Consistently Learning

These first few days of tutoring have gone much more smoothly than my first week of tutoring last spring semester. I used to be so nervous. I have noticed that the nervousness is now gone. I am constantly amazed at how much I learn after every session. I just got done with a session with an English 900 student. I wish I knew a better way to explain how you know a word is missing or used the wrong way. I would ask the student if he heard that there was a word missing, and he really couldn’t hear it. I could not articulate why the words were missing. His attitude was that if I understood his meaning then it didn’t matter there were words missing—frustrating. There are many situations I am confronted with as a tutor where I don’t know how to explain why it is right or wrong. I wish I could explain things better.

I am consistently amazed at how you cannot judge which student will be a solid writer and which one will struggle. A thirty something year old came in the first day and was so pleasant and specific in what she wanted us to work on. However, her paper was muddled with incomplete sentences and words like “dumb” spelled “dum” and “enough” spelled “a nuff.” I did not know exactly how to handle the situation because she could hear how words were spelled phonetically but could not spell them correctly. She admitted she had a disability, but I didn’t know exactly how to approach it. I am waiting to talk to Claire about it more on Monday. All students have their own strengths and weaknesses. I see it every time. I just hope that my tutees can leave our sessions feeling more confident then when they came in.