on the fly...

I have to take off in about ten minutes but wanted to post quickly about today. Most of the students I saw were perfectly fine--though I had a real challenge trying to explain to an ESL student the reasons why we use "that" (when, where, and how), which is something I know intuitively and probably not always correctly. I ended up looking it up online. Don't know if it helped.

However, one student was the type to drive a person barking mad. Oddly, I know I met with her early in the semester, though there is no record of the appointment. But I read other tutors' reports on her and across the board they expressed frustration with her: she cannot stay focused and, as I came to remember, doesn't seem to understand even a very simple explanation (such as the fact that introducing the topic will give information that may be repeated in the thesis statement--such as the authors and/or titles of the works being discussed). She kept saying "But I have that here," and I kept saying, "But you need to introduce the whole concept before you provide the thesis." She got very annoyed at the end as I was trying to get her to stop wasting time trying to find the exact way she wanted to write something on her phone and instead simply write it on a piece of paper--and then because I had to end the session, since I had another student waiting. "I feel very important right now," she said, as she left. She had a million excuses for things but ... oh argh, anyway. She's one of Kristin's students, in an online class. I made sure my report was sent to Kristin, but as I write this, it occurs to me to dig back through my blog posts to see if I wrote anything after seeing the student the first time.

Only one tutor was able to work with her productively--largely because the tutor had a cancellation and could see this student for two consecutive sessions. And even then, I ended up going over pretty much exactly the same territory with the student.

Describing her processing problems, it sounds like she might be dull and disconnected, but in fact she has excellent ideas. She admits to having a vision problem, but it seems that the processing problem is a larger, though possibly undiagnosed, concern. It's like trying to talk to a borderline belligerent wall.

Too bad we can't ban someone from the WC for being just impossible to work with. Or too bad we can't give a student like that huge, long, extended work sessions. With unlimited time, one might be able to get somewhere with her. In 40 minutes? Barking mad, I tell you.

We'll see what tomorrow brings. When I left the house this morning, I had one appointment scheduled. I ended up seeing students in five of my six appointments. First time my day has been that full, but I will say it made things go quickly. And most of the students were fine to work with. My hunch, too, is that the Hostile Wall will ask not to work with me again, which suits me just fine. May she find someone with more patience who is better able to help her.

Pretty full docket tomorrow, as things now stand (three of four slots booked). We'll see if they all show--and if I get someone else in that last slot too. Things are heating up as the semester progresses, and as students start seeing their grades....

And at that, I'm off.