Shifts of Worries

I will never forget the first time I sat down with a student in my tutoring quest. I was a bundle of nerves. I wanted to teach the student everything in one session. By the end, I realized that I had overdone the session. The student seemed overwhelmed by all of my many suggestions. Since then, I have consistently worried if I am covering the most important things for the student. I always hope that the student has walked out of our session together with better knowledge of what he or she does well and what he or she can improve on. My main goal is to help instill the student’s confidence that he or she can write.

My latest worry has been catching the biggest concerns. When I first started tutoring in the DELC I was focusing on theses/topic sentences/structure/supportive background etc. I quickly realized these students needed some more help in the grammar department. I have become used to tutoring with grammar in my mindset rather than the bigger concerns. Now when I tutor other levels, I realize I am trying so hard to look for grammar that I miss some of the content and structural feedback that I could give. My goal this semester is to be able to see both kinds of possible improvements without having to focus on one at a time in my mind. My other goal is that I will be able to shut out the noise around me. I am not the best at focusing my best when the center is noisy. I have really been trying to learn how to tune out the extra noise. Hopefully, this semester I will help combat these worries.