Weeks 4 & 5

Hello,

I'm afraid to say that I really don't have anything to report about week four. Sessions were completed as usual without much consequence. I was a bit disappointed about the lack of communication between the tutors and the classroom. Fortunately, nearly all of my reservations were eased in week five when I received the message from Pegeen.
Once I heard that tutors were allowed to observe as many classes as they wished I made a point of sitting in on both the Tuesday and Thursday classes. After a full week of observations I must say I feel that the continued observation of the tutors is integral to the program. While I was not having difficulty understanding Pegeen's assignments, the observations provided me with more information about the class dynamic and structure, which can be used to organize some sessions and connect the work in the WC to the course goals and activities.
I was especially happy to see Thursday's class (10/8/'09) in which Pegeen guided the writers through an exercise to learn how to analyze their own sentences. This practice directly matched what I like to do in sessions. I felt that this class activity was in perfect harmony with the work the tutors do in the Writing Center and I hope that it helped to bridge any gaps felt between the two. In my session after that class my writer commented on the similarities between what we had talked about previously and what Pegeen was guiding them through in class. Witnessing that overlap was very exhilarating.

-Brian