Just walk away...but come back.
I had a problematic essay to deal with just the other day. The woman I worked with couldn’t find the instructions for the assignment, so we had to go on with what she remembered. She had labored long on the paper, and did a fairly good job putting it together, but she needed to clean up the grammar and word choices. After about 30 minutes I started asking her if she was ready to stop, but she just wanted to keep going. We worked for over an hour on that paper, but it was looking pretty good by then.
Then she remembered she needed to print something up. It ended up being the instructions for her paper. Her paper had nothing to do with the assignment at all. It was a catastrophic blow.
I had to mentally step back and decide what to do. I had just invested an hour in this paper. It was easy to feel stupid, embarrassed, even a little betrayed. I’m sure it was worse for my tutee. I decided I needed to salvage the moment for her.
I told her to save the paper for later. It was a good autobiographical introduction, and I told her she might need it for another class someday. Then I went through the instructions with her and outlined on paper what steps to take next. I told her she was welcome to come back when she needed help again. Fortunately for her, she still had a few weeks to go before the paper would be due.
I hope she comes back.
I think I handled the situation in the best way possible. It was difficult to know what to say, and to know what to refrain from saying, but I think my tutee understood that there was still hope, and even humor, in the situation. I am sure that she will NEVER AGAIN forget to check the assignment first. I just hope the disappointment won’t keep her from trying again.
Will I always know just what to say in a difficult situation? No, I’m sure I won’t. And I’m sure I will want to, and I’m sure I’ll feel bad that I can’t. Still, I enjoy having the chance to try, and to learn ways to do it all better.
Don’t get me wrong. I do know how to walk away when someone is being totally unreasonable. For instance, one young man came into the Writing Center wanting help finding the last word in his word find puzzle. I showed him a dictionary and left.
Now, what would I do if an essay is deeply offensive? That would have to depend on the situation. Some things I can ignore and just push on through, others would be harder. I think I’d do my best to just get the job done. If I couldn’t, I would have to defer to Claire, the queen of all knowledge. What should I do? What would be ethical in that situation? I would like to know more about it.
Then she remembered she needed to print something up. It ended up being the instructions for her paper. Her paper had nothing to do with the assignment at all. It was a catastrophic blow.
I had to mentally step back and decide what to do. I had just invested an hour in this paper. It was easy to feel stupid, embarrassed, even a little betrayed. I’m sure it was worse for my tutee. I decided I needed to salvage the moment for her.
I told her to save the paper for later. It was a good autobiographical introduction, and I told her she might need it for another class someday. Then I went through the instructions with her and outlined on paper what steps to take next. I told her she was welcome to come back when she needed help again. Fortunately for her, she still had a few weeks to go before the paper would be due.
I hope she comes back.
I think I handled the situation in the best way possible. It was difficult to know what to say, and to know what to refrain from saying, but I think my tutee understood that there was still hope, and even humor, in the situation. I am sure that she will NEVER AGAIN forget to check the assignment first. I just hope the disappointment won’t keep her from trying again.
Will I always know just what to say in a difficult situation? No, I’m sure I won’t. And I’m sure I will want to, and I’m sure I’ll feel bad that I can’t. Still, I enjoy having the chance to try, and to learn ways to do it all better.
Don’t get me wrong. I do know how to walk away when someone is being totally unreasonable. For instance, one young man came into the Writing Center wanting help finding the last word in his word find puzzle. I showed him a dictionary and left.
Now, what would I do if an essay is deeply offensive? That would have to depend on the situation. Some things I can ignore and just push on through, others would be harder. I think I’d do my best to just get the job done. If I couldn’t, I would have to defer to Claire, the queen of all knowledge. What should I do? What would be ethical in that situation? I would like to know more about it.
Labels: problematic essay
posted by Gabrielle at 3:10 PM
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