Journal #7
From my recent, brief experiences (which consist of Wednesday’s and yesterday’s meetings), my peers have not been engaging in reading at all. Admittedly, they’re honest about this, and whenever I ask if they’ve read their sources they usually say that they’ve skimmed them or looked over them, but they don’t know what any of them are really about. While this is a pretty understandable approach when trying to save time (command F can get you a lot of places in this world) the unfortunate fact of the matter, is that they are writing a research paper. Inevitably, this does require actually understanding the research you are to be writing about. Imaginably, because they haven’t been doing much reading, they have a very hard time crafting a thesis, or stating why what they’re writing about is important int the context of the class’ academic focus (archeology). As a, rather predictable, result- the majority of they’re outlines (I haven’t seen any drafts) are rather mundane and basic.
In an effort to motivate some of my peers to at least have a vague idea about what their sources are about, I’ve suggested a few strategies and utilized a few strategies. Usually, I start off by explaining what I find useful when I’m reading my sources. Then, to demonstrate, I’ll pull up the libraries database, search about their specific topic, and find a source that might be relevant. Then I usually ask them if they want to read with me, or if they could tell me what they would do next. I’ve found this makes research, itself, feel a lot less scary.
In the future, I’ll try to engage in Lerner and Gillespie’s recommendation of having my peer read, evaluating, and then working on it together. That way the appointment is focused more on what they need, as opposed to what might work for them hypothetically.
Otherwise, I might end up in one of the situations on page 109 of Lerner and Gillespie’s The Longman Guide to Peer Tutoring. While i haven’t yet, I can definitely picture myself and one of the students getting very frustrated with the lack of comprehension, the lack of effort, or the incapability to understand a source or reading that’s important to what they’re writing about. Although I don’t think it will ever lead to me crossing out their work and telling them what to change (that’s not really tutoring), it might be a useful opportunity to use some of the other tactics Lerner and Gillespie recommend. For instance, it might be a good time to take a break or utilize some hilighters.
Hopefully, for my peers, reading will become something that is helpful and inspires their writing, as opposed to being something that stands in the way and takes time.
