Hello all,
On Monday I met with Mike. He had been able to tutor a few more people since we'd last met, and so I decided to spend the session reflecting on his most and least successful sessions.
Although he didn't have a specific "best tutoring session", he said that every successful session he'd had had a similarity. He says that if a student doesn't leave right away once the session has ended, and instead sticks around for a few extra moments exchanging pleasantries, it means the session has gone successfully. Mike said he'd had a session of this sort recently in which a student offered him a Starbucks gift card as thanks for the tutoring. Mike informed the student that the session was already paid for through the student's tuition, and the gift was politely declined.
When I asked Mike about what he thought his least successful session was, he told me that although he'd never had a terrible session, he'd had a session in which he felt as though the student left with little accomplished. Seemingly, the student had brought in this paper not to work on it more, but to have a tutor tell her that it didn't need any more work. Mike tells me that the paper was OK, but lacked focus. However, she didn't want to write much more than she already had - she was set on this paper being her final draft. He felt like there was little he could do to convince her otherwise, so the session ended without much gained. I suggested that for sessions like these, one should try to get the student to realize themselves that their paper needs more work. This can be accomplished through asking the right questions. Does anyone else have any ideas?
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Gannon,
ReplyDeleteI think your approach to discussing and reflecting on Mike's strong and weak sessions was excellent. I would, with some reservations, be cautious about Mike's assessment that a successful session is one that concludes w/some nice chat. As important as these friendly interludes are in sessions, it is important to keep in mind that it is the content and direction of the session that basically assure its success. Of oourse, when variables are involved--which is often the case--sometimes success cam prove elusive. In other words, sometimes we don't think we have had a productive or successful session until we reflect on our efforts. Perhaps Mike did have more of a successful session w/his reluctant student than he thought;after all the reluctance was not on his part and even though he could not convince this student to take revision seriously he did do his part. Good Post!
Steve B.
When it comes to encouraging a reluctant student to continue working on a paper I would begin by using the Minimalist method of asking them questions about how far they have taken an idea or how detailed they have been and whether or not that meets or surpasses the assignment guidelines. If this does not help then I might speak to the student as a peer and talk to them about the benefits of taking an essay further. An anecdote about surpassing a teacher's expectations could be perceived as the tutor bestowing insight to the student, which usually encourages them to re-think their work. This way you are strongly encouraging them to continue working in order to excel in the class without making them self-conscious about the quality of their current work.
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