Welcome to English 455/456, Native and ESL Writing Tutoring.  In this course, we will examine both the theory and practice of tutoring native English speaking students and ESL students who desire assistance with writing in their courses from across the college. In addition, you will participate in all aspects of the tutoring process: as an observer, a co-tutor, a tutee, and a tutor. 

Website:  Check this for current information about the assignments and schedule.  http://www.fredonia.edu/faculty/english/spangler 

Class Web Board: www.nicenet.org  Use the class key given to you in class to add yourself to the roster.  Go to the Nicenet URL to join the class.  Be sure to enter a name and e-mail address.  You will use this web board to post your reading responses.

Office hours:
By appointment
In person:       Because I am supervising student teachers this semester, my office  hours will by by appointment only.  Please call my office or email me to set up an appointment.
Virtual:            SusanSpangler1 on AOL Instant Messenger, pretty much when my computer is on and I’m available to chat.

Required Texts:
Rafoth, Ben. A Tutor’s Guide: Helping Writers One to One.2^nd ed. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 2000.
Ryan, Leigh.  The Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors. 3^rd ed. Boston: Bedford Book, 2002. (Supplied by instructor)

Course Goals

1. To develop an understanding of collaborative writing tutoring as theorists, observers, tutors, and clients.
2. To develop and practice effective tutoring techniques.
3. To improve personal writing, reading, speaking, and listening abilities. 

Course Requirements

ENGAGEMENT WITH COURSE MATERIAL AND ACTIVITIES.  Part of your obligation to this class is to participate vigorously in the ongoing dialogue we will have about teaching and tutoring, whether in group activities, in individual activities, or in class discussions.  Engagement includes sharing most of the work that you produce this semester as well as commenting on other writers' work.  If you don't attend class, you can't participate, so I discourage absences unless absolutely necessary, in which case you notify me prior to your absence.  Perfect attendance is expected.

WEB BOARD POSTING.  An easy way to share your thoughts on the readings and on class discussion is to post your thoughts in a timely manner to the class web board, available at nicenet.org.  You will be posting your reading responses weekly on the web board, and you will also respond to others’ writing throughout the semester.  I do not use ANGEL on a regular basis because I want you to have experience with a FREE web board that you might use in your own classes.

A MEETING WITH ME.  You’ll come in at least once during the semester, and we’ll talk about your progress during the semester and other things on your mind about the course.

TEACHING/COURSE PORTFOLIO.  Your grade for the class will be based on the completion of your teaching/class portfolio.  Every teacher must build one for professional use, and what better time than now to start building it?  We’ll discuss these items more throughout the semester.  Here are things that will go in it, in no particular order:

• An introduction (well, that should go first, I suppose)
• Evidence of your engagement with class material
• Observation reports
• Responses to Student Work*
• Philosophy of Tutoring*

*These items can be kept and updated for use in your actual teaching portfolio, not just for this class.

LEADING A CLASS DISCUSSION.  Once during the semester, you will lead the class in a discussion of the reading for about 20 minutes of that session.  You should read a few articles from the recommended reading or works cited at the end of the chapter(s) and come in with issues you’d like to raise or questions you’d like to ask.

General Policies

In the event of an emergency absence, it is your responsibility to check for any missed assignments.  See the office hours above and check with classmates or the website for work missed.  Of course, the information you receive from these sources will be less complete than if you were actually in class.  Just avoid the whole mess and be here.  You’ll find as an effective teacher that it’s just easier to go to school than to miss, and that attitude should be evident here.

I hate grades.  There, I said it.  See my very first publication in the Illinois English Bulletin (91.3 (2004):  45-61) for more details on this.  I try to do as little grading as possible, but I DO love reading your writing.  Basically, I'll assign a grade for your portfolio, which counts for 100% of your grade, at the end of the semester, but I’ll look at drafts of your work throughout the semester to give you feedback.  Any other time you want to talk about your progress in class, come and talk to me.  We won't necessarily talk about your grade, but we will talk about what you are learning in class.

Sadly, computers don’t always work the way we want them to.  It’s an unfortunate fact of life.  You are ultimately responsible for your work, even if the computer fails.   Please avoid saying things like, “My disk broke,” “I couldn’t get online,” “I swear I e-mailed it to you” to me.  Ways to avoid computer problems include 1) printing everything, 2) backing up on disk/jump drive, at home, in cyberspace.

Which leads me to a long discussion of professionalism.  I will expect you to act in a professional manner.   Such behavior means, among other things, always doing your best work, remaining positive in the face of adversity, showing integrity in your actions, joining professional organizations, and reflecting on your teaching (sometimes before the fact).  A question I’ve always found helpful is this:  “Would I do/say this/act this way if my principal/grandmother were standing right here/able to see this?”  You should always be able to be proud of your actions as a professional.  This includes any public forums in which you choose to represent yourself:  Facebook, MySpace, or other venues.

Being a professional also means solely taking responsibility for your actions.  While your parents may be an integral part of your personal life, they should not be part of your professional life.  That is, they may rejoice with you or grieve with you in your professional successes or disappointments, but they should not take an active role in discussing these events with your colleagues or supervisors. 

Acting in a professional manner also means being academically honest (i.e. not plagiarizing anything).  The lines are often blurry, but in general, when you adapt a lesson for use, it’s a good idea to acknowledge or cite the source of the lesson or idea.  It’s professional courtesy, really.

Professional Dispositions and English Adolescence Education Program note

Professional dispositions are very important in this class, as they are in all of your classes. Your academic ability is only part of being an effective teacher; your dispositions are also a crucial determiner of how effective you will be. In fact, it is possible to do very well academically and still be denied entrance to the professional year if you demonstrate inappropriate dispositions. Moreover, the EAE faculty expect you as adults to be able to self monitor your behavior to determine if there may be some problems. If there are, you need to meet with your advisor and/or members of the EAE faculty to discuss solutions and/or options other than a career in English Education.  It would be unfortunate if you were to fail screening based on inappropriate dispositions because you were unable or unwilling to recognize and to remedy potential problems earlier in the program.

Professional dispositions are not mysterious. Essentially, they are the traits necessary for being a good teacher. Most generally, these dispositions include the professional behaviors discussed above. You should refer to the official disposition handout from the College of Education for more specific descriptions of dispositions.

Here are some specific dispositional problems you need to avoid:

1)      An unprofessional (rudeness, disrespect, contempt, condescension, detachment, indifference, scorn ridicule, derision, to name a few) attitude;

2)      Unreliability

3)      Disorganization

4)      Patterns of thinking/speaking incompatible with successful teaching

5)      Acute anxiety

As part of the English Adolescence Education program, you take a series of pedagogy courses (ENGL101, ENGL103, ENGL250, ENGL355, ENGL356, ENGL357, ENGL450, and EDU419). Each of these courses focuses on how to teach a particular subject (355 is about Adolescent Literature, 356 is about writing, etc.) and share a common educational philosophy. Earning a passing grade (C+) in each of these courses is important and required; however, you also need to be able to understand, to remember, and to explain how each of these courses will influence your future teaching. You will be asked to do so during screening in your junior year. If you are unable to talk quite specifically about what you learned in these courses about teaching, chances are you will not pass screening. Instead, you will be asked to retake the pedagogy courses regardless of the grade you earned the first time. You will then be able to re-screen the following year. Of course, we do not expect you to be able to talk about courses you have not yet taken. However, if you have not taken more than one or two (often the case with transfers and second B.A.’s), there is a good chance that you will be required to spend an additional year taking these courses before the professional year so that you will have the knowledge necessary for success in Senior Seminar, Methods, and Student Teaching.

If you are having problems with the class, PLEASE see me.  That’s what learning is about, people helping people.  I would LOVE to have you visit me during my office hours.  You can be sure I will not hesitate to see you if you are having problems.   Other sources of help to consider:

The Learning Center                          4^th Floor, Reed Library                       673-3550
Disability Support Services               in The Learning Center                      673-3270
Counseling Center                             LoGrasso Hall                                     673-3424

Any student needing to arrange a reasonable accommodation for a documented disability should contact Disability Support Services at 673-3270 (Voice) or 673-4763 (TTY).