The Practical Tutor

By Denny J. Meyer, Louise Z. Smith, Emily Meyer

Book Overview

In the classroom, the workplace, and the home, more and more teachers, professionals, teaching assistants, peer tutors and parents have need of a practical, hands-on guide to helping their students, associates and teen-agers improve their composition skills. Designed to meet the needs of those who lack formal pedagogical training in composition, The Practical Tutor is an invaluable tool for writers at various levels in both formal and informal educational settings. The book alerts its readers to issues that frequently arise in the writing process, explores typical writing problems and their causes, summarizes recent research and thinking in the field of composition, and suggests strategies for helping writers overcome their difficulties. By analyzing samples of writers' compositions, and by including sample dialogues between tutors and writers, the book suggests, in the most practical terms, how to formulate questions that will spur writers to make their own corrections, and how to help them write critically and independently. Appropriate as both a course text in the training of peer tutors, or as a reference book for home or office, The Practical Tutor includes exercises and bibliographies for getting acquainted with writers, helping them generate ideas, shape essays, master basic writing mechanics, and even use computers to improve their work.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195038657
• ISBN13: 9780195038651
• Release Date: September 1987
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Excellent resource

As a tutor at a university Writing Center, I have found this book very useful. The sample tutoring sessions are very realistic and can teach new tutors to gently and skillfully direct a student to come up with his or her own answers. Also useful are the brainstorming and organizing techniques. A person with no teaching or tutoring experience can pick up this book and learn how to tutor effectively.

Helpful!

I had to read this book for a class entitled "Teaching Writing." It contains a lot of useful information on tutoring-I applied some of the principles to the students I tutored, and our sessions became much better! I highly recommend it!