Keith's Tutoring Session #4

This past lesson went very well. Shanshan and I went over a few of her essays together and I was able to explain some of the problems while also pointing out places where there were visible signs of improvement. I really felt like the lesson flowed well, I expressed my thoughts in a clear way and followed up with questions trying to make sure she was understanding.

The cool thing was when I could tell that what I had been saying for the past few weeks was starting to sink in. She had followed the structuring strategies perfectly and now it was only a matter of getting her to paraphrase information from the prompts and placing them inside a point or an opinion. Shanshan had the habit of beginning a paragraph with a topic sentence, following this with a restating of the pertinent facts, and finally adding a point or opinion at the end. I tried to explain that it was important to show her reasoning and her imagination, using the prompt as a sort of springboard. This seemed to be a breakthrough of sorts combined with my explanation that the question was asking her to predict the outcomes of two opposing options, neither one clearly better than the other.

It was also important to reiterate the fact that usually one of the options obviously met one of the considerations while the potential for meeting the other is up in the air. She had made the mistake of manipulating the prompt information to make it seem as though it was superior in both situations.

All this came together when we looked over a prompt together and analyzed the intricacies of the options. We found ways to make arguments for both options, our points being creative interpretations of the issues at hand instead of parroting the information. It was cool to she Shanshan getting it. All she had to do was show why she personally reacted to the question at hand, how she had come to the position, not what the definitive option was. I was really excited at the end of the lesson and am ready to see what her upcoming essays will look like.