What is this frustrating session of which you speak?

Maybe I've just been really lucky. Maybe it's a fluke. Either way, I've not had a tutoring session that frustrated me.

Not one.

Granted, the Davis Campus Tutoring Center isn't all that busy (over the past week I've had 5 people) except right before a 955 class has an assignment due, but you'd think that I'd have had at least one unfortunate session!

The closest I've gotten to becoming frustrated was with a guy who'd written a compare and contrast essay on the two essays he teacher had asked them not to use. His paper was one page long, with about ten two-sentence paragraphs. The content was good and fairly well thought-out, but he'd just not written enough (about the subject he wasn't supposed to be writing about anyway). What irritated me about him was his attitude, though. He didn't care. I know him well, though, and he made me laugh so much during the session, I couldn't help but watch him walk away, feeling cheerful, even though his paper followed directions abysmally.

However...one thing that does bother me when I tutor is the fact that students come into a session having no idea what type of assignment they're supposed to be writing. Teachers have a responsibility to explain the type of assignment to their students, especially for 955 students. They are the developmental English classes!! They're not very good at writing papers and English, so teachers can't assume that everyone will understand what a "Compare and Contrast" essay is. That doesn't just apply to students in beginning classes. The average 2010 student has no understanding of what a "Rhetorical Analysis" is. Me? I understand, but only because I've taken linguistic classes and I know what "rhetoric" means and the different categories that it can fall under.

Yes, I'm an English Tutor, and yes, I'm willing to explain things to students, but seriously? I'm not here to do your job for you, Mrs. Whoever-you-are-that-tells-your-students-to-ask-the-tutor-what-a-compare-and-contrast-essay-is. If you look on the Weber State website, you'll see that "Tutoring" falls under "Academic Support Centers and Programs", not "Teach the Student so the Teacher Doesn't Have to!"

Maybe I'm exaggerating things a little (okay, maybe more than a little), but you did ask for my frustrations...

Honestly, is it too much to ask that the teachers explain what things are, or at least give a basic overview so that the student has at least heard of whatever it is I'm trying to explain?? Still, my job is to help the student and make them better writers, so when a student gives me the glassy-eyed stare at the first mention of "Compare and Contrast", I clench my jaw and get started explaining. Mrs. Whoever-you-are-that-tells-your-students-to-ask-the-tutor-what-a-compare-and-contrast-essay-is has struck again.