First Tutee Anticipation

Being a late hire, I have not yet had a tutoring session. This has been a blessing in disguise. I am extremely nervous for my first student, but I am ready to get some experience under my belt. This previous week I had the opportunity to observe a couple of top notch master tutors which was enlightening. Each had their own technique and brought something different to the table. One was extremely friendly, charismatic, and supportive. The other was intelligent, competent and helpful. I learned various techniques on how to solve different problems. The most useful thing I learned was the "happy essay man." This tool provides a visual aid for students learning how to structure an essay. I think that this particular device would be most helpful for students in English 1010 and English 2010 where the professors are looking for proper structure and syntax. Another key issue that was addressed was developing a thesis. The second master tutor that I observed helped his student by having them verbalize their ideas. He then took the key information and wrote it down for the tutee. He took this information and had the student develop his own thesis statement. I was impressed by this. This process directly involved the student in the thought process of developing a good and solid thesis statement. I am finally becoming more confident with my skills in grammar, subject-verb agreement, etc. and I believe that after a couple of more observation sessions I will be proficient enough to tutor on my own.