One way to cure apathy.
Motivation is essential to creativity. Without motivation no meaningful art can be produced. Picasso painted Guernica because he wanted to show the world the horrors of war. Gandhi marched across India to protest British imperialism. Dante wrote his “Comedy” to criticize the injustices and corruption of 12th century Europe.
The student sitting across the table from you wrote his paper because his professor told him to.
While the parallel created between the last example and the previous ones is an exaggeration, there is a correlation between the amount of motivation and the quality of writing produced. In order to inspire better writing the tutor needs to find the motivation present in the student and exploit it in the writing process.
It is possible that the “apathetic” student in front of you does have at least a minimal desire to write, even if they are driven by something as simple as wanting a passing grade or money from his/her family. Maybe this motivation is slightly bigger and, to give a few examples, the student has a great interest sports, cars, religion, or politics. The trick for the tutor is to detect this motivation, draw it out of the student, and then transfer this energy into the student’s writing in a way that relates to the assignment.
One possible way for the tutor to use the energy that a student has for something and turn it to writing might come through a trick known as Behavior Momentum. In this practice the tutor finds out what the student’s desired activities are and then uses them to make the student comply in doing an undesirable task. When the tutor has built up enough enthusiasm about things the student likes, then the tutor can carry over that energy into the undesirable activity. Such a scenario might go as such:
TUTOR: “So you like cars? What kind of car do you have?”
STUDENT: “A 2005 McLauren.”
TUTOR: “Awesome! Where do you drive it around?”
STUDENT: “I drive it down the ‘vard and pick up compliant women with my homies.”
TUTOR: “Uh, cool. So what are you writing about in this paper?”
It may sound a little weird, but the enthusiasm that the person who you are talking to will carry over from talking about the things that person loves onto that which they hate. After you get the student’s attention focused toward the paper then all that is left to be done is to intermittently reinforce the student with positive comments about the writing. The rest of the work will be in their hands.
In this way the tutor can subtly ease the apathy out of the student.
The tutor must also be a model of enthusiasm for the student to see. If tutors are apathetic about their jobs and the writing process, then already apathetic students will follow suit. When tutors are interested in their jobs, and in what students are doing, then interest in writing on the part of the student will flourish.
The student sitting across the table from you wrote his paper because his professor told him to.
While the parallel created between the last example and the previous ones is an exaggeration, there is a correlation between the amount of motivation and the quality of writing produced. In order to inspire better writing the tutor needs to find the motivation present in the student and exploit it in the writing process.
It is possible that the “apathetic” student in front of you does have at least a minimal desire to write, even if they are driven by something as simple as wanting a passing grade or money from his/her family. Maybe this motivation is slightly bigger and, to give a few examples, the student has a great interest sports, cars, religion, or politics. The trick for the tutor is to detect this motivation, draw it out of the student, and then transfer this energy into the student’s writing in a way that relates to the assignment.
One possible way for the tutor to use the energy that a student has for something and turn it to writing might come through a trick known as Behavior Momentum. In this practice the tutor finds out what the student’s desired activities are and then uses them to make the student comply in doing an undesirable task. When the tutor has built up enough enthusiasm about things the student likes, then the tutor can carry over that energy into the undesirable activity. Such a scenario might go as such:
TUTOR: “So you like cars? What kind of car do you have?”
STUDENT: “A 2005 McLauren.”
TUTOR: “Awesome! Where do you drive it around?”
STUDENT: “I drive it down the ‘vard and pick up compliant women with my homies.”
TUTOR: “Uh, cool. So what are you writing about in this paper?”
It may sound a little weird, but the enthusiasm that the person who you are talking to will carry over from talking about the things that person loves onto that which they hate. After you get the student’s attention focused toward the paper then all that is left to be done is to intermittently reinforce the student with positive comments about the writing. The rest of the work will be in their hands.
In this way the tutor can subtly ease the apathy out of the student.
The tutor must also be a model of enthusiasm for the student to see. If tutors are apathetic about their jobs and the writing process, then already apathetic students will follow suit. When tutors are interested in their jobs, and in what students are doing, then interest in writing on the part of the student will flourish.
posted by Anonymous at 9:20 AM
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