A Reluctant Session
I don’t think that I’m going to have a problem writing five hundred words this week. I could rant and rave all day about my most frustrating and annoying tutoring session. Much of it had to do with the tutee, but the day also contributed to the stress of the situation. I think it was just a crappy day, and that I was at my wits end. Please enjoy as I take you through my journey of stress, irritation, and agony.
It was a late evening shift and Devon and I were in it for the long haul. The tutee walked through the door and it was decided that I would be the one to take the session. In retrospect, I think that rock, paper, scissors should have been instituted to decide who would take the session, but alas, it was not so, and I was designated to take it.
As soon as I looked at the paper I knew that it was going to be rough. A deep sense of despair filled my soul as I accepted my circumstances. We began. The paper was about a step-by-step process of doing something. I don’t remember what the process was. Indeed, I think that I have mentally blocked it out so that I never have to relive that experience.
One of the aggravating things was the way the tutee set the paper up. He decided that he didn’t want to “follow the norm.” His goal was to enhance the “flow” of the paper. To do this he decided that it would be best to tie in the ideas throughout. When he was writing about a specific step, he would bring up the next step before he finished the step he was on. Then he would go back to the first step. He figured that by doing this the paper would flow like a river. He was close…but instead it was a river of fire and death!
I tried to explain that for a paper about a step-by-step process it would probably be better to focus on one step at a time instead of trying out his new idea. I think he understood what I said, but then again maybe he didn’t because as soon as I told him this he went back to his idea about wanted to try and tie it all together in a nice little package…except it was a package of volatile explosives and pain!
It took a little while to help him understand but it eventually hit home. Again, I don’t know the exact mechanism that made this session so terrible. It could have been the time of day, the tutee’s reluctance to listen to reason, or the phase of the moon. All I know is that it was one of the craziest, most frustrating and annoying sessions I have ever had the “privilege” of participating in. Well, I hope you, the reader, enjoyed my blog post for the week and that you were able to pack on the subtle sarcasm contained therein.
It was a late evening shift and Devon and I were in it for the long haul. The tutee walked through the door and it was decided that I would be the one to take the session. In retrospect, I think that rock, paper, scissors should have been instituted to decide who would take the session, but alas, it was not so, and I was designated to take it.
As soon as I looked at the paper I knew that it was going to be rough. A deep sense of despair filled my soul as I accepted my circumstances. We began. The paper was about a step-by-step process of doing something. I don’t remember what the process was. Indeed, I think that I have mentally blocked it out so that I never have to relive that experience.
One of the aggravating things was the way the tutee set the paper up. He decided that he didn’t want to “follow the norm.” His goal was to enhance the “flow” of the paper. To do this he decided that it would be best to tie in the ideas throughout. When he was writing about a specific step, he would bring up the next step before he finished the step he was on. Then he would go back to the first step. He figured that by doing this the paper would flow like a river. He was close…but instead it was a river of fire and death!
I tried to explain that for a paper about a step-by-step process it would probably be better to focus on one step at a time instead of trying out his new idea. I think he understood what I said, but then again maybe he didn’t because as soon as I told him this he went back to his idea about wanted to try and tie it all together in a nice little package…except it was a package of volatile explosives and pain!
It took a little while to help him understand but it eventually hit home. Again, I don’t know the exact mechanism that made this session so terrible. It could have been the time of day, the tutee’s reluctance to listen to reason, or the phase of the moon. All I know is that it was one of the craziest, most frustrating and annoying sessions I have ever had the “privilege” of participating in. Well, I hope you, the reader, enjoyed my blog post for the week and that you were able to pack on the subtle sarcasm contained therein.
posted by Derek Stout at 11:46 AM
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