Have fun and a little vent
My advice to new tutors would be to have fun! If you show enthusiasm for not only writing, but for the student, this will rub off on the student and other tutors. In many of my tutoring sessions I have had students who are reserved at the beginning of the session, but by the end of it they are able to laugh at their own mistakes. It is so important, not only in tutoring, but in life, to be able to laugh at yourself!
It has been quite an experience to be a writing tutor, an experience that only those who have tutored before can relate to. One of the reasons why I like the blogs is because I am able to tell other tutors about my experiences. I try to tell my friends who have never tutored before about a certain tutoring session, but they are not able to fully understand what I have gone through because they have not been a tutor before.
I had a tutoring session today where I felt completely helpless. I had helped this particular student before and I thought that I did an ok job. It was 12:35 when I started getting her ready to go today and she told me about the grade she got on the last paper she brought it. Apparently her teacher marked her down on a lot of grammar issues and gave her 52%. She kept on saying that her teacher hates her and that is why she always gets low grades on her papers. Personally, I think the teacher is probably grading a little harsh, but the student is probably being harsh too saying that the teacher hates her.
I began the session, knowing that in the last session I helped her get 52%, a little hesitant. No pressure, right? The end of my shift was at 1:00, so I figured that we would be able to go over the important issues before I had to leave. By the time it was 1:00 we were only on the second paragraph. She had spent pretty much the entire session trying to rearrange one sentence that I didn’t believe even needed to be rearranged. She would ask for suggestions, but didn’t like any of the ones that I was giving her.
During the session I felt like she just wanted me to do all the work, but then when I tried to help and give her suggestions she would just throw them back in my face. She actually would violently slide her paper at me to read it. I just wanted to yell at her and say think about what you want to write, write it, and then come back and somebody else will help you.
I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to do the work for her, but at the same time I didn’t want to just stare at one sentence for 30 minutes. I felt relieved as soon as I was able to leave the session. And now it is nice to write about the experience. One good tutoring session can make up for three bad ones. Through this semester I have had plenty of good sessions that replace the bad. Thanks for listening!
It has been quite an experience to be a writing tutor, an experience that only those who have tutored before can relate to. One of the reasons why I like the blogs is because I am able to tell other tutors about my experiences. I try to tell my friends who have never tutored before about a certain tutoring session, but they are not able to fully understand what I have gone through because they have not been a tutor before.
I had a tutoring session today where I felt completely helpless. I had helped this particular student before and I thought that I did an ok job. It was 12:35 when I started getting her ready to go today and she told me about the grade she got on the last paper she brought it. Apparently her teacher marked her down on a lot of grammar issues and gave her 52%. She kept on saying that her teacher hates her and that is why she always gets low grades on her papers. Personally, I think the teacher is probably grading a little harsh, but the student is probably being harsh too saying that the teacher hates her.
I began the session, knowing that in the last session I helped her get 52%, a little hesitant. No pressure, right? The end of my shift was at 1:00, so I figured that we would be able to go over the important issues before I had to leave. By the time it was 1:00 we were only on the second paragraph. She had spent pretty much the entire session trying to rearrange one sentence that I didn’t believe even needed to be rearranged. She would ask for suggestions, but didn’t like any of the ones that I was giving her.
During the session I felt like she just wanted me to do all the work, but then when I tried to help and give her suggestions she would just throw them back in my face. She actually would violently slide her paper at me to read it. I just wanted to yell at her and say think about what you want to write, write it, and then come back and somebody else will help you.
I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to do the work for her, but at the same time I didn’t want to just stare at one sentence for 30 minutes. I felt relieved as soon as I was able to leave the session. And now it is nice to write about the experience. One good tutoring session can make up for three bad ones. Through this semester I have had plenty of good sessions that replace the bad. Thanks for listening!
posted by Anonymous at 1:59 PM
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