My Thoughts on Tutoring (Before Actually Doing It)

It is interesting to me that the last time I regularly posted on a blog was in ninth grade. Back then, five hundred words seemed an impossible task for me to accomplish weekly. How long ago that seems now! So much has changed in just four short years but here I am again, as another freshman in another school, posting blogs. The irony in life! When I began this tutoring class, I thought that there couldn’t possibly be that much to learn about tutoring other people. But after skimming through some of the chapters and already discussing a few things in class, I think that I am about to be proven very wrong. I have done a few tutoring jobs in the past but I am a bit concerned that tutoring writing will be different from anything else I have done so far. Last year before I graduated from high school, I was a tutor at a local junior high school where I helped in just about every subject offered there. Many times, however, the job was more of a babysitting gig; keeping the kids on track, making sure they were completing their assignments, etc, etc. Obviously, I don’t think that will be the case with college students (at least, hopefully not). On the side, I was a private math tutor. Its one thing to be able to explain concrete things such as formulas and the intricacies of graphing, but quite another to try to express how to write a good paper, one that not only gets the job done but is beautiful in its own way. It comes very naturally to me to be able to sit down and write my own thoughts and feelings on a matter, but I think it takes a great deal of training and skill to be able to convey this to others. Especially others who need help on the subject. I really liked the first chapter’s discussion on how important it is to include the student in the writing process. I firmly believe that if the student does not comprehend the lessons being taught, than the tutoring session has been a waste. The problem is, then, how to make the student understand the need for this comprehension and, more importantly, actually learn the lesson of the session. That is, in my mind at least, what this class is set out to do. By training the tutor in the skills necessary to facilitate this sort of understanding, the tutor can then “train” their tutee in turn. Writing is one of my passions, and I am looking forward to sharing my love for this art with others who obviously don’t see the underlying beauty in it. Perhaps these sessions alone will not inspire great love for the art (to believe that they might, would be wonderful and, I’m afraid, highly idealistic) but perhaps students can gain a sort of appreciation for writing, and will approach their assigned English papers in a different light. Not only should they learn the fundamentals to writing their papers, but I would hope that it shift from a heavy burden to a somewhat meaningful assignment. I’m sure my high hopes will be quickly crushed as soon as I am actually in a tutoring session, but for now at least, I will remain optimistic. I am excited to begin tutoring and even more excited to begin it with the knowledge gleaned from this class!