10/2 Reflection

I tutored with Danielle at Strozier from 6-7:30pm. In the first session, I observed again because I did not yet feel comfortable co-tutoring. I made sure to take note of how Danielle started the session because I feel as if that may be the hardest way to begin. Danielle had mentioned to me that sometimes asking personal information to get to know the student can be distracting, so she tends to start her sessions with “What are we working on today/tonight?” Usually students will reply with what class it is and what the paper is about. The first student we had was a freshman in that new ENC class. The topic was relating genre and context, so she picked rap music and a particular song that related to the topic of gay artists. The student was OK with reading her own paper aloud. The paper was extremely well written, so I had a hard time thinking of what Danielle was going to say once the student was done reading. The student wanted to know if she was on the right track, according to the rubric. Danielle agreed that she was, but said to add more personal experience in the paper. Once I heard the suggestion, I completely agreed. I’m just nervous about being able to suggest something like that when I tutor alone.

The next student did not show up.

The third student at 7pm showed up almost ten minutes late. I decided to co-tutor for this session and the student was OK with it. She was a freshman as well and was working on the same paper as the previous student. I asked if she wanted to read her paper aloud and she did not want to, so I read it instead. She began to give me attitude as I read the paper, making various comments about how long it was taking for me to read the seven-page paper and why I was marking certain areas of her paper. Once we finished, she made more rude comments about how long it took. I asked her what she wanted to focus on/if she had any questions. She replied with “Yeah, why did you star my intro?” in a very rude way. I kept my composure and responded that from my opinion, I did not believe she had a thesis. She agreed and said she didn’t want to put one, and I told her it was absolutely necessary. She wanted me to basically tell her what to write, but instead, I just gave her suggestions, showing her various sentences that could help her. Danielle interceded at this point because her time was up. The student was very angry that we did not discuss much more. I told her I would stay with her, and Danielle was OK with it. She would not talk about anything else about her paper besides grammar mistakes, so instead of upsetting her more, I agreed to go over it with her. Meanwhile, Danielle had another appointment, so we just ended up messaging each other later about the session. Danielle told me that I did a great job, despite the circumstances. She also said that she has never had a student as mean as her before and that she was sorry for not interceding sooner. It was definitely a session I learned from. I have to be calm and polite, and sometimes I have to just do what the student wants if they are being difficult.