Tuesday, November 10, 2009
2 Hours with a Tutee
On Monday I came into the writing center at 10:30 with no appointments--which has been the case recently as it seems to be a slow part of the semester. Amanda was working with a student who had a first draft of a nursing report. Thirty minutes were up for her and she had another appointment waiting in reception. I told her she had someone waiting and asked if she needed me to pick up her next appointment if she wasn't ready yet. She asked if I could finish up with the student she was working with so she could meet with her next appointment. I agreed, and quickly realized that this student wanted Amanda and I to go over his report sentence by sentence. After I worked with him, he made another appointment with Amanda and asked me if I had any appointments. I felt I couldn't lie and told him I didn't and he made a second appointment with me. It took Amanda and I two combined hours to go through his seven page report. Most of the errors were grammatical and all I was doing was reading aloud and asking him what he felt sounded weird or incorrect. By the end of the two hours, I think he had the ability to fix his own mistakes. Though I felt he learned something, I definitely felt used. At the end of my second session, I made it clear to him that it isn't our job to go through his entire paper and that he does not need to make any more appointments (he actually was going to make a THIRD appointment with Amanda). I said that we need to reserve our time for other students that need our help. It was very awkward and he left without a thank you. I feel bad that this happened but I also feel like it quickly spun out of my control. UGH.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Oh my. Tutees are actually not supposed to be able to book multiple appointments with the same tutor in the same day. I'm not sure when and under what circumstances this rule was set in place, but it is likely that this scenario is precisely what it seeks to avoid.
ReplyDeleteI think you handled this well, Sarah, when you told the tutee that it is "not your job to go through his entire paper."
When these issues arise and when you feel taken advantage of or uncomfortable, it may be a good idea to seek out Jeremiah or me if we are around or an AEC supervisor if we are not. A tutee with a sense of entitlement and a paper about which he is anxious can be a tough case.
I agree with Cathryn, I think you and Amanda handled the situation extremely well. I have also felt used at times after a session ends and you reflect on what you have given the tutee to leave with. Often, I find it incredibly awkward and frustrating having to tell a student that it is not your job to correct their grammar mistakes. Now, whenever a tutee comes in and asks if I can "go over" their paper I turn to them and say "well here at the Writing Center, I can't just reread your paper and tell you my opinion. I will, however, look it over with you." and then I proceed to ask them questions pertaining to the paper just to start a conversation and ignore the idea that I am the only one suppose to be working while they sit back and watch.
ReplyDelete