On Inevitable Mistakes

Funny story. I wasn't particularly nervous at all.. until I was asked if I was.

Thanks, professor.

Really, though. I was so stoked when Claire hired me, thinking yes! Yes! A regular paycheck outside the exciting world of food services! No longer will I have to mutilate my animal bretheren, no longer will I return home reeking of vegetable oil! It was a happy, happy day.

Now, of course, as zero hour draws near and reality begins to sink her sharp little teeth into my brain stem, I'm starting to think my jubilation was a mite premature. Don't get me wrong - I really am excited. If I'm to sign fifteen hours of my week away, I'd certainly prefer it to be something with positive consequences and a host of pleasant co-workers. (You hear that? Pleasant. I'm counting on all of you.) But I am a tad nervous.

As is my way, I'm nervous about the most inane, baseless of details. I'm nervous about this "swiping in" business and keeping inaccurate records; some primitive part of me fears being tossed in the deepest labyrinth to rot with Theseus on the inevitable day of my first screwup. I fear my own ineloquence in explanation and the possibility of falling behind the progress of my fellow tutors. I'm worried I may neglect to master my own stressors and snap at an unsuspecting freshman, and I am, of course, concerned some poor doe-eyed thing will expect me to be much smarter than I am. (Bibliowhatnow?)

I'm nervous my internet will bomb out on me for three days and trick me into posting next week's blog at twelve in the morning. Ha. Ha ha.

I'm nervous. I just am. Or.. well, maybe nervous isn't quite the word. I'm trepidatious. I've never done this before, and that's naturally going to leave me a little unsettled. My ulcer isn't screaming and I'm not having nightmares about showing up to class naked, so it's clearly not a huge source of anxiety, but I suspect I'll have some butterflies my first day. That's just who I am. I take some comfort in knowing everyone else is a little unsteady, too, but then again, I also fear for our combined ineptitude.

Just kidding.

Maybe.

I'm as ready as I'm getting. I've skimmed the text book. I've shared an awkward laugh or two with my co-workers to be. I've developed a sort of grammatical elitism that almost requires I carry a copy of Eats, Shoots and Leaves everywhere I go, despite a dirty, dirty habit of beginning sentences with "but." (You will learn to hate me for it.) I'm sure I'll do fine. But I'm sure I'll trip a dozen times, too, and I'm nervous about how you lot will perceive me. That's what really puts me on edge.

Hopefully you'll all be just as clumsy.

I am always nervous when I don’t know what to expect. Luckily, since tutor orientation and with every passing class session, I am learning little-by-little what to expect as a tutor. With this training I can happily say that a lot of my nervousness is disappearing! That’s not to say I will be a perfect tutor my first day, but I know the kind of tutor I want to become and I am committed to doing everything necessary to reach that goal.
I want to be the kind of tutor that can really relate to the student. For example, I wouldn’t be in my fourth required math class at WSU if it weren’t for a high school math tutor who was dedicated to relating to me and my math struggles. I know what it’s like to struggle with a concept and to be terrified of going to tutoring. My highest priority is recreating the comfortable tutoring environment that my tutor made for me. If I can successfully create this inviting atmosphere, I think everything else will fall into place. That should be easy, right?
I expect to be tested and in some cases, pushed to my furthest limits concerning patience and understanding. I don’t expect the tutoring process to come easily to me, but I will do anything to ensure that I have helped the student in any way I can, whether it be looking something up or asking another tutor for help.
If I think about the insecurities I have concerning tutoring, I might become so nervous that I won’t be able to function! Since I am too busy to choose that option today, I guess I will just keep smothering those pesky insecurities and endure with the rest of you!

Tutor's Block

When I was about 10 years old, I remember very well the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills. I was in fourth grade at the time and I knew how important it was to do well on the exam. The TAAS test was used up until 2003 to evaluate students in the areas of math, reading, and writing. As a class, we would take what seemed like ample time to prepare for these exams, but I still got nervous when the time came to perform.
Seeing how the reading and math portions of the test were multiple choice, I breezed right through them and finished before most of my classmates. The writing section, on the other hand, proved to be a devastatingly painful event. We knew what was coming. We had practiced all the possible types of essays to be written. But, when I saw the instructions to write a “how-to” paper, I about peed my pants! I sat for hours, as I watched each my classmates leave the testing room, with the most severe case of “writer's block” that could possibly be inflicted upon a poor, helpless fourth-grader.
My teacher tried all that she could to get me to start writing, but my condition seemed hopeless. Finally, Mrs. Bullard opted for drastic measures. Taking me by the hand, she escorted me to the principal's office where I was receive by the dreadful Dr. Herlocker. Even the mention of her name would strike fear into any student's core! I don't remember what she told me, but I do remember that after I left her office I was on the brink of tears and I wrote a paper within half an hour about how to make a flashlight out of a mild jug! In the end, I was honored at a school assembly with 2 other students for outstanding accomplishment on the Texas TAAS test.
Writing has always been a fear of mine. In the past, the pressure of knowing that my peers and teachers could see into me in my words made me wish I could just cry out and disappear! But in reality, I do love it, and since I've been in college, I've learned that I enjoy letting others know what I think and expressing who I am. But then again, as with any new experience that seems to come my way, I feel a apprehensive. I hope it's not a case of “tutor's block” coming on!
Since my elementary days, I've had to learn how to incorporate structure in my assignments and confidence in my words. What my classmates and teachers thought of what I had to say is what made me feel the most nervous. This time, I seem to be on the other side. I'm the one who will be reviewing the words of students seeking help. It wasn't until I took English 2010 that I truly took advantage of a tutor to help me touch up my papers. But now that I see what they do, I wonder if I'll have what it takes to tutor just as I wondered about my own writing ability.
Though I am nervous about my abilities, I have luckily learned a great deal over the years and think I can confidently declare that “tutor's block” won't keep me from putting my thoughts into words.

Uh...

Extremely is the word I would use to describe how I am feeling about tutoring.  I have no problem with talking to the students or helping them out because I have been tutoring math for two years and have overcome all fears of helping strangers out, and learned a vast amount of tutoring strategies that should transfer over; hopefully.  The thing that concerns me is that unlike my ridiculous knowledge of math my grammar skills, while I think I have a pretty good understanding, are not perfect.  Math comes easy to me, my brain being logical.  English is a subject I have always struggled with and had to put a lot more work into it to produce good results.  This problem with English used to bother me, but now it is why I like it so much.  The joy of finishing a paper that is awesome, something I worked so hard on, is a a much more fulfilling feeling than getting math right off the bat.

I absolutely loathed English growing up, up to a couple years ago.  I failed a term of it in high school and did not care, night school was easier.  Sub par papers where my standard even in English 2010.  This lack of caring for the subject was my downfall of my crummy grammar.  I lost most of the basics learned in elementary, junior high and high school.  Having to relearn them all to keep up as an English major was a struggle.  Something I did not enjoy.  Going back through the basics made me feel inferior.      

My original problem with English was all the rules and exceptions to the rules, i before e except after c so it should really be spelled nceighbor right?  With math there is only one right answer to a problem and usually only one way of getting that answer.  That is what I liked about it.  English has so many right answers, and a huge grey area where how well a paper is written, math it is either right or wrong.  This concept at first bothered me, but know it is what draws me to English.  With a better understanding of the language and all its rules writing is much easier and more fun.  Sometimes even breaking the rules on purpose to be more effective.    

Literature is what brought me to English.  Or at least Intro to Literature with Professor Hudson.  I was working a boring job with not a lot to do.  I started bringing books to work, an acceptable pass time, reading hundreds of pages a shift.  I then began to read when I was not working, mostly epic fantasy, finding it was a very enjoyable pass time.  Even though I was flying through books I could not keep up with all the books I kept adding to my list of books to read.  So it was only natural to take Intro to Lit for my humanities credit.  I loved the class so much I took Intro to Fiction the next semester for fun.  My tastes now included not just fantasy and science fiction but great works of literature.  I now knew I couldn’t be happy in life with nothing less than an English degree.

So ya I am nervous to tutor with my not perfect grammar, but I am looking forward to the experience mostly to gain a better knowledge of the language myself. 

No,wait!! I'm not ready yet!

I guess you might call me a perfectionist, because I like to be prepared. To me, there is nothing more satisfying than having something play out exactly as I've planned. I like organization, I like symmetry, and above all, I like logic. Crooked pictures on the wall? I'll stare at them, willing them with my brain to straighten themselves (or I'll fix them myself if it’s appropriate). Bookshelves unorganized? I'll spend several hours alphabetizing them (or, if I'm in a hurry, simply arranging them by height). To satisfy my love of preparedness and predictability, I run through scenarios in my head for anything and everything from a gunman in the Union building to an important phone call. This helps me figure out how I'd respond to any of these events, and I can refine it until it's flawless.

Weird? Maybe. Useful? Definitely.

You seem skeptical. Here's an example of how I run through scenarios:

I enjoy reading and writing fiction, but all too often, the author overlooks some simple solution in favor of a complicated, adventuresome one. In my own stories, whenever I decide to have my protagonists do something, I think about every conceivable situation and solution to whatever problem they face. My most recent dilemma was disabling a police car during a high-speed chase on the freeway, without killing the officers inside (because my protagonists aren't supposed to be murderers). My protagonists have had previous access to said car, however they couldn’t just destroy it, or a different car would be sent. The damage had to be done en route.

My first thought was, of course, dropping a spike strip in front of the car. But that created too many additional problems.

1. It would have to be dropped from a vehicle directly in front of the police car, and policemen are taught not to drive too closely during pursuits due to this very danger (according to my next neighbor, who is a policeman).
2. It would be difficult to drop a spike strip from any vehicle other than a truck, and my protagonists are in a Honda Accord (besides, they're both in the front seat).
3. When car tires explode, the drivers lose a lot of control. In a high speed chase, this could prove fatal.

The third piece of information kept me from being able to destroy the car tires in any other way, so I had to be even more creative. One night as I read an online car manual in hopes of discovering something, the answer came to me.

Fuel Lines!!!

You see, the gas tank is located at the back of a car. The engine is at the front, so logically, I knew there had to be some way of getting the gasoline from one end to the other. When I ascertained where this tube was located on your average police car, I was thrilled. It’s a little rubber tube that sits in a groove that runs the length of the metal undercarriage (usually on the right side) that is barely protected. When I asked a mechanic, he told me that a rock could damage a fuel line and the car would stop. No drastic, frantic swerving. No violent crashes that could kill the passengers and endanger other cars on the road. Just a gradual reduction of speed until the police car would come to a complete stop.

Needless to say, with a pair of scissors and an easily created mechanical device, my protagonists were able to halt their pursuit with the touch of a button. Problem solved.

How does this relate to tutoring? It’s something I can’t predict. I’ve tutored two months, yet I’ve only had three students come to me for help. I have no previous experience, and I don’t know the students well enough to calculate their questions, problems, responses, or anything else. I mainly do drop-in tutoring, so I’m not meeting people I’ve ever seen before. I’m not a naturally gifted public speaker—I have to practice and prepare my speeches ahead of time. I practice conversations and possible comments that might be made. When I sit down to tutor, I don’t have the luxury of rehearsing what I’m going to say. I have to do it immediately (because obviously I can’t just sit there and let them stew in their nerves while I practice mentally!). Yes, I know that like snakes and spiders, they’re more afraid of me than I am of them, but that doesn’t help me when my hands go clammy and my mind races to choose something to say that will set them at ease without undermining my own authority and now I can’t remember what they just asked me and I’ve forgotten to breathe and………….

In short, I feel completely unprepared. What if they ask something I can’t answer????? What if they get upset because of something I’ve said? (This is a valid fear. I help tutor a math lab for Math 950 students, and just Thursday one of my students burst into tears and ran out of the classroom!)

I don’t doubt my ability to critique their writing and/or English skills, simply my ability to explain them. Commas? I know where I’d put them, but I don’t know how to explain that! That’s what I’m afraid of.

Go ahead. Laugh if you like. But just remember—when there’s an emergency, come find me. I’ve probably prepared for it.

Titles are Hard...

I've never actually blogged before, so we'll see how this goes. I am, as Claire so lovingly put it, one of the "seasoned tutors" working in the Writing Center this year. What she means by that is that I have been tutoring by the seat of my pants since January and hoping that I get everything right. So far no tutees have come back to me with torches and pitchforks while waving their failed papers in the air, so I think I've accomplished most of my goals.

One thing I've always been nervous about tutoring is whether I'm doing/explaining the right things to the tutee. Often I find myself working most on the grammar or the commas because that is what is easiest to find and fix. Though, as was mentioned in class today, I have always had the hardest time explaining why a certain rule should be used. Some of the basics, such as the use of quotation marks or periods, are easy to explain, but when a phrase has to be set off by commas or the sentence doesn't make sense, it's a lot harder to explain why. Also, I find I'm nervous about whether or not the tutee will actually remember what I'm babbling about half the time, or whether they think I'm just talking in order to fill up time.

Another thing that I often get nervous about while tutoring is the amount of explanation required when tutoring ESL...er...LEAP students. It's always hard to determine exactly how fluent their English is and whether I should speak more slowly, especially as I have a habit of speaking at rapid-fire paces when explaining a concept I know really well. Also, when I ask what their main concerns are for their paper or what their assignment is, they most likely answer with concerns about grammar or that their professors told them to go to the Writing Center to get the grammar checked. I suppose this is good, but I always feel that I should be telling them more.

Most of my other anxieties, however, have gone away through experience. I no longer feel sheepish when I don't quite know the answer to a question (especially when it comes to APA format...I still don't know exactly what to do with half of those citations) to go to another source, whether it be a book or another tutor. I also feel more comfortable with talking to tutees and being open and friendly with them right from the start. I had trouble with that in the beginning because I always assumed that they were simply there to get in, get on with it, and get out. That didn't change until about the middle of March when a tutee saw me writing some notes on a music staff and asked me what instrument I played, after which he told me all about his accordion-playing skills and how much effort that took. Even though the conversation lasted a little over two minutes before we actually got to working on his paper, I still felt much more comfortable pointing out both good things and problems with his paper.

Overall, I think that, with the help of this class and my continued efforts in not sucking terribly at being a tutor, my other fears and doubts will be dealt with. I'm definitely looking forward to that aspect of tutoring!

Frightening Writing

Hmm...what frightens me most about tutoring? Could it be not knowing what to say when I sit down with a tutee? Or how about not knowing how to help the writer strengthen his or her paper? Worst of all, what if the student is a better writer than I am!? Fortunately enough, I had the chance to participate in the tutoring process during the spring semester, so this isn’t going to be an entirely new experience for me.

I still remember when I first started tutoring. Some of the things that freaked me out then still seem nerve racking. Breaking the ice is no problem. Been there done that! It’s relatively easy to greet the writer and find out what the paper is about. It’s when I find out that the paper is from an upper division English or Psychology class that I start sweating bullets. Here we have little Derek Stout, a sophomore who’s only finished English 2010, and I’m supposed to help this student with his or her paper! I probably don’t even understand what half the words in the paper mean! Not to mention the fact that many of the experienced tutors I worked with last semester have graduated so I can’t pass off these smarter, more experienced tutees to them!
With a plethora of new tutors this semester, it looks less and less likely that I’m going to be able to escape from humiliating myself in front of writers who would benefit more from helping me than from me helping them.

Of course, it’s not only smart students and well versed papers that seem daunting. What if I can’t answer the student’s questions? What if they come back with a poor grade on the paper I tutored him or her on? What do I tell that student? These questions and concerns are a bit troubling to think about. How would I feel if I came to the writing center and enlisted the help of an English guru (which is how I would view an English tutor if I were in the student’s shoes) and ended up receiving a worse grade than expected? I know I’d be pretty put off. I just hope that I never have to deal with a situation like that.

Luckily, I have learned that students don’t always come into the writing center because they are at a loss and don’t know what to do. It has been my experience that many students want someone else’s opinion on their paper and are looking for ways to strengthen it, not fix it. Thinking along these lines helps calm my nerves and makes me less frightened about tutoring. As I tutor more and more, I’ll find ways to deal with these and other situations. Like the old expression goes, “repetition is the mother of all skill.” Plus, with all the tutors working in the Writing Center I’m sure I’ll be able to enlist their assistance in helping me face these problems and finding solutions to them.

Purple Butterflies

I have to admit that for quite some time during my junior high and early high school years, facing new situations and people was overtly terrifying to the point of being nauseating. Luckily, nothing entirely visible came out of that (or me, for that matter), and over time I eventually managed to overcome my fear of the "new" enough to nearly eliminate that incredibly unsettling, uncomfortable elevated level of nervousness.

That's not to say I am still not at least a little nervous when facing new situations, especially such situations as meeting face to face with a hitherto unfamiliar individual to assist in poking and prodding said individual's written creation. Having already completed one semester of tutoring though, I can (almost) safely assess what it is exactly that I am nervous about when facing each new tutoring session. Because really the nervousness never goes away—it lessens, becomes more manageable, and even reaches the point where not thinking about it means not feeling it. No matter how many tutoring sessions I sit through, I still have the same thoughts and questions of inadequacy floating in the back of my mind.

There are the typical questions that I think most tutors consider: Am I adequate enough as a tutor to give the tutee the assistance he or she needs? Can I explain what needs to be explained in a way that won’t confuse the tutee? For the most part there are the questions that deal primarily with the subject matter and my own capability to sound competent concerning it. But what I find pressing on my own mind many times are the questions and concerns about the tutee directly, or more importantly the dynamic between tutor and tutee.

Several tutoring sessions I have had included a tutee who very obviously showed that he or she did not want to be there, or that perhaps he or she was very uncomfortable with the confrontation and would like nothing better but to leave. Sessions like that only heightened my concern and nervousness about whether or not the next tutee would like me.

Yes, the primary source of my nervousness depends on what the tutee in question thinks of me. I guess it sounds elementary and insecure of me to say, I guess anyone would tell me that it doesn’t matter what someone thinks of me. But honestly, any tutee—or anyone at all for that matter—would be more willing to listen and pay attention to someone he or she liked or at least could relate too.

Of course, there is hardly enough time in a tutoring session for both sides to spill out a life story and form a bonding relationship bordering on best friend-ness. But tutors can at least be likeable, open, friendly, and hopefully not at all condescending or arrogant. For me at least, it is easier to admit to a friend that “I don’t know,” than it is to admit to a stranger. It’s often easier to point out mistakes or, on the other side, take criticism from a friend.

I want to be the tutee’s friend. Once I hit that point, then the rest is not too bad.

Hmm... Tutoring.

A tutor is, as Merriam-Webster's dictionary states, "a person charged with the instruction and guidance of another;" not to be confused with Tudor style architecture or someone who blows a horn(toot-er, get it?).

Joking aside, i am rather nervous about having someone's grade placed into my hands. As a tutor, I will be in a position to help others achieve their academic goals through constructive criticism. However, I am worried that I don't have sufficient know-how myself. How am I to guide and teach, when I am unsure? Despite my self-doubting in this regard, I know that I will be able to help fellow students, and I am so excited for the opportunity to do so! Stepping into something new is always a little daunting; just as jumping out of an airplane is somewhat unsettling. Not that I have ever jumped out of an airplane or anything, though I do hope to someday. Why would I want to leap from something solid and safe into the fickle currents of air that lash across our planet? For the very same reason that I want to be a tutor. It is a challenge. It is an opportunity to experience something wonderful.

Of all the lessons life has thrown at me, the greatest has been this: Don't be afraid of an opportunity. No matter how under-prepared I may feel, I will strive to make myself ready to serve the students who will give me their time, work, and trust. If there's anything I truly dis-like, it would be this: disappointing my co-workers, friends, family, and now tutees.

From previous teaching experience, I know that the teacher often learns from the students. The pursuit of knowledge is one of my greatest joys and desires. I don't know if I would be able to endure college without my insatiable thirst for knowledge. The opportunity to help students succeed in their own studies will be beneficial to both parties. I am sure that my first attempts with tutoring will be difficult, sloppy, and perhaps even embarrassing; but practice makes perfect! With time (hopefully a shorter amount of time rather than longer), patience, listening, and learning, I am confident that I will become an effective tutor. People will rise to meet that which is expected of them. I realize that much will be expected of me as a tutor, and I will not disappoint.

Am I nervous? Sure. Nervous with anticipation for the great experiences that lay before me. I am anxious to learn more about how I can help my future tutees.

New Tutor Anxiety

What am I most nervous about with regard to tutoring? If I had to describe my substantial anxiety in this area with just a few words, I would use the following three questions:

Will I be able to sit there and listen, or will I find myself from jumping in too soon?

I am the mother of six children, three of them with autism, and I am very used to jumping in and fixing things before they get out of hand. I have had to advocate for my sons, build teams of educators for them, solicit special services to address their specific needs, and maneuver my way around the medical insurance labyrinth to get coverage for the specialists who served them. Quietly waiting is not something I have always been good at.

Then again, I have been able to sit with a child, one-on-one, and read to them. I found that to be a fun and rewarding experience. Maybe I can survive without being the “Answer Fairy.” I think I’ll bring in my magic wand to remind myself to listen more.

Will I be able to communicate well enough with the people I meet?

I teach art to students at an elementary school, and some of them are used to speaking languages other than English. I think I understand them pretty well, but getting information back to them sometimes becomes difficult. I don’t always know the right words to say. I have learned how to ask for vocabulary words in Spanish. Can I do that with English classes?

There have been many times when I have looked over a homework assignment and helped a child to better understand the instructions. Maybe I will be able to do that with college students as well.

Will I be able to give my tutees the accurate information they need?

I feel like I know so little about teaching adults. Will they know that I don’t know what I’m doing? Will my limited knowledge and experience frustrate them? Will I scare them away from tutoring, or make them want to quit college all together? I don’t want to make things harder for them.

I’m not sure, though, that adults are really that different from children. Yes, they understand so much more about life. But every human being wants to be respected, to understand what is required of them, and to feel successful. All it takes to help a child learn something is time and opportunity. I have a feeling it is the same for “big people” as well.

When I started teaching art four years ago, I was given an art curriculum book and a classroom schedule. I had to jump in and go without much more help than that. Over time I was able to figure things out, like the lesson I gave the 5^th graders wouldn’t work for the 2^nd grade students, and 6^th grade behavior traits were eerily similar to those I saw in Kindergarten. I knew enough when I started teaching to be able to just “wing it” until I was more comfortable.

I am hoping it will be the same with tutoring. Maybe I can “wing it” in here with the knowledge I have already acquired and the training I am getting from Claire and others.

***

GUESS WHAT?

I jumped in today and helped people, and everyone survived. Yes, I was nervous, and I did forget a few things, but overall it was a good experience. I think this could actually work out.

Nervous? Sort of...

Am I nervous about tutoring?
Well...I have already tutored this summer, so I feel okay about starting, but I still get the graduate student anxiety of everyone realizing that I'm not as smart as I think I am.
I also worry that I will explain over some one's head. When I am talking to my husband, my friends, or in my job as a lab aide, I occasionally use vocabulary words that are a little out of most people's vocabulary. I do this without realizing it until someone says, "What does that mean?" For example, I told an employee of mine that I would send out a schedule delineating the exact times and days for coverage. He said, "What does delineate mean?" I had to back up and then explain myself. He had never heard that word. I just hope that my tutees feel comfortable enough to stop me and say, "What does that mean?" I hope this class can give me some strategies to make sure that I watch my word choice and am flexible with tutees.
I also worry that my mind will be elsewhere when I am tutoring. I have a busy life with two jobs, a husband and school. Sometimes I find myself drifting and thinking about everything I have to do rather than focusing on the task at hand. During the summer, I found that tutoring focused me on the needs of my tutee and I just hope I can continue to do that.
All that aside, I am really excited about this job. I have always loved communicating my knowledge to others, even when I got made fun of for using puce as a color during four square. I also looking forward to helping others with a subject that I have a deep affection for and letting them know that it is not easy. If I've learned anything in my time as a student of English, it's that this subject is one of the most frustrating and yet ultimately rewarding I have ever experienced.
I want to tell my tutees that writing does not magically appear before talented people like raindrops and that it is work. I want them to know that if they don't get it at first, that it's like body-building; with time, repetition and added weight, the muscle (skill) builds and comes more easily. I also want to get people to understand what an adverb is and how to use it. One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone says, "Drive careful!" That is impossible. It is drive carefully. I also can't stand "Fresh brewed coffee!" Is the coffee flirting with you? No? Then it's freshly brewed.
I digress; the answer is I am nervous in some respects, and in others, excited. Sometimes excitement feels like anxiety, so then again perhaps I'm not sure at all. This would not be the first time I've been unsure; however, my enthusiasm for the job and for my subject will hopefully ultimately prevail and I will do my best to be the tutor I know I can be.

Nervous? Yes.

I have never tutored before. I am trying to overcome my anxiety and look forward to this experience, but because it's being asked... My number one concern prior to becomming a tutor is confidence. When the time comes to actually be one-on-one with a fellow student, I am scared that I will feel inadequate. Disappointment from the tutee is a possibility that definitely scares me, as well as disappointment from my professors and fellow tutors. I am nervous about my success as a tutor, and my creeping feelings of self conscienceness.

However, I am excited. I figure that these emotions will only benefit me and challenge me as a writer. No matter the outcome of this class, I know it will be a great learning experience, and the attainment of knowledge is why we are all here, isn't it?

Another concern would be the potential for becomming overwhelmed with my classwork whilst needing to help someone else out. But I hope to prove to myself that I can handle it, that I do have something to offer, and that there is always a way to improve my writing.

Also: Do we really get paid? I was unaware of that perk...that would be pretty rad.

Welcome!

Welcome to the wide, wide world of tutoring! Over the course of the semester, we'll use this space to continue discussions from the class and to discuss issues amongst ourselves. Additionally, if you poke around on this blog's archives, you'll find discussions going back several years.

So, to begin, we'll keep it simple.

What are you most nervous about with regard to tutoring?