Observation, Round 3

My third observation session at the center was really pretty tough, and a bit disconcerting. I knew there would be some problems when, at the very beginning of the session, the student refused to read his work out loud. The tutor handled it well, explaining why we have students read and how much of a help it can be for the student. After some serious coaxing, the student began to read in a barely audible voice. The student said that he had a lot of problems writing, because he was only required to write 3 papers in high school, and he grew up in a bilingual community - Spanish was his other language. The student just wanted to be told what to do - he began to get a pretty serious attitude and when the tutor said, "You'e got to clue me in to what you're thinking here" (he had been sitting in silence) the student responded with, "I can't clue you in if I can't clue myself in." At this point I was a little uneasy at the tension, but I also felt really bad for the student. He soon admitted that he had a lot of trouble differentiating how he speaks in social situations and how he needs to write academically. He had ideas in his head, but hadn't the first clue how to organize them or put them on paper.

I was really impressed with how the tutor handled this difficult case. He refused to give in and do the work for the student, instead he focused on getting the student to develop his own ideas by talking them out. He was very quick to find positive things to say to keep the student from getting discouraged, like "I like this metaphor, I've seen a lot of these essays and no one has ever been this creative with it" and "This intro is great, it fulfills all the requirements and really engages the reader." He continued to ask leading questions and encouraged the student to just talk with him, to try to get idea flowing. After periods of silence, he would change the subject and try different questions and approaches to get the reader to talk. He found that the student liked sports, and used a great analogy, telling the student that just like you can't get better at a sport without actually playing, you can't get better at writing unless you just go for it and write. The tutor handled the whole situation really well, never losing his temper or giving up. He stuck with it the whole session, encouraging the student to come back. I know I'll encounter difficult cases like this, and I'm glad I was able to observe one.