To little surprise, I am an ENTJ personality type meaning I am a moderately expressed extravert, moderately expressed intuitive, moderately expressed thinking, and slightly expressed judging personality. First off, I can hardly imagine anyone more extraverted than I and I would greatly enjoy meeting said person. My moderately expressed intuitive and thinking side is probably [...]
New tutors are working on this final reflection, to send to me online. But you might be moved to respond to one or more of these questions on this public blog. Please do. Here are the questions. They’re also listed at the end of the Journals! page in the tab at the top of the [...]
I found the 2001-2008 data pretty interesting. The total number of appointments and the number of hours of tutoring have increased significantly from ’01 to ’08, but the number of clients has increased more moderately. Obviously there was a big increase in hours when TJs took over some tutoring from the Bush Science Center. (Math [...]
In my selected studies of Biochemistry, Ashleigh’s approach to tutoring really connects with me. Like Ashleigh, I tend to have the client look at the big picture first. This allows for the client to begin to really think about the material. Then, I probe the student with questions to see where their strengths and weaknesses [...]
When it comes to some clients, I’ve had better conversations with brick walls. I’ve seen shoulder shrugs, head nodding, heard mumbling, I don’t know, and I give up. Statistics is not the easiest subject to conceptualize especially at the introductory level without a knowledge base of the statistical jargon that is used: correlation coefficient, coefficient [...]
The clients in these examples show very different levels of engagement and preparedness. Julia’s client was extremely passive, as noted, and Aimee’s client seemed to be at the opposite extreme. Apparently she was working so quickly and frantically that Aimee had to slow her down to get her to fully understand what she was doing. [...]
It sounds like these tutors have had clients spanning the whole spectrum – ultra-passive to highly engaged. So far, all of my clients have been in the middle ground. They’ve had their own questions to ask and thoughts to explain as they solved chemistry problems, while I still have had to point them in the [...]
A month into the semester is often a good time to revisit how we’re communicating, both in the tutoring session and outside it, with student clients, with students in the courses, with professors, with one another, when we write and read, and when we speak and listen. So join us as we do some role-plays [...]
New tutors: Due on the blog by Wed. 2/18 Journal #1 assignment is on the blog, in the Journals tab at the top! Have fun. Be thoughtful and reflective. Looking forward to reading your posts! Here’s the first paragraph of the assignment. What follows is the more technical side–working within this wordpress.com blog to log [...]
Although, I have never directly encountered negativity or aggressive behavior in my tutoring sessions, I found that sometimes I had to show assertiveness and persuasion. Such as when my client would appear to be in a hurry and not paying full attention to my explanations, I had to assign the student to a task that [...]
I have to say that I have had few clients so far where I had to use strategies such as “deflecting negativity” or “standing firm.” I know, I sometimes just can’t say no, but I haven’t agreed to things in sessions that I found not acceptable. I guess part of this is because I have [...]
I didn’t have any scheduled appointments and the ones that I did off campus were very informal and all with people whom I knew. So I didn’t come across any really difficult situations. Because of the tutor training, I’m sure that I would be able to deal with them if I ever came across them. [...]
Julia Humphrey tutored a student today who was an outlier…way at the passive end of the active/passive continuum. She came with the book. But no notes. No printed-out powerpoints. No flash cards (though these two she said were in her room). She answered questions in monosyllables, until about the middle of the 40-minute session, where [...]
Or is that macro-ing the micro? I’m only married to an economist…not one myself. John isn’t majoring in economics, but as an IR major, he’s taken 203 (micro/macro) and has helped a bunch of students with that technical intro course. (Also with the other ECO course he’s had, 202, Historical Perspectives.) John had helped this [...]
