Saturday, November 20, 2010

Slacker Prompt

What are your Thanksgiving plans?

The Most Difficult

As I have voiced in class, my most difficult subjects to tutor tend to be in the sciences. I often get to the end of the paper, and I still don't know what the student is talking about--and I hate that. However, I can tell if there are big gaps in logic because I am paying extra attention to subject with these papers so that I can somewhat follow in. Honestly, I hate science and have no interest in it whatsoever. Therefore, it is really difficult for me to read something that I feel forced into. I also find it difficult to tutor ESL students. They are so kind and eager to learn but sometimes I feel like more speciality training would be beneficial in these sessions. Sometimes I am just not sure how to explain basic English principles. English 955 can be challenging because of a lack of motivation from the student. These sessions also probe the scenario of what happens when you can't even get through a paragraph without stopping every few words because syntax and grammar are so mixed up. These sessions can also be the most rewarding because students are immersed with learning in a short time span. Overall, the student's attitude really depends on if a session is difficult. That is what really matters. I can pretend I care about science for a half hour if the student is willing to try to learn something from me.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

You know, as strange as it sounds, I find English to be the most difficult to tutor. The reason really has to do with attitude. Nine times out of ten, tutees from classes besides English are invested in their work. It seems that the amount of tutees from English classes that are invested in their work is significantly less. I think the reason for this is the type of English student we see the most. I don't usually see upper division English students very often so this is more an issue with required English classes like Dev English, 1010 & 2010. I still enjoy the session with English tutees, as long as they enjoy it, that is writing the paper. It is fairly rare that I have a session that really drains me. If the tutee isn't engaged (which is the only case in which I lose my energy quickly), I simply read through the paper, and ask them what they would like to address, address that and call it a session. My job is to help people become better writers, I am not going to accomplish that by doing all the work for the tutee.