September 17-21

        As the first full week of tutoring comes to a close, it's time to take a step back and really look at everything that happened. Monday was a slog in every ounce of the word's meaning. I did not receive a single tutee for the entire four hour period. While this was somewhat upsetting, it freed me up to, along with doing homework for other classes, contemplate what I would have to be ready to help with should someone actually schedule an appointment with me. My main concerns typically fell on the kind of feedback I would give to someone who just is not understanding me or who wants me to do more than I can/should. I haven't had this experience yet, but I had plenty of tutees on Friday, filling every possible vacancy in my shift that I had. 
        Now a few of these were just quick questions, "Can you help me understand this assignment?" or, "I have half my paper written, but it doesn't sound very good to me. Can you help with that?" etc. The types of papers that came in were as varied as their due dates, but the one constant was the people that brought them. They were receptive, respectful, and even quite responsive after continuous prodding with leading questions. I think that the most difficult tutee, however, was certainly the first that came in on Friday, as she brought me a short paper on the philosophy of dance, and wanted my help clarifying. 
        I'm an English Major with a Communications Minor. I know nothing of the philosophy of dance, and yet we worked through the issue, and I gave her questions to consider as she goes over her paper. A few of these questions, in relation to writing about choreographers, were "Why do people dance in the way that they do? If someone is dancing in a wild and free manner, could this correlate to a suppressed childhood where they were constantly told how to act? Is their dancing a means of expression? Do they dance with a very fluid motion as a means of conveying their mood?" Through these questions the tutee and I managed to reach a satisfactory, or even excellent in their opinion, understanding of the assignment so she could continue her paper. I think that this tutee in particular made me think outside the usual limits of what I know, and helped me expand my tutoring technique as a result. At the very least, it was certainly a thrilling conversation!

Comments

  1. dremmelhainzSeptember 30, 2018 at 11:11 AM

    Hi Liam,

    Glad to hear your week picked up, and that you generally had receptive clients. The questions your asked of the Dance student definitely seemed helpful and on point!

    ReplyDelete

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