January 21-25

         "It's Spring semester, so we're going to be a lot slower now," were the words that I was told in preparation for my first week this semester. However, I can happily say that I have not found this to be true after taking a whopping four consultations this week. Of those four, only one, my consultation just this Friday, was difficult. I believe that the increase in my availability has given room for this drastic change in my number of consultations so early in the semester. Last semester, I was lucky to get one consultation during a four hour shift, but now I'm averaging one consultation a day in a two hour shift.
          Moving on to the meetings themselves, I'll focus on Wednesday and Friday, as those were most significant. Wednesday was wonderful! The two students that came in were prepared, ready, and willing to work. The first consultation was all about grammar, but not in the usual sense that we might reject where a student might ask a consultant to read their paper and fix their grammar. This student came in with an entire document of practice sentences prepared, and the grammar done in the fashion they thought was correct, but wanted clarification on. Together, we spent the session going through the document, talking about clauses, and just having a good time. Most of his grammar was actually fine, and I made sure to tell him as much.
          Friday, however, is probably best described as the opposite of that session. The student came in, confident that his paper needed no adjustments and cited that he was only here because his class was canceled. The student appeared disoriented for much of the session, and was clearly not expecting to make any alterations to their assignment. When I recommended he look closer at some of his work, trying to draw attention to several simple errors, he just looked at the paper absently and said, "Yeah," and did nothing. I am unsure of how to assist students with this kind of temperament, as after several suggestions in which no progress was made, I began to lose interest in the session as the student wasn't showing any interest either. My main question in this case would be: how do you assist someone who isn't looking for any help, and what should we do in such a situation short of just ending the session?

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