Well, it's been a fun semester. I've learned a lot as both a mentor and a tutor. Today, as a mentor, I had one of the best sessions I've ever had. Tim and I talked a lot about how to tackle difficult sessions. He had a student who came in at the request of her professor because she was told that she basically had to rewrite her entire paper. Not an uncommon thing. However, she came in completely clueless because her professor gave her no suggestions as to what his expectations were other than that he wanted her to see a tutor. Her paper merely had about half of it crossed out. I know. No markings, just huge slashes through paragraphs and even entire pages. So, his session consisted of the two of them trying to make some sense out of this. He did the best he could and told her that she was lacking in transitions between paragraphs. Then he asked how a few paragraphs related to the thesis. When they found that they didn't, he had her explain to him what her intent was with the paragraph. Now, I agree with how he handled this. I even looked at the paper and saw that most of it was completely disjointed. However, after talking about that paper for about thirty or so minutes, we finally came to the conclusion that the problem was the ambiguity of her thesis itself. We did this because he asked specifically how I would've handled the session. So, it was a comparison in style. This was beneficial to both him and me. Also, the other lesson to be learned from this little exercise, it's alright to ask the teacher questions or tell them that they need to be more clear in their criticism. If the teacher thinks that it's alright to just send their students off to work without guidance, the students will rarely ever learn how to improve.
Now, after that whole huge rant, the rest of the session was spent talking about how this mentoring program has benefited him as a tutor (something you should all ask your mentees before you fill out the survey that was sent out). I was pleased to hear that after his initial skepticism wore off, he found it very helpful to have someone to bounce ideas off of and answer questions. It was a reassuring statement for this program. With that said, it was nice to be a part of this and I hope that you all have a wonderful summer. See you in the fall, or Summer depending on if you are working then.
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Hey Alex,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Let me first address this common issue of working with students in difficult sessions. As mentioned numerous times before, such sessions often prove the most productive in their own way because we as tutors are faced with various challenges. I think too that we grow in a professional manner as well by managing and prioritizing what URGENTLY needs to be done in only 50 minutes. Certainly in FYW courses we do discuss the importance of having a strong thesis but often students think if they have any old thesis this will suffice--yet, as Tim found out a weak thesis statement can really mar the entire essay. To further complicate this matter you mention that the student was clueless about the instructor's expectations of this assignment and this is never a good thing--did she discuss her frustrations with this instructor before coming to the WC? On the other hand, banishing students to the WC without little or any constructive commentary on the instructor's part is not the ideal situation either. Such a dilemma we often face! It seems that Tim handled this situation carefully and to the student's benefit so kudos to him! As tutors, we must all work around these variables on a consistent basis, and your mentoring proved invaluable in helping Tim realize just how much he helped the student improve her writing--yes, even if it was "just" talking about and then revising her thesis statement.
As far as the mentorship program itself--it's great that you two completed the semester by having a bit of reflection about your collaboration. We want to support all new tutors as much as possible because ultimately this benfits the entire LS/WC here at CCC. All the mentors have provided this support throughout the semester and as the program becomes more solidified we look forward to the same level of support and dedication that all have shown so far. Nice post!
Steve