I read an article by John Blazina, "What Does Difficulty Mean in the Writing Tutorial". I chose to research about difficult students because in the midst of midterms, our writing center has been full of all types of students who may or may not have been required to come in. I've had quite a few passive or rushed students in the last couple weeks (mostly students that are required to visit) and as a result I've been feeling really dissatisfied with my sessions so I wanted to explore other "bad" sessions that tutors might have experienced.
The very first quote I'd like to draw from Blazina's article is "talking about our difficulties [in writing tutorials] can be good". Blazina goes through many different types of students that present difficult situations for tutors but in his conclusion he brings up a very interesting point:
"Very difficult students are rare. Our problems often arise from our own inexperience and error. We expect too much or too little from the student; we are inattentive or thoughtless; we resort too easily and frequently to “strategies” that scarcely rise beyond cliché. We should also be aware of our own proneness to shame. We too may fear incompetence or failure, have sessions with students with whom we cannot but fail".
Blazina's gives examples on how to deal with an array of difficulties that students might present in a session but also focuses on how the tutor might reassess their expectations of a student as to avoid reacting in an unaccommodating way. Though I believe what I've quoted from Blazina above is quite harsh, I do think it's important to stand back and put yourself in the students' shoes if need be.
http://emil.uwc.utexas.edu/praxis/?q=node/56
The very first quote I'd like to draw from Blazina's article is "talking about our difficulties [in writing tutorials] can be good". Blazina goes through many different types of students that present difficult situations for tutors but in his conclusion he brings up a very interesting point:
"Very difficult students are rare. Our problems often arise from our own inexperience and error. We expect too much or too little from the student; we are inattentive or thoughtless; we resort too easily and frequently to “strategies” that scarcely rise beyond cliché. We should also be aware of our own proneness to shame. We too may fear incompetence or failure, have sessions with students with whom we cannot but fail".
Blazina's gives examples on how to deal with an array of difficulties that students might present in a session but also focuses on how the tutor might reassess their expectations of a student as to avoid reacting in an unaccommodating way. Though I believe what I've quoted from Blazina above is quite harsh, I do think it's important to stand back and put yourself in the students' shoes if need be.
http://emil.uwc.utexas.edu/praxis/?q=node/56
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