Learning Strategies
This blog encourages you to put into practice, observe & reflect on some of the learning strategies outlined in Unit 5
First, try one or more of the strategies provided in this unit in your own professional or personal life. For example, you might set a SMART goal or use one of the time management strategies.
In your blog, reflect on how well the strategy worked. What aspects of this strategy might you share with a student during a tutoring session? What aspects might you refine or modify?
Next either try out this strategy or one of the other learning strategies with a tutee, observe how the strategy worked (you may need to spread the observation over two sessions) and then record your findings. Reflect on the effectiveness of the strategy for that particular student, and note any modifications you might make.
One strategy I tried this semester was purposely setting aside blocks of free time in my schedule. After the first week of tutoring, I realized that I can’t be glued to a computer screen for hours on end–there has to be some sort of break in between every 2-3 sessions so that I can eat, get up and walk around, allow my eyes to look at other things than a screen, etc. I’ve also forced myself to take one day at a time and focus on what the present day holds rather than worry about what’s due days in advance. I did, of course, still work on future assignments to ensure I had enough time to complete them and get them started, but I stopped myself from worrying and getting anxious, which helped me focus more on the “what’s due today and what can I get done today.” I think in a tutoring session, sometimes a five-minute break–depending on how long the session is–can be beneficial to students because being forced to stare at an assignment for an hour straight might lead to writer’s block or burnout, thus leading to the student shutting down and not being receptive to assistance. I also think that generally speaking, students should try to schedule breaks in between classes so that they have the chance to take care of their needs and even allow themselves a mental break.
I did not try the “taking a break” strategy since most of my students would probably never rejoin the session or come back (a fair amount of them are already distracted and don’t have their cameras on, and when I try to get their attention, I get a lot of “what?”s, “can you repeat that”s, or “sorry, what did you say?”), but the “taking things one step at a time” helped a lot. When faced with assignments like the research paper for the first time, many of my students expressed that they felt overwhelmed and weren’t sure where to start or how to go about the research process. Breaking it down step-by-step and taking it one bit at a time helped them figure out a topic, what their argument was, and then figuring out what sources might support their argument, so the session was productive and it led to the student realizing that research is a process; it takes time and it is not all done in one sitting. Taking the time to go through it step by step helped them to slow down and, instead of worrying about their grade and meeting the minimum amount of pages, they were able to focus instead on how to get started. I tried this with a number of students and it worked very well each time.
Great points—-I just got through looking at my Spring 2022 schedule and blocking off my days. Now, I notice that none of those blocks contain “free time”! However, some blocks contain buffers—-for instance, on Wednesdays, I have blocked off two hours to prep for a class that I have taught many, many times. Likely, I will not use that entire two hours and will, in fact, be able to stand up, walk away from my computer and just maybe – – – go OUTSIDE (!).
When it comes to the students “taking a break” in virtual sessions, yeah, I can see the danger in that. But you might give everyone (including yourself) a ten minute break. For instance, could you say, “OK, let’s all take a bathroom, tea, (if you really want to shock them say “cigarette”) break and come back to our session at 12:10.” Have you done that? Do they really not return? Of course, even in three-hour grad classes, I remember some people coming in late after than 10-15 minute breaks.
In terms of the research project, do the students see that previous work ties into the final paper? I have begun scaffolding assignments so that shorter assignments build towards it. This does not mean that all the students catch onto this fact (even after I have pointed it out to them).