Grand View University on Group Appointments Part II: Practicalities and Logistics

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This series of four collaboratively written blog posts by undergraduate tutors in the Grand View University Writing Center shares experiences of implementing and navigating a new context for Writing Center sessions: group appointments. To read more about the project, as well as previous entries in this series, click here for the first post in the series.

Part ii: PRACTICALITIES AND LOGISTICS

Effective Small Group Discussions and Teaching

In a study on small group teaching analyzed by Yvonne Steinert, small groups reported on their experiences with their tutors; though the students in these small groups were all medical school students, we think there are interesting parallels that transcend the content being discussed within small groups.

Steinert reports that the groups agreed that they wanted a session, and a tutor, that promoted higher order thinking. The students believed it is not beneficial to listen to a lecture, but instead it is imperative for students to interact with material they feel is relevant to their education (Steinert 290). As a tutor, it is essential to provide these opportunities so students value their time spent in the session. The results presented are applicable to our tutoring methodology because the students gave critical feedback to their tutors regarding their experiences. 

Students also emphasized that a tutor needs to be welcoming, encouraging, and generally wanting to help students (Steinert 290). This can be difficult when students do not seem receptive to the experience; nonetheless, tutors have to promote an environment where both growth and learning are encouraged. We have found students typically enjoy participating with their group members, but they cannot do so in an overly rigid environment. Tutors should understand that the environment of the session is in their hands. They can bring forth positive energy, and scaffold students’ thinking in order to achieve this type of environment.

Steinert’s article describes what we want our roles to be as a tutor, as well as what we want our students to take away from our sessions. It is important as a tutor to understand what we can and cannot control. As tutors, we can provide the support necessary to help all students believe that they can be successful writers. This includes continuing to be encouraging and positive, especially when the writer doesn’t want to be there (which can sometimes be the case in our group appointments) as well as managing the time well so that each of the writers can have their questions answered or addressed.

How to Manage Time in a Group Appointment

Managing time within a Writing Center appointment can be tricky, especially when there is a lot of conversation between the tutor and the writer. Add 4 writers, and time management becomes even more crucial. The writers of The Everyday Writing Center: A Community of Practice discuss ways to pay attention to time without taking away from the work being done in the session. 

In a group session, we aim to balance fungible and epochal time. Fungible time can be measured in units while epochal time is measured by events (Geller et al.  33). As a tutor, if we know how to control the types of time, we can work to not only utilize the fungible time dictated by students’ required time spent in the Writing Center, but also the epochal time measured by the progress writers make. In the group setting, these time distinctions are especially important to keep track of: tutors must balance the 50 minutes they have with each group each week, but they must also be cognizant of the ways time works differently for each of the writers within the group, i.e., not all writers will do things in the same timeframe.

 As tutors, we have realized that if we allow ourselves to be constrained by the clock alone and disconnected from the writer's time, our time as tutors will end up contradicting our mission. We want students to be able to come in and work on papers, and in the end be a better writer. The advantage of the required group appointments is that this epochal time is more built in; students attend a session every week, and pick up where they left off of the previous week--though hopefully they’ve done some work in the meantime. In this way, the group appointments are more forgiving in terms of time.

Time in general is something that a lot of tutors often struggle with. Geller et al. emphasize how important it is to set "boundaries" at the beginning of the appointment. This means we need to know what the writer(s) want to accomplish by the end of the appointment, but we cannot address everything each writer is concerned about.  Geller et al. remind tutors to “Do whatever you feel is right in conference with the time you know you have” (36). This is really important to know and understand as a tutor. We have to be able to focus on one area in our limited time, especially when there are multiple writers vying for our attention and direction.

Managing time in a group appointment is a bit different than managing time in a one-on-one appointment. In a group appointment you have to make sure that you have time to answer all the writer’s questions, and not just focus on one. As a tutor, it becomes especially important to set clear time limits. On a practical level, this may mean splitting the time evenly between each writer while still working to make the group appointment feel cohesive. 

This requires cultivating relationships with each writer and the group as a whole, as discuss in our next post: Managing Relationships & Interactions  

Works Cited in this Series

Bitzel, Alanna. “Who Are ‘We?’ Examining Identity Using the Multiple Dimensions of Identity Model.” Praxis: A Writing Center Journal, www.praxisuwc.com/bitzel-111/?rq. 

Carpenter, Russell, et al. “Guest Editor Introduction: Revisiting and Revising Course-Embedded Tutoring Facilitated by Writing Centers.” Praxis: A Writing CenterJournal.

Geller, Anne Ellen. The Everyday Writing Center: a Community of Practice. Utah State University Press, 2007.

Grego, Rhonda C. and Nancy S. Thompson. "Institutional Critique and Studio as Thirdspace." Teaching/Writing in Thirdspaces: The Studio Approach. Southern Illinois University Press, 2008. pp. 59-96.

Harris, Muriel. “Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers.” A Tutors Guide: Helping Writers One to One, Ed. Ben Rafoth. 2nd ed. Heinemann, August 2005. 24-32

Jones Royster, Jacqueline. “Academic Discourses or Small Boats on a Big Sea.” ALT DIS: Alternative Discourses and the Academy, Boynton/Cook - Heinemann, 2002.  pp. 23-30.

Lape, Noreen."Training tutors in emotional intelligence: toward a pedagogy of empathy." Writing Lab Newsletter, October 2008, https://wlnjournal.org/archives/v33/33.2.pdf, pp. 1-6.

Mirabelli, Tony. “Tutor-Student Relationship.” Berkley, Jan. 2015, bcourses.berkeley.edu/files/54211423/download?download_frd=1..

Rose, Sheldon. Working with Adults in Groups. Jossey-Bass, 1989.

Steinert, Yvonne. “Student Perceptions of Effective Small Group Teaching.” Medical Education, vol. 38, no. 3, 2004, pp. 286–293.