Here I Come to Save the Day

I don't think I've had trouble with a reluctant tutee, but then again, the more I consider the question, the more I wonder whether I've been overtaking the sessions without realizing it. I'm getting better at explaining some of the grammatical errors, but I've been trying to remind myself that, with native speakers, you can't just start correcting stuff without suggesting any open ended questions to them. The tutee needs to come to a conclusion by themselves, instead of me simply saying what I think would be better and them agreeing with it, in an "uh huh" or "yeah" response. Thinking about it now, I believe I am overtaking the sessions. I suppose I still have a ways to go, but then again that's why I'm still in training. All of us have drifted off-course and over-corrected at least once or twice before, and I'm still learning that I am no exception.

But, thinking about it, I don't suppose I've had any problems with non-responsive tutees. I've only had one in recent memory that I can think of where the tutee was simply "yes" and "uh huh," but then again he was an ESL student and a very good writer to begin with, so there wasn't much else to say about the paper.

So I guess that my biggest worry about those "dark and handsome silent types" is that I'll just end up doing their paper for them, and not helping them, as individuals, learn how to write better. But at least I'm aware of the problem, now, so that's the most important thing, I'm also mildly worried that I won't be able to help the tutee at all, because he or she will simply not tell me what he or she is looking for help with. I'm worried that the tutee will just walk off and get nothing out of the session, and the teacher and/or class and/or classmates will think the Writing Center is useless, and that conception will spread like a disease throughout campus, and the Writing Center'll be closed down, and I'll be out of a job, and...