1. Before class starts
Get there a few minutes early when possible and check in with Jay.Your questions can be simple:
“What are they working on today?”
“Is there anything you want me watching for?”
“Do you want me circulating during this part?”
“Are there any students who might need an extra check-in today?”
You mainly need to know what students are supposed to accomplish by the end of class.
Keep Canvas open on your laptop if you're able to. Since assignments are organized through Canvas modules, being able to pull up the prompt while helping someone will save you from tutoring based on memory.
2. During lecture: listen like a tutor
You don't tutor while Jay is actively teaching.Instead, listen for:
Assignment expectations.
If Jay says, “For this paragraph I want you to…” mentally flag that. Students frequently remember the topic but forget the actual task.Terminology students may struggle with.
For this course, that might include:claim
evidence
reasoning
rhetorical situation
inductive reasoning
deductive reasoning
cognitive bias
fallacy
refutation
thesis
quote sandwich
visual analysis
Those concepts directly connect to the course objectives.
Moments of visible confusion.
You will start recognizing the look.Jay says something. Three students immediately start working. Two stare at Canvas. One whispers, “What are we supposed to do?”
That's your cue later. You don't need to interrupt the professor. Just remember where the confusion happened.
3. Once students start working: MOVE
This is where you're most valuable. Don't park yourself at a desk and announce:“Come see me if you need help.”
Students who need you most often won't.
Walk around. Look at screens without hovering over people. Ask casual questions.
Try:
“How's it going?”
If they say “fine,” that's not necessarily the end of the conversation.
Follow with:
“What are you working on right now?”
Now they have something concrete to answer.
You can also use:
“What part are you on?”
“Do you know what you want to argue yet?”
“Show me what you've got.”
“Where did you get stuck?”
That feels much less intimidating than:
“Do you need tutoring?”
4. Your golden tutoring question
For this particular class, one question can carry you through half the semester:“What are you trying to convince your reader of?”
If they can't answer that, they probably don't have a clear argument yet.
Then work backward.
Student:
“I'm writing about Frida Kahlo's injuries.”
You:
“Okay. What about her injuries?”
Student:
“They affected her paintings.”
You:
“Good. How?”
Student:
“She painted what she was experiencing.”
Now you're getting somewhere.
You might say:
“So it sounds like you're arguing that her physical suffering influenced the way she represented herself in her art. Is that close to what you mean?”
Notice what you're doing. You're helping them articulate their idea, not giving them an argument to copy. That's exactly where an embedded tutor belongs.
5. When a student says, “I don't know what to write.”
Don't immediately give them a sentence.Ask questions.
Try this sequence:
“What's the assignment asking you to do?”
Then:
“Tell me your answer without worrying about sounding academic.”
This is one of my favorite tutoring moves.
A student may freeze when you ask:
“What's your thesis?”
But they'll happily tell you:
“I basically think people misunderstand Frida because everybody makes her into this inspirational girlboss thing when her life was actually really complicated.”
There's your argument.
Then you can say:
“Okay. That's actually interesting. Now let's figure out how to turn what you just told me into an academic argument.”
Their voice stays intact.
6. Thesis days
You'll probably be extremely useful here. Instead of asking whether a thesis is “good,” break it apart.Ask:
What is the topic?
What is the student's claim about it?
Could someone reasonably disagree?
Does the essay actually have enough evidence to prove it?
If the thesis is:
“Frida Kahlo was an influential Mexican artist.”
You can say:
“That's true information, but where's your argument? What are you saying about her influence?”
You're teaching the difference between topic, fact, and claim, which is central to this course.
7. Evidence days
Use the question:“How does this prove your point?”
Students often think inserting a quotation automatically equals evidence.
So if they show you a quote, don't immediately correct formatting.
Ask:
“What does this quote show?”
Then:
“How does that connect back to your claim?”
Then:
“Does your reader know why this quote matters?”
You're pushing them into analysis.
For the course's planned quote sandwich work, this will be especially useful because the Frida project specifically builds toward research through summaries, quotes, outlines, thesis work, visual analysis, refutation, and a Works Cited list.
A simple formula you can use:
Set it up → give the evidence → explain why it matters.
8. Research days
Don't become Google-with-a-human-face.Your goal isn't:
“Here, use this source.”
Instead:
“What are you trying to find out?”
Then help them turn that into search language.
Student:
“I want to write about Frida's pain.”
You:
“Physical pain? Emotional pain? Her accident? Disability? How pain appears in her paintings?”
That conversation teaches research thinking. Then evaluate sources together:
Who wrote it?
Where was it published?
Is this scholarly, journalistic, biographical, or just someone's opinion?
What evidence does the author provide?
Would you trust this source for this particular claim? Why?
Those questions directly reinforce the course objective of locating and evaluating complex texts and different forms of authority.
9. Group-work days
Don't automatically become the group leader. Hover near groups long enough to hear what they're doing. If they're productive, leave them alone. If they're stuck, enter with:“Okay, catch me up. What have you guys figured out?”
That makes them explain their thinking to you.
If one person is dominating:
“I'm curious what everyone else thinks.”
If they're all staring silently:
“Let's start with the easiest question. What do we know?”
If they're debating:
Great. This is a critical-thinking course. Don't immediately resolve disagreement.
Ask:
“What evidence supports each side?”
Now the disagreement becomes the lesson.
10. When you notice a mistake
Don't say:“That's wrong.”
Try:
“Tell me what you mean here.”
Or:
“Read this sentence out loud to me.”
Or:
“What does this pronoun refer to?”
Or:
“What's your reader supposed to understand from this?”
Let the student discover as much as possible.
11. Grammar
Don't turn every interaction into grammar surgery.If you're looking at a paragraph with:
comma problems,
awkward sentences,
weak evidence,
no clear argument,
and confusing organization,
the commas are probably not the emergency.
Start higher:
What is this paragraph trying to accomplish?
Then organization.
Then evidence.
Then sentence clarity.
Then grammar.
Otherwise you can spend ten minutes fixing commas in a paragraph that the student eventually deletes.
12. Revision days
These could become some of your strongest embedded-tutoring days.Ask students to identify:
The strongest paragraph
and
The paragraph they're least confident about.
Start with the weak one.
Then ask:
“What job is this paragraph doing?”
Maybe the paragraph's job is:
provide background,
introduce the argument,
establish evidence,
analyze evidence,
acknowledge the opposing view,
refute an opposing claim,
explain significance,
conclude.
If the student doesn't know the paragraph's job, the reader probably won't either.
13. Refutation day
This course specifically includes a “Refutation – The Other Side of the Story” component in the Frida project. This is an excellent tutoring opportunity.Ask:
“What's the strongest reasonable objection someone could make to your argument?”
Then:
“Can you acknowledge something valid about that position before explaining why your argument still holds?”
That teaches genuine argument rather than:
Some people disagree with me. They're wrong.
14. If Jay asks you to address the whole class
Keep it short.Think two to five minutes, not twenty.
For example: Thesis
“Before you finalize your thesis, ask yourself three things: What am I claiming? Could a reasonable person disagree? And can I actually prove this with the evidence I've found?”
Done. Then let them work. You can reinforce it individually while circulating.
15. Students who are embarrassed to ask for help
Normalize tutoring constantly.Instead of:
“You're struggling with this.”
Try:
“This is one of those assignments where talking it through usually helps.”
Or:
“Most people don't write a thesis perfectly on the first try.”
Or:
“You actually already have the idea. We're just figuring out how to organize it.”
You're reducing embarrassment without lowering expectations.
16. The student who wants you to do it for them
You'll absolutely get:“What should I write?”
You:
“I'll help you figure that out. Tell me what you think first.”
If they say:
“I don't know.”
Give choices without giving the answer:
“Okay. Are you more interested in her art, her physical injuries, her politics, her relationships, her identity, or something else?”
Then interrogate the choice. You can provide structure generously while protecting authorship.
That also fits the class's academic-integrity policy, which allows assistance and preparation but requires submitted writing to be the student's own.
17. The advanced student
Don't ignore them because they're already doing well.Ask harder questions.
“What's the weakest assumption in your argument?”
“What evidence would change your mind?”
“Is there another reasonable interpretation of this source?”
“Who's your intended audience?”
“Would this argument persuade somebody who doesn't already agree with you?”
18. The overwhelmed student
Don't attack the entire assignment. Shrink it.“Forget the whole essay for a minute. What's one thing we can accomplish before class ends?”
Maybe:
Choose the topic.
Then:
Write the research question.
Then:
Find one usable source.
Then:
Draft one working claim.
Progress becomes visible.
19. Your relationship with Jay
Embedded tutoring works best when students can tell:Jay teaches the course. Tutor supports the learning.
You don't want to accidentally become:
Second Professor with an alternative interpretation of the assignment.
If you're unsure about what Jay wants:
“That's a good question. Before I tell you the wrong thing, let's ask Jay what he wants for this assignment.”
That actually increases your credibility.
20. End of class
Use the last few minutes to check the room. Look for the student who's still staring at the assignment.Walk over:
“Before you leave—do you know what your next step is?”
That question is gold.
They don't necessarily need to finish.
They need to leave knowing what comes next.
If you have a minute with Jay afterward, give useful patterns rather than student gossip:
“A few people seemed confused about the difference between a topic and a thesis.”
or
“Most of them understand the quote, but they're having trouble explaining why the evidence matters.”
That helps Jay decide what may need reteaching.
Your embedded-tutor philosophy
I'd keep this in your head throughout the semester:Don't ask, “How can I fix this paper?”
Ask:
“What can I teach this student right now that they'll be able to use on the next paper without me?”
That's the difference between proofreading and tutoring.
And because this class intentionally builds the Frida project in stages—topic selection, research, summary, quotation integration, definition, outline, thesis, introduction, drafts, visual analysis, refutation, conclusion, and Works Cited—you have a fantastic setup for seeing the same students repeatedly apply skills that you've worked on together.
By the end of the semester, the ideal progression is:
“Hi, what do I do?”
becoming
“Hi, I think I know what I need to do, but can I talk it through with you?”
and eventually:
“I figured it out.”
That's the win.
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