Continuing the thread of positive and cool experiences within the Tutoring Lab, I will talk about some of the good experiences I have had in the small amount of times I have tutored thus far in the semester. I say: "small amount of times" because two of the Mondays which I was supposed to be tutoring in were cancelled. One for National Tutoring day and the other for Veteran's day. Oh well.
These fulfilling and rewarding sessions are a stark contrast to my very first time tutoring someone, which I felt really uncomfortable and useless in. I've mentioned this in class already so it should ring a bell. The uncomfortable session was so because I was not familiar with what the tuttee needed of me; I've never had to write a statement of purpose for grad school and so felt utterly unsure of whether I was actually helping her or just giving her a false sense of security through my positive and encouraging attitude toward the her letter.
So far I've had two experiences that really were great and which greatly motivated me to continue this whole tutoring thing. One of those times dealt with a student's near finished product and the second was brainstorming. In the brainstorming session we spoke for a long time about the whole theme she was tackling and somehow I was able to provide her with some really neat ideas on how to create something narrow but deep, as well as very engaging.
This could have never happened unless it was an hour long session. At the risk of digressing I must mention that I really hate 30 minute sessions. Does anyone actually feel like they really help in 30 minutes? Maybe I'm just slow, yeah that sounds right.
Anyways, the other one went as follows. The student came in with this really great paper on hip hop and some of its modern social and cultural underpinnings. I corrected very minor details as we read the paper but by the time I finished it felt that there was really nothing I could do for this students, because I felt the paper was excellent already.. Then he asks me to help him with his conclusion, which at first I was at a total loss as how to approach. I began to tell him my thoughts on what an effective conclusion looks like and detailed how they tend to be. This was a non directive approach that I've been utilizing so far. However it didn't do much for him; he was still at a loss. This was kind of weird because the paper was so good that I really didn't understand why he was having trouble capping the whole thing. Then, in a directive manner, I realized what was missing. I told him that something he had mentioned in all three of his mini theses was that of power roles and the structure of power. Basically the hidden thesis to his essay. We addressed this and he had no problem writing his conclusion. The paper was DEFINITELY an A+. :)
So I'm not sure how to conclude this, on a comical note. I think the best thing to do is to say that we cannot allow ourselves to become discouraged. For every session in which you feel incompetent in there are two or three sessions in which you will definitely make a big difference in a student's paper. And man, that is a good feeling. Even if you feel like a fish out of water, stick to it. After all, two brains are better than one. This is especially true when one of those brains has been trained (peer tutoring class) to tap into and promote the intelligence and creativity of the other. Don't you think so?
First off, I also hate 30 minute sessions! For me, an hour is the shortest amount of time where I can feel like I am actually accomplishing something in a tutoring session. Unless the student has something very specific they want to focus on then it is hard to really get into a discussion on the student's paper that will prove beneficial to them. I try to deal with these short sessions by keeping in mind the higher order of concerns and focusing on those rather than the lower order of concerns.
ReplyDeleteI also had an experience similar to your conclusion confusion session. My tutee had also written a really great paper and I wasn't quite sure what I could say to help her make it any better. I then directly asked her if she had any specific concerns and she asked me to help her with her introduction, which we then worked on modifying so that it better reflected the ideas she went on to discuss in the body of her paper.
Anyways, this comment is getting too long so I'll end with a congrats on your great tutoring experiences!
You mentioned having a really successful brainstorming session; I had one as well. It was only a 30 min session, which worked perfectly for brainstorming. We simply talked about potential topics and jumping off points for the student to write about. So I think 30 min session are ideal for brainstorming. So no need to hate on those short 30 minutes. There is a time a place for them. And I agree with Megan's comment above, focus on higher level concerns and keeping the session very conversational when you only have 30 minutes.
ReplyDeleteI jump in and say,"Thirty minute sessions suck!"....They don't actually suck, but I do also find it challenging to actually make them as beneficial as I want them to be. I have decided to accept the challenge and treat the as such, by trying to improve/modify my tutoring technique to fit such sessions. This has proved difficult, but I am working on it.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, I totally agree with your points. The most difficult sessions, for me, are those in which I feel I can be of little to no help to the tutee. However, I am also trying to modify the feelings I get-- that I am out of my league or cannot be helpful... I am working on accepting that some tutees just need the best practice audience we can give them, not the all-knowing corrector, hard as it may be :)