“Students write to learn, not to make perfect papers.”
Today I would like to discuss “Minimalist Tutoring: Making the Student Do All the Work” by Jeff Brooks.
I absolutely loved reading this article. Ā There were many things I liked, agreed with, and learned.
One of the key ideas Brooks stressed was the importance of the tutor not being the editor. Ā As an aspiring editor, this is something I will most definitely have to consider when being a consultant. Ā I want the student to do the best they can, and I have to remember that that means me stepping back and letting them take the reigns. Ā This is especially true if it is on a topic that I enjoy or am familiar with. Ā I can see myself getting too excited and taking over the paper. Ā That is a huge no-no! But that’s why I’m in this class, right? Ā To learn how to best help the student. Ā “Our primary object in the writing center session is not to the paper, but to the student,” (pg 132).
Another thing I really enjoyed reading was the section on complimenting the students paper. Ā When helping a student with their paper, It’s easy to find things that need to be fixed or changed. Ā However, since we are helping the student and not focusing on the paper, how can we help the student feel better about his/her paper? I always like to draw hearts. Ā When I was reading the section “Concentrate on success in the paper, not the failure” (pg 131) I physically drew a little heart in the margins. Ā As a student, it is daunting when all I see are red marks on my paper. Ā It discourages me and I feel like I’m not succeeding. Ā So now, before I even look at the comments, I automatically look for the green or blue ink that tells me “this is what I like about your paper,” and I feel ready to face the possibly harsh feedback.
Taking my own experience into account, I have always made sure to mark or say something positive about the paper. Ā I can not think of a time where I did not put at least two hearts on a paper. Ā I think that this is probably my most important necessity in helping a student with a paper. Ā Positivity is a real pick-me-up, or adrenaline rush in my opinion. Ā If I can help a student feel good about their paper, then I have succeeded.
Lastly, I would like to mentionĀ the ‘how-to’ aspect of this article — which I adore, of course. Ā I always love being prepared for social situations such as these, and theseĀ Basic Minimalist Tutoring andĀ Advanced Minimalist Tutoring methods will definately be considered.
Mikalaš¹Rose 
Hi, Mikala,
I agree with your ideas. I feel like positivity is necessay in our lives. I also have an experience of getting praise by others. Last sememster I spent almost whole night to finish a eleven pages for an English class. I did not get enough rest, and I even felt bad about this class because of too many assignments. However, the professor finally gave me a great score for the paper, and he told me, “this is a good paper”. His words totally made my day; and I was like, “Wow!! Yeah!”LOL. I personally think especially in a consultation, the emotion of the tutor would affect the writer somehow.
Moreover, you do an excellent job on making a connection between the reading and your experience; I really like them!
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I like how you titled your blog. I certainly believe that students write to learn. It is one of the most important objectives in a writing class. As opposed to the standard purposes of writing (to inform, persuade or entertain), students learn about what they think when asked to free write on a topic they have not considered before. Certainly, free writing is not edited but it is a good place for a writing student to begin when writing about unfamiliar topics.
I also agreed with your remarks about focusing on a writer’s successes with a paper, rather than strictly editing or looking for errors. I like to use green ink when I make comments on a student’s paper. Green means go! I want my students to know where they can improve what is written, where they need to revise. Students usually have given considerable thought to a paper, and I want them to know what could be communicated more accurately. I don’t want them to think something is necessarily wrong, but rather can be expressed more clearly or more succinctly. Effective communication in writing involves using correct grammar, punctuation, phrasing, organization of ideas and syntax. They need to feel ownership of a paper, and it is our job to respect that but help them see where they can improve their writing..
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I really enjoyed your post! I felt the same on Brooks’ essay as you did. The idea that more positive than negative feedback could inspire more confident writers seems almost so commonsense I wonder why I found Brooks’ essay so “revolutionary.”
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I loved this section of our reading and how it emphasized focusing on the success, rather than the failure of a paper. I think that’s something we are conditioned to do even from a young age when we are first getting the hang the how to peer edit one another’s papers. THe teacher will usually only explain the process in terms of looking for errors and marking those. Think about it, in high school you most likely received guide worksheets to help you through the process of editing a paper. I know for the ones I received, the worksheets had a long list of all the possible problems to look for: paragraph indenting, misspellings, confusions with the order of the paperā¦the list goes on forever about all the negatives. Then at the very bottom of the page there would be a section to write ONE thing you liked about the paper. And this always seemed to the be the hardest section to fill out. Why is it so hard to highlight the good things, the things a writer is doing well? It’s going to benefit the student just as much as telling them all they are doing wrong.
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