Dear Tutor Guru,

I have a regular tutee that comes in to the Writing Center to work with me every week and says he thinks I'm a great tutor. However, we always go over the same issues, and the tutee doesn't seem to be making any improvements. I'm not sure if this reflects on my abilities or what. Any suggestions?

Skills

Dear Skills,

While we try to help all of our tutees, sometimes we can only do so much. Try recommending your tutee to another tutor who you think is especially skilled in the areas he or she is struggling in.
Is your tutee learning disabled or an ESL student? In these cases, you might want to recommend the student to seek out the professor's help. Professors should know the specifics of what they want in an assignment and how they want their students to write, so only they can truly help a student grasp that assignment. If the student is learning disabled or struggling in his or her class, tactfully recommend that the student see their academic advisor. The advisor may be able to direct them to recourses that you are unaware of. Another suggestion is to turn in a copy of the rough draft along with the final draft of the assignment. By doing this, the professor can see what improvements the student has made.

Thoughtfully yours,
The Tutor Guru

Dear Tutor Guru,

Lately I've had to help a few writers who don't seem to understand the assignment guidelines for their papers. This one person's essay was completely different from what the professor wanted, as if the student were submitting something for another class by mistake. But it was no mistake - I checked the prompt, and I completely blanked once I realized what the problem was. How do I help tutees who don't "get" the assignment?

Dazed and Confused

Dear Dazed and Confused,

This is not as hard as it seems. In your case, you got lucky - most tutees won't even bring the assignment guidelines to the tutorial! Fear not, Dazed and Confused. Even if you get stuck with a paper that seems to march to the beat of its own drum, you can follow a few steps that should help you and the writer get back on the right track, prompt or not.

Let's take an extreme scenario: let's say that after your tutee reads the essay aloud for you, you don't know what the paper is even about, let alone what the guidelines might be.

First off, find out what course the paper is for. This is easy enough, of course, but once you have that, your range of possibilities is narrowed slightly. (That always helps!)

Which leads me to the next step: ask what it is the writer is talking about. Be sure to ask nicely and not so bluntly. The point is to see if he or she has some grasp on the idea being presented in the piece. If you can at least get a sentence or so that resembles an assertion that can be arguably proven - for example, "my paper is about the importance of underwater basket weaving in post-Fordist capitalist societies" - then, good job, you're getting somewhere. From here, you and the tutee basically structure the rest of the essay around the statement.

We'll call this statement the thesis for now. The next part is tedious but ever-so-crucial: you have to organize the content in the paragraphs around, you guessed it, the thesis! Whenever something appears tangential while you're doing this with the tutee, ask him or her if the content in question needs to be there, or if it's better off being removed. Say that the person really needs it in the paper, for whatever reason. At this point you have to help the writer think of connections between the straggling content and the thesis. Once this process is done, you both have to unify the intro and the conclusion. See a pattern yet?

What we've been doing so far, if you haven't guessed already, is working through the writing process. That is what revising is all about, actually. It's not just editing the parts that sound wrong - but feel free to do this, by the way - it's really high-duty clarity work. What you're doing with the writer is constructing a clear argument out of loose ends and potentially good material that just needed to be connected together in the right way.

And so we're back to the guidelines issue - what do we do without some sense of direction? Do we just leave the writer to fate… and hope for the best?

Actually, yes.

After the revision process, if you're both unable to figure out the guidelines, and you've both exhausted all available resources that might have this info, then all you can do is trust that the material gets the job done. There is some consolation in this, however. By creating a paper with a thesis, support, intro, and conclusion, you've essentially helped the writer make an essay that can be universally understood no matter what education or scholarly expertise. In most cases, that is going to be enough to carry the day.

That said, in some cases, it is not. But then, you can't win them all, can you?

Confusingly yours,
The Tutor Guru

Dear Tutor Guru,

I've had a couple of students come in lately that say they want to go over one element of their paper only (grammar, transitions, conclusion, etc.), but there are many things that need to be worked on within their paper. How can I bring this to their attention in a tactful way?

Blunt Tutor

Dear Blunt Tutor,

While we like to get a general idea as to what the tutee would like us to pay specific attention to during a session, remember that we are allowed to keep a general tutoring mindset - after all, we are the experts! Trying bringing up issues as you see them in the session, and also keep a watchful eye out for problems beyond what your tutee is expecting. After all, writing can always be improved upon!

Thoughtfully yours,
The Tutor Guru

Dear Tutor Guru,

I had a student come to the Writing Center the other day who needed a peer review for class. At the end of the session, the student gave me a worksheet to fill out! That's never happened before, and I don't think that's my job, but the student said that the professor needed to see this sheet filled out. I did fill it out, but I wasn't happy about it. What should I have done?

Overworked and Underpaid

Dear Overworked and Underpaid,

Dear Overworked and Underpaid,
Filling out a worksheet for the tutee's class is really up to you, and to the suggestions of your director. If it's an extensive worksheet, you may want to explain to the tutee that you are unable to fill it out due to time restrictions.

Most writing centers should have a contact report to send to professors when students wish to have their visit to the center acknowledged. Suggest sending a contact report to the professor detailing what you worked on during your session.

Repeatedly yours,
The Tutor Guru

Dear Tutor Guru,

One of my tutees came to see me the other day and said that they received a D on a paper. The professor said that the paper was thoughtful, provocative, and very well-written, but did not conform to the ideas discussed in class. What should I do in this situation?

Writing Integrity

Dear Writing Integrity,

I think you've stumbled across one of the issues that most of us come across in our collegiate academic career: Should we write our papers for the professor? Do we value the grade or the better paper more? That issue is really up to the student. If they've already written a good paper, it shouldn't be too difficult to incorporate elements of the professor's ideas into his or her writing. However, make sure that your tutee is able to differentiate between writing what they believe and writing what their teacher wants them to write.

Righteously yours,
The Tutor Guru

Dear Tutor Guru,

Being an overworked college student, my day is usually one that ends in complete mental exhaustion. I often find it difficult to come into the writing center, tired and frustrated from a hectic day, and find the energy to not only tutor people's papers, but to even be somewhat civil to them. I was wondering what you do in those situations, and maybe if you knew of some meditation practices to calm the mind and get through these rough times.

Frazzled

My Dearest Frazzled,

Life can be quite overwhelming. Stress is a very interesting concept on which I could write multiple books on how to cope and overcome. Sadly, there is no perfect, all-encompassing answer to alleviate stress. Meditation is a proven reliever of stress if performed in the correct manner. Here is an easy and common meditation process you can try after a frustrating day. Sit down in a chair or on the floor and close your eyes. Think of something happy in your life or somewhere you always wanted to visit. Breathe deeply and slowly. Allow your muscles to relax as your breathing deepens. Continue focusing on your special object or place. Watch it shrink and grow in step with your breaths, in and out. After a few minutes, start to normalize your breathing, still staying relaxed, until finally reopening your eyes and facing the world once again. Hopefully, you will feel rejuvenated and relaxed, ready to take on your next task. You can do this repeatedly daily with no negative side effects.

15 to 30 minute naps are also helpful in stimulating the senses and refreshing the body. However, never nap for more than 30 minutes or you will find yourself awakening groggy and tired. Napping too long can also wreak havoc on your nightly sleeping cycles.

My greatest suggestion is to smile and laugh often. Smiling and laughing are the greatest prescription for relieving stress.

Momentarily yours,
The Tutor Guru