Why does it only sound creepy when I say it?
This blog entry is probably a little too late, but I have to do it because I’m a nerd and not doing homework makes me crazy.
I admit that I have broken a few rules. I’ve taken over sessions and just basically told the student what to write, and I’ve been impatient.
Annnyhow…now that everyone’s a little uncomfortable I’ll make a bad analogy: I break the rules at work much like I smoke cigarettes; hardly ever, but when I’m stressed out and busy, I’ll do it at least once a day. It’s easy to follow the rules when you have time. If every session were 40 minutes long and all the students were there because they genuinely wanted to be, then it’d be easy to develop rapport, ask questions, organize globally and locally, and make sure that the only marks on the paper are those of the student. If you follow the rules then this is what should happen in every tutoring session, right?
At the beginning of the semester this type of ideal scenario was a possibility, and it was easy to follow the rules. Towards the end it all changed. Suddenly there were all these students lined up out the door, and we even had to tutor outside and keep sessions as short as possible. Some of them were mad too because they were being forced to be there and they couldn’t have cared less about stupid writing our about any stupid thesis or about how stupid the stupid paragraph topic sentences that the stupid professor was making them do for the stupid English class that they’ll never need because they’re going to be a nurse anyway and they heard that nurses never need to use stupid writing anyway so just sign the stupid evaluation paper and let them go already. That was different.
During those busy sessions I often found myself doing the majority of the work. I’d try to ask them leading questions and they’d just sit there and look at me until I gave a good suggestion. The trick where the tutor waits out the student would have worked, but like I said, there were people lined up out the door and time was short.
Another bad situation that I found myself in around the end of the semester was that while all of us would be trying our best to keep the program running smoothly, there would always be one person who just refused to disengage from a session. The 20 minutes would be up and this student wouldn’t take any hints (polite or otherwise) that the session was O-V-E-R and that other students needed help too. So this is where I kind of got a little more impatient than I should have, I guess.
Well, that’s all that I’m willing to confess too. I’m sure I broke a few other rules too. Maybe I’ll think of them later on. If you were working with me I probably ate all the life savers in the candy dish. That’s not really a broken rule, but it is rude. Forgive me.
I admit that I have broken a few rules. I’ve taken over sessions and just basically told the student what to write, and I’ve been impatient.
Annnyhow…now that everyone’s a little uncomfortable I’ll make a bad analogy: I break the rules at work much like I smoke cigarettes; hardly ever, but when I’m stressed out and busy, I’ll do it at least once a day. It’s easy to follow the rules when you have time. If every session were 40 minutes long and all the students were there because they genuinely wanted to be, then it’d be easy to develop rapport, ask questions, organize globally and locally, and make sure that the only marks on the paper are those of the student. If you follow the rules then this is what should happen in every tutoring session, right?
At the beginning of the semester this type of ideal scenario was a possibility, and it was easy to follow the rules. Towards the end it all changed. Suddenly there were all these students lined up out the door, and we even had to tutor outside and keep sessions as short as possible. Some of them were mad too because they were being forced to be there and they couldn’t have cared less about stupid writing our about any stupid thesis or about how stupid the stupid paragraph topic sentences that the stupid professor was making them do for the stupid English class that they’ll never need because they’re going to be a nurse anyway and they heard that nurses never need to use stupid writing anyway so just sign the stupid evaluation paper and let them go already. That was different.
During those busy sessions I often found myself doing the majority of the work. I’d try to ask them leading questions and they’d just sit there and look at me until I gave a good suggestion. The trick where the tutor waits out the student would have worked, but like I said, there were people lined up out the door and time was short.
Another bad situation that I found myself in around the end of the semester was that while all of us would be trying our best to keep the program running smoothly, there would always be one person who just refused to disengage from a session. The 20 minutes would be up and this student wouldn’t take any hints (polite or otherwise) that the session was O-V-E-R and that other students needed help too. So this is where I kind of got a little more impatient than I should have, I guess.
Well, that’s all that I’m willing to confess too. I’m sure I broke a few other rules too. Maybe I’ll think of them later on. If you were working with me I probably ate all the life savers in the candy dish. That’s not really a broken rule, but it is rude. Forgive me.
posted by Anonymous at 11:08 AM
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