The first five minutes of the session I observed...

In the first five minutes of the session, I introduced myself to the tutor and the learner. I had a set of forms for both to sign giving their consent for me to observe them. I answered a couple of questions regarding confidentiality from the student then she and the tutor signed the papers. Vanessa was the tutor and Camille was the student in the session that I observed.

Thomas Newkirk’s ideas are realistic. He is right when he says in his article, “The First Five Minutes: Setting the Agenda in a Writing Conference” that the sessions are only a certain period of time and if there is not direction to go in, the session will go on and on, wasting both the student’s and the teacher’s time. He also says to pick one or two important issues to concentrate on that both the tutor and the student agree on to make sure that the conference does not “backfire.” He calls this agreement “a meeting of the minds.”

Vanessa and Camille quickly came to a “meeting of the minds” as recommended by Newkirk in the first five minutes of the session that I observed. Naturally, they already have a rapport from having been in the same class. Also, by this time, both know what is expected of them in their respective roles of tutor and student. So, it has to be more comfortable for us classmates as we role play than it will be when we are approached by students for tutoring or when we’re an observer and the student or even the tutor does not know who we are.

Tutor and teacher were friendly and pleasant to each other in the session. Vanessa sat next to Camille. There were more observers than I to the session. The members of the class were in the audience. This did not distract the tutor. However the student admitted that she was distracted by all of the attention her piece was receiving.

Vanessa had asked Camille to read the piece that she had written. Camille read it and Vanessa asked questions that were direct yet pleasant and open without any judgments or assumptions on her part. The tutor asked what was the main point that Camille wanted to make. The teacher gently questioned and spoke positively throughout the session. This was well received by the student.

The two main ideas that the tutor brings up to the student should have to do with higher order concerns. Vanessa asked, “What is the main idea?” She also explained to the student that her conclusion needed more to it. Vanessa didn’t think the paper’s conclusion had a clear focus. Camille felt very strongly that her conclusion was good and Camille kept the conclusion just as it was. Camille also found her own minor mistakes, (lower order concerns) while she was reading.