Monday, May 19, 2008

Training Tutors

I located two articles one by North "Training Tutors to Talk about Writing" and one by Bruffee
"Training and Using Peer Tutors" both of which were referenced in Trimbur's artical "Peer Tutoring: A Contradiction in Terms?" Is Trimbur suggesting a sequencing of elements from both the apprentice and co-learner models relative to the experience and development of individual tutors? He seems to be saying 1. Bruffee – new tutors need to learn to become collaborative learners – deals with “expectations and definitions of their activity as tutors” “concrete and practical experience co-learning” which will lead to confidence; 2. As they become more experienced, they need composition theory and pedagogy according to tutors’ interests and purposes. Won’t this create more of a crisis between the tutor/peer concepts?

1 comment:

Karen Neubauer said...

I read Trimbur as emphasizing that we cannot overlook the value of the "peer" component in peer tutoring, and I found his analysis in the "what is a tutor?" section identified me very well. While I have not been institutionalized as a tutor in the academy, I have been an unofficial tutor to many peers since I was in high school. I recognize the social tension that Trimbur writes about, and the trap I fell into when I was designated by the institution as "teacher." I lost some of the peer value to the writers with whom I worked, but I could have ameliorated that if I had not also adopted the attitude of missionary. Trimbur's idea of treating tutors developmentally (293) would have been helpful to me.