Tutoring @ TJ’s

Foster’s Independence - I’d give myself a 3 in this category. I think especially with a math course it is hard not to just write out all the steps yourself. When explaining supply and demand it’s easy to ask “So which way to you think the curve moves?” But with the stats classes the answer is either right or wrong, and I sometimes find myself giving the next step instead of “leading” to it.

Modeling - I think I’d get a 4 in this category. I’ve found that example problems work out really well, that way I can explain a certain concept one time, and then the next time it’s up to the client to figure out how to solve the problem if the numbers are slightly different.

Learning Skills - Here, I think I’d give myself a 3.5. I try to show clients other ways of thinking at things. This really comes in handy when someone maybe isn’t as comfortable with numbers. There are usually charts in the back of books with shortcuts that can help, and many people don’t realize that they are really useful and not just there to waste paper.

Processing Time - While this usually changes day to day, depending on the mood I’m in, for the most part I’d give myself a 4. And this is the category that I would give myself a “most improved” in. When the semester first started I would want to jump in right away, recently I had a client who basically sat there and looked at me. So the two of us had a western movie-esqe showdown for about a minute. You’d be glad to know that he cracked first.

I’m really glad I decided to tutor this semester. I learned a lot, and I think that my helping other people has helped me in my own studies. It’s been a fun experience. See you all in the fall!

The Good - It’s always really good to feel that the time we’ve been putting in has paid off, when a client finally “gets it” and is really appreciative of the help. This is especially true because of the drama we’ve had this semester from a particular class (see “The Bad”) some of the people I’ve seen just needed a little bit of extra guidance and *poof* it all made sense.

The Bad - Without blaming any one particular class…even though I should. There have been some tutoring sessions this semester where I have had to literally teach the course material, and this was not the students’ faults. While there wasn’t anything particularly hard about showing someone the correct formulas to use and explaining the concepts, it was frustrating to not be able to tell the student to go and ask the prof questions. It was all just a really sad situation.

The Ugly - There was one particular client this semester who came in the day before a test and wanted me to teach him all the course material. That was SO not going to happen, but I did point out the main concepts that would probably be on the test. But wait, it gets better! After pulling out the syllabus and looking at a few things, I asked him where this one particular book (which I knew his class was using) was, and he told me that wasn’t a book that was required for the class. Then he had the gall to ask me if I was sure what I was talking about…seriously. When his hour was up he asked if I could help him longer, but by that time I was so irritated I just handed him the paper and left.