equally milque-toasty.

Why? Well, let's see: sometimes we want to hide information from the asker of the question, or otherwise not let them know the extent of our enjoyment or displeasure. Sometimes we may be feeling the need for privacy. Sometimes we may deliberately want to mislead, for a variety of different reasons.

Any other ideas?