Embedded tutoring makes up the majority of my sessions at
studio, so I focus my energy on building relationships with students. I think
this is the key to working with students who are required to attend multiple studio
sessions, whether they are coming through the embedded program or student
athletics (and otherwise, it might be helpful in encouraging regulars). I
noticed during the sessions that corresponded with Project 1 of ENC 1101 that most students either did
not want to be here, were nervous about what they were expected to accomplish,
or were just plain confused.
In that early phase, I made sure to learn names, and I asked
them questions about their academic lives, including their majors and
post-college aspirations. In the sessions that followed, I mentioned these
little details, asked them follow-up questions, or referred to their previous
writing to show them that I was keeping up with their progress. While I had
specific goals for each session that were tied to the project, I welcomed conversation
about other academic topics, and I invited questions about my own academic
path.
As they got to know me and my role in their class, many
students began to show more accountability, whether it was to tell me more about what was going
on in their class (they can be excellent sources of the instructors’
communications, if you are not in constant contact) or to ask me larger order
questions about the aim of a project. I could tell that they were starting to
realize that I provided many different kinds of resources to which they would
not normally have access. They also began to look at the larger picture of
their topics and the progression of assignments. As a result, they began to
show more agency in their work. One student in particular comes to mind. She
began to connect her topic to the concepts she was learning in her cultural
anthropology class and told me she was really interested in continuing her
studies in this vein.
Now that we are entering the last phase of the semester, I spend
much of the intake part of my sessions catching up with each student, asking
them how they performed on their last assignments, what their instructor has
told them in class, if they are unsure about anything, how they are feeling, etc. Because of this
continuity, the tone is now more relaxed, and they have been even more
forthcoming about their challenges. They often ask me how they improve their
grades, and while I remind them that I have no influence on their evaluation, I
help them make plans to get through the rest of the semester. I think it’s
important to put ourselves in students’ places and adapt to their concerns even
while maintaining a professional relationship. Most of my sessions have become
a bit like a sounding board, and I hope students feel like they are talking to
a knowledgeable peer, not a second instructor.
Note: A key component to maintaining a continuous line of
communication with students is interaction with the instructor. I think
checking in on a regular basis about project requirements and student performance
enriches my work as a tutor, but that might be for another post.
