Journal #2

I was definitely grateful for the assertiveness training, as it helped me with one client in particular. I was friends with this client outside of tutoring, making it an especially delicate situation. I would schedule appointments outside of my normal hours to accommodate her needs, and she would often show up five to ten minutes late. However, she also expected me to teach her everything in the 50 minutes we had together, and stay after if we hadn’t covered it all. I received many threats of dropping chemistry all together, and she would get very emotional when she didn’t understand things in the time allotted. Being a compassionate person, it was difficult to finally get up the courage to express to her the expectations of our session. After a couple similar sessions, I used saying yes and no to tell her that while I understood that she was struggling, the only time I had to give was the time scheduled with her. After this discussion, the client was still emotional, but we were able to work through at a much more efficient rate because she understood that I would not be staying a half hour over to help her.

 

Journal 2: Dealing with Negativity

Honestly, I can’t really say I had any bad appointments, at least on my part, this semester. Not because I’m some awesome tutor or anything but because all of my clients were pretty freakin’ awesome. They always came prepared for sessions, most of them had all of their questions already lined up, and no one ever expressed negativity to my face. They usually understood if I couldn’t explain something to them because I wasn’t confident in my own knowledge of the subject. I had lots of repeat clients which I think shows that they didn’t really have any negative feelings toward me. There were a few sessions where I didn’t really feel like I was qualified to tutor. These were usually sessions where students would come in for help on their labs. It’s a bit hard to help with a lab you haven’t done and a lot of their labs were not at all familiar to me. I did have one bad review and I think that was from someone who had brought in a lab, which might explain it. I didn’t let it bother me, though. After all, all of my other reviews were good. Overall, I think it was a very good semester and can’t wait to tutor organic next semester!

 

Journal 2 – Dealing with Difficulty

It is really difficult to pinpoint a “difficult” client because I had very few.  My most challenging client is easier to pinpoint because of repeated visits.  The main problem with this client was not that he was unwilling to learn or hostile towards me in any way.  His difficulty was that he had a very difficult time learning and it was therefore very frustrating to try to tutor him.  He would visit at least once per week and would have forgotten almost everything that we had gone over in previous sessions.  This repeated occurance was incredibly frustrating to me and as supportive and friendly as I was to this client, it seemed as though my suggestions to work on the material, review past exercises, and work on additional problems either were either being ignored or were as inaffective at helping him to retain material as our sessions seemed to be.  One key element in tutoring is to ensure that you are not doing their work for him but instead are helping them through the work.  I would encourage him to understand the process by asking questions as we went along, only to look up, and see a completely vacant look on his face followed by a string of completely off base guesses despite the fact that we had done a problem almnost exactly the same together moments before.

The other most difficult session I had was also my fault.  A partnership came to me for help on a project.   The most frustrating thing to me was that they showed me the problem they had been having and that I had absolutely no idea how to solve their problem.  I tinkered and tried different things for the length of the session but it was essentially a waste of a half hour both for me and for the client.   As a tutor, the service that we offer is our knowledge and it is so dissapointing to me when I feel like a client has come to me and I just do not know enough to help them.

 

Journal 2

Thankfully, I haven’t had a single negative tutoring session this semester.  All of my clients have been very appreciative and respectful, and dedicated to understanding the material.  There have been times when I’m not very sure of the answer to a question myself, but the client has never challenged me about it, and we usually just try to find the answer during the session.  For this reason, I haven’t really had to say no, deflect negativity, or stand firm, as suggested in our assertiveness meeting.  There was one session, however, where the client was clearly frustrated with the information and worried about how everything would turn out on the midterm.  In that situation, active listening became extremely important, especially being able to respond to the client’s feelings in an appropriate manner.  I honestly didn’t know how to respond at the time, but tried to be as caring as possible – giving lots of praise for things that the client got right or seemed to understand, in order to boost the client’s own confidence.   I gave the client some time and space, and tried to create a generally positive environment.  Closer to the end, the client explained to me the reason for the worry felt, and seemed to be a bit better… which I hope means that it worked

For the future though, it’s definitely important to be able to set your boundaries and say “no” whenever it is necessary.  You can only do so much as a tutor, and should not be asked to do more than is possible.  I also try to paraphrase what the client is saying so that I can make sure that I understand… this can also help with seeing how the client understands/sees the material.

 

Journal 2 Fuller

I had a client once who came in asking about negative and affirmative commands. This is something I have never done. I don’t know how it happened that my review of elementary Spanish class skipped over it, but when he asked about it, I drew a complete blank. Even looking at his notes did not ring a bell. I was embarrassed but not defeated. I was completely honest about my inexperience and I gave him a choice between trying to reschedule with another tutor or trying to figure it out together. He chose the latter and so we went to the book. After looking over the charts offered there for about 10 minutes we seemed to have it. We had success with some of the exercises and he left looking uncertain but still better than when he came in.

On another occasion I had a client who was repeatedly forgetting about appointments. I would call 15 minutes into our scheduled time to remind him and sometimes he would show up, but sometimes he wouldn’t. After the fourth time this happened I called and said that I could not be his tutor anymore. He had been warned the previous two times and since he obviously did not value our time together I wanted to leave the slot open for other students who needed help.

 

Journal #2 Difficult Situations and Being Assertive

Active listening helps a client see that what they are doing is understandable and once they feel that you can understand them, perhaps they can understand themselves if you say back to them what they might be saying. And you can also have them explain what they might be doing in order for them to see their own approach. It is the same thing in introductions as when someone first says their name to you, if you repeat it back to them with a hello, you affirm that you have heard the name and you have a better chance of remembering it, therefore you can use the name later when addressing them, and vice versa if you say your name to someone else. Sometimes two people clash when one is having a good day and the other is having a bad one. We do not have to feel the same way, but the person who is having a good day can sympathize with the person who is having a bad day, and give them reassurance that better days are to come. If we see a struggling student, instead of agreeing that they are “failures” or “inadequate,” we can reassure them that they can improve. I have had a client once who was preparing for a test with me, and he wasn’t feeling very confident as we began the tutoring, and I told him that he can understand this material, and by having him repeat back to me what we had gone over at the end, he felt like he understood everything better than if we had parted by simply ending the session after going over the material. A recap is very beneficial, especially if the student is the one reflecting, they tend to grasp the material better. This helps to avoid confusion issues later, and reasserts the material in the student’s mind. Adding this method certainly helped his confidence, and helped him get his first A on a test.

I have had several clients that have made use of my unscheduled hours, and negotiation is key. If the times which are needed do not work with the client and the tutor, then there are more tutors very willing to take clients. Sometimes it is very difficult to say no to someone who really needs help, but you also have to make sure that clients are not becoming dependent on you. A tutor should always try to help the client realize they really can do all of the things they come to tutoring for by themselves. If you feel someone is coming to you every week, and not doing any work before they come, and expecting you to explain it and go over everything with you, then you have to assert that they should at least try it by themselves before coming to see you. If you notice that a client comes to you all the time the day before a test, paper or homework is due, then you have to mention that they should come to you earlier, so that they themselves can understand the material in less of a rush, and be able to work on or study material after the session so to see the process of knowledge. If they come back confused, or have a small question, at least you can see how far they progressed and where they need the most help, rather than trying to comprehend everything in one hour.

I was once sent by email a request that said, “Can you please check/fix this paper and then send it back to me?”  This took me by surprise. This is not how tutoring works and I contacted this person later to tell them to make an appointment with me at TJ’s so that we could go over the paper to look for possible errors. No matter how much clients may come to you in help just so that you will do their homework for them, that is unacceptable. And there is no other option except to tell them: No, I will not, cannot, and shall not do your homework for you. But I can help you to understand the concepts, I can lead you to find your own errors, but I won’t correct them for you, I can point out reoccurring problems, I can help you clarify the assignment, show you how to approach different ways of learning, how to find you own way. That is the point of tutoring, to help one’s client become more confident, capable and independent in their own work. So just say “no” to doing it for them, it won’t help them and it is against your honor to do so; so stand firm. Let them know what you are really there for.

 

Lauren’s Second Journal

Although I haven’t had many tutoring appointments this semester, my second appointment presented some problems. The student arrived fifteen minutes late with only the study guide for his exam. He did not bring any class notes, textbooks, or other course materials. I felt a little frustrated, but remained hopeful that I could be of some help to him. As we looked over the study guide, I noticed that it was for an international business class, which I have no knowledge of. He said he thought he had made an appointment with the international business tutor and seemed annoyed when I told him I tutored political science. I suggested that he make another appointment with the correct tutor. He then rudely asked me to make it for him. I felt very uncomfortable in the situation. I tried to deflect his negativity by politely giving him the name of the tutor he needed, but he just stormed off and left. The session had only lasted a few minutes, but I think it was a good learning experience for me. At first, I was upset by his actions, and left the session feeling badly. However, after talking with other tutors who have had similar experiences, I learned that I cannot control the actions of others, and should not take negative sessions so personally.

 

Monica’s Second Journal

For me, the biggest challenge this semester has consistently been the fact that new professors are teaching the classes I tutor for. While I know the theory of the courses, each professor brings their own examples and case studies to help make the material come to life. Furthermore, one of the classes now has a textbook. When I took the class it was taught strictly with e-reserves and PowerPoint presentations, so it is dramatically different now. Each time I have gone into a session I’m never quite sure what I’m getting into. Often, the sessions have become as much of a learning session for me as they are for the students.

As a tutor, I had to learn that it’s okay not to know everything the student asks. After all, I’m not the professor and I’m not an expert. However, it is definitely within my power to help them find the answer. By working together to find answers within their course materials, I’m also helping them develop study skills they can use in the future. Often, I’m helping students prepare for exams, so they come with their study guides. When a case study comes up that I’m not entirely familiar with, the first place we look is the student’s notes. “What did the professor have to say about this?” If there are no notes for whatever reason, we move to the textbook. “Let’s read this section. What do you think about this? How does this relate to concept X?” By looking at the material together and asking critical questions to get their brains working, they’re seeing how to approach the material on their own. Learning that tutoring doesn’t mean being an expert on the details of the course was my hardest challenge.

 

Journal #2

Journal #2

I had a terrible session with a client. It was an hour long appointment and I’m not sure I helped her with much at all. I had already had a Stats II session that went well. I was comfortable with the material, but also the client, someone I already knew. The next Stats II appointment came within the same week. I did not take the time to review before my session, which was a mistake. This client was taking Stats II with a different professor than my last client, and thus was covering different concepts. I was not particularly confident in my own ability with this other material, and I did not know the client, so I was definitely out of my comfort zone. I’m sure many, if not most, of the difficult situations faced by tutors are generated by the client, but I caused my own problem. I had plenty of negative thoughts and questions about my competence as a tutor during and after that session. Unfortunately, this particular appointment came right before the meeting about assertiveness. Fortunately, however, at that meeting I was reassured that it is fine to tell clients I do not always know the answer and that they should talk to their professors about certain things. I had done this a few times during my disaster session, and the client seemed to accept that answer rather than attack me with questions like “Why don’t you know the answer?” Most of the negativity came from within me. Anyway, I did learn from my session. The first thing was that it is important to review before a session for my own sake (and ultimately the client’s). Also, I probably should have focused more on helping the client with HOW to solve problems, rather than focusing on WHAT the answer really is.

 

Deflecting Negativity

My worst tutoring experience was with a student who blamed me – and I do mean angrily blamed me – for her failure on her last test. In this case, the chief objective was to deflect negativity. She came in and stated that I had not taught her the concepts properly and that I had caused her to receive a sixy-two on the test. Initially, I was slightly defensive, but I calmed myself and proceeded to agree with her and asked what exactly went wrong during her exam. She pointed out multiple instances where calculations had not been answered correctly. One by one, she and I worked through each question, making sure to write down the equations needed and the numbers that needed to be input to properly answer the question.

Thankfully, that particular student had come in one week earlier in order to go over a review sheet that the teacher had given her. After each question on the exam, I then went to the review sheet and had her check whether or not the equations and questions were answered properly. Soon, the student’s combative attitude diminished as she realized that it was indeed not my fault. Nearly every question on the review sheet – which appeared in the same manner on the actual exam – was answered properly and explained completely. Each question had a hypothetical equation, the given numbers, and the correct application of the numbers to the equation.

After nearly forty-five minutes of explanation, the client finally calmed down and thanked me – she actually thanked me – for helping her. She realized that she needed to study more and that she had had all the resources she needed to ace the exam. We ended on good terms and she has continued to come back. She is now one of my best clients.

 

Mai-Han’s Second Post

I must admit, I haven’t had a ton of appointments this semester, but my worst tutoring experience would have to be my very first one. To begin with, I was already feeling really nervous about my very “first time”. I was afraid I was going to screw up somehow. I was worrying about everything from which tutoring sheet I was supposed to pick up to looking just plain dumb in front of my client. What my appointment ended up being was not so much me being nervous but rather frustrated. She came in with nothing but her Intro Psychology book that doesn’t look more than a day old and a test deadline of tomorrow! She obviously hadn’t read any of her book or written down the key concepts of the chapters that were being covered. Not to mention, along with her unpreparedness she also had a attitude. For a moment, I didn’t know what to tell her. Who did she think I was? A miracle worker? How was I supposed to help her study for her entire test that she has yet to even look at? Nonetheless, I started by taking her through one of the chapters and going through some of the key concepts, but before we could even get through a third of the chapter, thirty minutes flew by and our session was over. My client left and I didn’t feel very strong that she was going to do too well on her exam. She wasn’t prepared and I didn’t feel like our thirty minutes session did a whole lot either. Being that this was my first experience tutoring, I wasn’t feeling too good about being a tutor. Though now looking back, what I have learned from this session is that we really aren’t miracle workers and we shouldn’t expect ourselves to be. We are simply peer tutors. We only can do and should do so much. Since my first appointment, I have had a couple of similar unprepared clients, but I have learned to better handle them. I have learned to advise them about better study habits and learning techniques rather than trying to go through specific concepts that needs to be covered (since there is no way to cover all the material in one session). So as a result, my client leaves with learning tools that they can use (if they choose) to help them study better for their upcoming test as well as future tests and I feel like a somewhat worthwhile tutor.

 

Despite The Odds, Journal 2

Rather than bore you with my philosophy on effective communication. I’ve chosen to share two stories with you. They demonstrate how flexible and creative communication strategies enabled me to overcome very challenging tutoring sessions.

Forget Class, It’s Back To Grade School:

Can you imagine teaching finance to someone, who has never learned to cross multiply? Oh yeah, this student also has never multiplied percentages before either.

Against the odds I was able to help this poor neglected student….  The key to our success together was WRITING OUT EVERY SINGLE STEP. Tedious, yes, but it was absolutely essential.

That way he could see the how different arithmatic rules, especially division and multiplication, worked. He learned to cross multiply, discovered that 9/100=.09=9%, and the importance of units. By our second session he could write equations, identify key inputs and set up formulas himself. Now, he can focus on understanding the more complicated concepts in his finance problems.

Grouptalk Vs. Groupwork:

My first tutoring session ever could’ve been a nightmare. There were four very confused students arguing over my attention.

“Hey how do I do this in Chapter 6?”

“What does the time value of money mean?”

“Julia, how can we possibly do Chatper 18?”

Whew, it was overwhelming. After a few minutes of bouncing around the room and accomplishing pretty much nothing I quieted the crowd. We grabbed a room with a projector and worked together on each problem. It was a great way for everyone to follow along. Also, there was the added plus that with 4 students everyone was comparing work so that they were easily able to identify when they typed in a formula incorrectly.

The morale is that a group session needs to proceed as a group session. Don’t let overeager indivuduals prevent the tutor from helping the whole group master their work.

 

Journal Two

I have had a number of instances in my first tutoring sessions where I felt that I should have been more assertive than I was. It’s sometimes difficult to know when to deflect negativity and when to address the problem. In one of my first stats sessions I was faced with a particularly difficult client. The beginning of the session went fine, and I was able to help her with a number of concepts that she was confused about. Toward the middle of the session, however, she mentioned an equation that I had never seen before. I told her that I was not familiar with that equation, but that we could look in the book together to try to figure it out. She seemed annoyed that I had to use the book for clarification, but I did my best to ignore her passive aggressive comments and remain as upbeat as possible. After grappling with the equation for a while, I still wasn’t able to understand it well enough to help her, and she continued to interrupt me when I was trying to work it out. I apologized and suggested that she ask the professor, who I know is always willing to meet with students. She very rudely asked me if this was my “first tutoring session,” and whether I had actually done well in the class. I deflected her negativity by politely responding that this was not my first tutoring session, that I had, indeed, done well in the class, and apologized for not being able to help her more. I also gave her an evaluation form to get a better understanding of how she thought the session had gone. Her evaluation was negative, to say the least, but I think it was a good learning experience for me. Despite the fact that I felt like crying after the session, I felt good about the way I responded to her. I didn’t fight back or buy into her angry responses—that would have just made things more uncomfortable. I later discussed what had happened with the professor and had him add me to his blackboard site so I could have access to his powerpoints. I also learned that it’s ok to admit when you don’t know something.

 

Journal 2

I recently had a few students come in for help on their first writing assignment for their course on Asian Religions. In this post, I will go over how I completed steps 1-4 with one particular student.

4. Identifying the task

First, we looked at the different paper topics and the general instructions. I instructed the student to choose a topic he had some conflict with or felt strongly about beause he had a total of eight pages to write. If there was a certain topic he was struggling with, he would be better able to write eight pages on it. After choosing a topic, we identified the different questions and the different ways to approach them.

8. Summarizing the process

I explained to the student the way that the professor liked his paper to be structured. The first part of the paper should focus purely on explaining the concepts – no opinions or observations. The second part focuses primarily on the student’s indivdual observations with, of course, evidence to back up his or her views. I also expalined some of the technical aspects of the paper. For example, how many quotes should be used, how the professor likes the thesis to be set up, and the way the intro and conclusion should be structured.

5. Set the agenda

Next, we made a plan of what we wanted to accomplish so that we were both on the same page. First we would complete an outline and flush out the details of the explanation. Then we would talk about the student’s own opinions and how he could expand on those ideas.

6. Address the task

To complete the plan we set out before, we looked through his notes and the book, pointing out important sections and passages. Since the student did not have an actual paper written yet and we only had a half an hour, this section was rather limited.

7. Summarizing content

I think the key to being a tutor is to make sure the student is understanding the concepts. I asked the student several questions to find out exactly how much he knew and then elaborated on whatever parts he was confused about. After explaining the main concepts, I asked him to draw comparsions and connect the ideas. At the end of the session, I reminded him of all that we discussed and we went over his goals for the next session.

 

Journal #2: The Tutor Cycle, steps 4-8

Step 4:  The hard part about this step is attempting to see what the student knows and how he/she is thinking without putting them “on the spot”.  However, to identify the thought process of the student I try to engage in a informal conversation about the material, asking him/her what they have learned, what they think are the most salient themes/concepts and why.

Step 5:  When setting an specific agenda, I ask what they are having the most trouble with and what they would like to focus on the most.  A certain text? A concept? Understanding an assignment? Brain storming for a paper? Going over a draft of a paper?.  However, I often notice that they don’t know what they don’t understand.  In turn, sometimes we have to go over the basics before we can even dive into a specific assignment; for without a solid foundation/grasp of the sociological perspective, completing these assignments or studying for tests is quite hard.  In addition, when deciding upon the specific agenda I often try to think about certain preferences a professor may have or a certain subject/concept that I know the professor thinks its vital to study (or address in a paper).

Step 6: When it comes time to address the task, I often ask the student to take out all of the relevant material and their class notes.  Frequently I will model connecting two different themes within separate texts (a task often required in sociology) and then have them make a connection with two other themes.  After they attempt to make a connection, I try to provide positive reinforcement and point out what their strengths of that particular connection were, while simultaneously providing some constructive criticism.  Another task I often work on with students is establishing an solid outline, so that students can present their knowledge of the material in a systematic manner.  I will usually assist with the brainstorming of possible topics to address (and in what order), providing some examples for them to go off of.

Step 7 & 8: When summarizing the content of our session I typically review the notes that have been taken on the official TJ’s tutoring form in addition to the notes that students often take within the session.  We will spend around 5-7 minutes discussing the major issues addressed in the session.  During this time I try to have them do the majority of the talking, explaining, and summarizing so I can be sure that they understand the material we went over.