Title?
Ok, first of all I need to address Cynthia’s suggestion about not having tutors who are not on shift in the writing center. I can understand why she feels this way, but I don’t necessarily believe that the tutors who aren’t working cause the problem. I am trying not to get too defensive, since I am one of those tutors who “hang out” in the WC, but I think the tutors who are on shift can solve the problem if they do their job better. Often times tutors are so immersed in other things, such as homework, that they don’t pay attention to students who walk in and need help. I tend to find myself guilty of this, but if we make a conscious effort to greet everybody who walks into the WC then we wouldn’t have to face the “Who’s on the clock?” question. The tutor would acknowledge the student and if they need help with their paper, the tutor would then proceed to help the student. I think it is ok to do homework (or make baseball cards : ) ) when on shift, as long as we remember that if a student comes in and needs help we should then focus our attention on them. We need to remember that being on the clock means that we are being paid to tutor students.
About the question “Who’s on the clock?” I find myself asking this question, not because I don’t know who is working, but to tell a particular person that there is a student waiting. I usually try to be as tactless as possible so instead of saying “Hey (insert name)! Get your lazy (bleep) over here and start tutoring” I tend to ask “(Insert name)? Are you on the clock? There is somebody waiting for your help.”
Even though wearing nametags would probably be extremely dorky I think that they would be useful. It’s true that most of the time students coming into the WC have no idea who is a tutor and who isn’t. But then, if tutors are doing their job and acknowledging the student, before the student can acknowledge the tutor then are nametags necessary?
I think that everybody would agree with me when I say that the blinds up in the WC make me feel like I’m in a fish bowl. I’m ok with the ones by the far wall, next to Claire’s desk, but the others kind of creep me out.
Students often come in for help because their teacher either required them to or is giving them extra credit. Usually I just write my name, date, and the WC on their paper, but what if we had a stamp instead? If students notice all we do is write our name, then the next time they are required to come they might “forge our signatures”. This probably isn’t that big of a deal when it comes to others things in the WC, but I personally think it would be cool to use a stamp.
Many times, students come into the WC and only want to use the computers. I can understand if they need to print off a paper that they would like a tutor to go over with them or if they fix a paper after a tutoring session, but a lot of times they don’t. Do these students not realize that there are about ten computer labs on campus with more than four computers? What if we had a list of all the computer labs on campus in the WC? That way, when all the computers in the WC are being used and a student is looking for a computer they will know where to go.
I’ve noticed that most of the things that I have mentioned are local problems, instead of global problems when it comes to working at the WC. Overall, I think the global things we do, such as focus on global issues first, then look at local issues, are working just fine.
About the question “Who’s on the clock?” I find myself asking this question, not because I don’t know who is working, but to tell a particular person that there is a student waiting. I usually try to be as tactless as possible so instead of saying “Hey (insert name)! Get your lazy (bleep) over here and start tutoring” I tend to ask “(Insert name)? Are you on the clock? There is somebody waiting for your help.”
Even though wearing nametags would probably be extremely dorky I think that they would be useful. It’s true that most of the time students coming into the WC have no idea who is a tutor and who isn’t. But then, if tutors are doing their job and acknowledging the student, before the student can acknowledge the tutor then are nametags necessary?
I think that everybody would agree with me when I say that the blinds up in the WC make me feel like I’m in a fish bowl. I’m ok with the ones by the far wall, next to Claire’s desk, but the others kind of creep me out.
Students often come in for help because their teacher either required them to or is giving them extra credit. Usually I just write my name, date, and the WC on their paper, but what if we had a stamp instead? If students notice all we do is write our name, then the next time they are required to come they might “forge our signatures”. This probably isn’t that big of a deal when it comes to others things in the WC, but I personally think it would be cool to use a stamp.
Many times, students come into the WC and only want to use the computers. I can understand if they need to print off a paper that they would like a tutor to go over with them or if they fix a paper after a tutoring session, but a lot of times they don’t. Do these students not realize that there are about ten computer labs on campus with more than four computers? What if we had a list of all the computer labs on campus in the WC? That way, when all the computers in the WC are being used and a student is looking for a computer they will know where to go.
I’ve noticed that most of the things that I have mentioned are local problems, instead of global problems when it comes to working at the WC. Overall, I think the global things we do, such as focus on global issues first, then look at local issues, are working just fine.
posted by Anonymous at 8:31 PM
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