My very first tutoring session... ever
I mentioned my first tutoring session a good amount in my last post, but since I was asked to write about it in Blog 2, I'll write a little more. I say I should just get credit for 2 assignments with my one blog post, but I guess that isn't how this whole education thing works.
If you read my previous post (which I'm assuming was only read by Dr. Rodgers) then you know my first tutoring session was brainstorming the article "Body Ritual among the Nacirema." As a transfer student, I had never even heard of this article till our staff meeting and was very confused what the article was even about. Considering I knew that I would have to tutor students who had read the article, I went home googled Nacirema, and read the paper multiple times. Once I felt comfortable with it I knew I was prepared to also tutor it.
Conveniently, I had a student come in wanting to go over the article the very next day. We sat down, discussed what the assignment was a little, but mostly talked about "how weird" she thought the article was. She didn't come in too prepared, and had only read the paper once, but she was convinced the Nacirema civilization couldn't survive. This was reaffirmed multiple times throughout the tutoring session as she posed the question "are these people still around." I didn't want to ruin the paper and tell her that we were the Naciremans, so I would divert her back to the assignment. Each time she would get closer and closer to figuring out that they not only were still around, but they were us.
At first she seemed scared by the article. She seemed intimidated by the "weirdness," but as she realized that the strange "holy-mouth-men" were a lot like our dentists, she seemed to ease up a little. The more she caught on to each aspect within the article the easier it was for me to help her learn. By the end she was able to have a clear idea as to where she wanted to go with the paper.
This first session taught me a lot. I really will never know what to expect with each student. They all are slightly different. Before doing anything with the paper, finding out a little about the student is a must. Even if it just takes a couple minutes, if the tutee knows you care about them, they will be more willing to learn.
If you read my previous post (which I'm assuming was only read by Dr. Rodgers) then you know my first tutoring session was brainstorming the article "Body Ritual among the Nacirema." As a transfer student, I had never even heard of this article till our staff meeting and was very confused what the article was even about. Considering I knew that I would have to tutor students who had read the article, I went home googled Nacirema, and read the paper multiple times. Once I felt comfortable with it I knew I was prepared to also tutor it.
Conveniently, I had a student come in wanting to go over the article the very next day. We sat down, discussed what the assignment was a little, but mostly talked about "how weird" she thought the article was. She didn't come in too prepared, and had only read the paper once, but she was convinced the Nacirema civilization couldn't survive. This was reaffirmed multiple times throughout the tutoring session as she posed the question "are these people still around." I didn't want to ruin the paper and tell her that we were the Naciremans, so I would divert her back to the assignment. Each time she would get closer and closer to figuring out that they not only were still around, but they were us.
At first she seemed scared by the article. She seemed intimidated by the "weirdness," but as she realized that the strange "holy-mouth-men" were a lot like our dentists, she seemed to ease up a little. The more she caught on to each aspect within the article the easier it was for me to help her learn. By the end she was able to have a clear idea as to where she wanted to go with the paper.
This first session taught me a lot. I really will never know what to expect with each student. They all are slightly different. Before doing anything with the paper, finding out a little about the student is a must. Even if it just takes a couple minutes, if the tutee knows you care about them, they will be more willing to learn.
posted by Mathew C. Walker at 4:07 PM
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