In light of such an incredibly stressful week full of final projects, presentations and preperations of final exams, I'd like to shed some light on a success story, as I'd like to call it.
I think it was in my second month of tutoring that I had an appointment booked with a girl who I'll call Jennifer. She can be described in three p words; pretty, poised and promising. The first day that I met her, she came in with her laptop, slid it over to me, and told me her paper was due in two hours. She then proceeded to tell me that she was a senior (a year my senior, no pun intended!) and knew how to write. Interesting I thought, someone who actually knows how to write!
Nonetheless, this was a little out of the ordinary for me to hear from a fellow student, usually it's,"I'm not a writing major"-->therefore don't judge me or, "I'm not used to college level writing" -->therefore my paper might be a little high school.
Needless to say, she was confident; and as she continued to tell me about her seniority etc. I think she even began questioning why someone as poised and old as she, needed to even visit the writing center.
I mentioned to her politely that we could just look over it together and see what we could come up with, but still, she was left a little weary as to how this process was to go. As I read her paper aloud, she was extremely apprehensive towards what I might have to say. About twenty-five minutes later, we both continued to mark up her paper with ideas, minor errors, underdeveloped areas, strong points etc. and even began talking about structuring and re-organizing paragraphs (not being afraid to move sentence 3-4 over to another paragraph etc.). It was sometime mid-session, that something really clicked.
By the end of the session, even her shoulders had become relaxed, and her attitude had completely left the room. Somehow, by keeping an extremely passive and calm demeanor as I tutored her, had led her to no longer view me as a threat or a critic, but as a fellow student that could simply help her see a few things she hadn't before.
She left the tutoring session completely satisfied and thanked me for my time. Two weeks ago I saw her in the WC for the second time, and today I saw her there again, working hard on one of her latest papers for that same class.
She's a regular now.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
It's always nice to see someone's attitude about the writing center change. I had a similar experience yesterday when a student came in 10 minutes late for an appointment with me. He sort of had an attitude at first, but--like you--I remained patient and listened carefully. By the end of the session he seemed more relaxed and confident. Like you, I like to see a student leave the writing center in a better mood or more relaxed. Though I guess that's not required at the end of the appointment, if the session ends and the student still exhibits signs of stress I feel like I've failed as a tutor. I do realize, however, that sometimes that is out of my control as a tutor.
ReplyDeleteI love your post, Angie. It is always nice to see someone change for the good. I am glad you wrote about something positive because I feel like it's easy to always write about the negative (I definitely have been negative in my blog posts). Your post inspired me to look for more positive things to write about. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI have noticed more "regulars" this term. I do not necessarily have more regulars than other terms, but I have taken sessions in emergencies where a tutee is disappointed not to see his or her tutor--a sign that the tutee knew who they were coming in to work with.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good sign, I think. We can do more to improve people's writing and not just papers if we see them more than once.
Cool post, Angie. I'm curious about her comment "she knew how to write." I see a connection between her initial confidence and her "becoming a regular." I think that confidence is necessary to success in a tutoring session on part of the tutee - I believe it is the meek, the embarassed, the less-confident that do not return, do not want/take criticism well and truly may never come to the Center at all. Therefore, I see this "I know how to write" comments as a great thing - although she may have needed some work, her initial confidence perhaps 'warmed her up' for the session and the reality of a successful WCenter experience. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Angie. There is nothing quite as satisfying as a student who leaves excited about their work- I, too have been seeing a lot of regulars this semester. I think it speaks not only to being genuinely helpful as writing tutors, but being the welcoming place we mean to be!
ReplyDeleteI love my regulars.
ReplyDeleteI love this post. It's so positive and happy, hehe. :)
ReplyDeleteMy biggest problem with regulars is that many of the ones I've gotten are fellow classmates of mine from a difficult class, who have realized that I have an A in the class when most people don't. I sometimes feel like I'm being leeched off of. While I'm happy to explain the material (sometimes it's easier, because I have a good handle on it), I often feel like I'm being used. I've started refering repeat ENG 160 tutees to other tutors.