Back from spring break

My first day back turned out to be a relatively busy one, thanks to some drop-in appointments: five students on my docket, so only one unused appointment. All but one were new to me, and they ranged from someone still in the "not ready for admission to the college" ESL program to two students who are in 102. Actually one of those, the one returnee, is in Kristin's 109, which is the honors version of comp 2. He is one of those students who clearly got into the honors program based on something other than his facility with language or his sensitivity to literature. That's not unknown: the last time I taught an honors class, I had several students who were woefully below honors standards in terms of their writing or reading skills.

I haven't come up with a moniker for this particular student yet. He's an interesting case: he started out very defensive about his work, at least with me, though he's seen other tutors and no one else has reported that defensiveness--though that doesn't mean he wasn't; it could just mean the tutors didn't think it worth reporting. I will say that he demonstrates honors quality in his determination to improve: he's been in to the Center sixteen times this semester, which means that in an number of weeks he's been here twice. In any event, the defensiveness has vanished: he knows where he needs help. We spent some time coming up with examples from Steinbeck's story "Chrysanthemums" that would support the student's points--which actually meant clarifying his points. He's still at the stage in his reading (of literature, at least) in which drawing inferences from subtle details doesn't come readily to him. He needed lots of questioning from me to understand why he had the ideas he had, what bits of the text led to the things that seemed to be so. For instance, he wanted to prove that the main character felt lonely--but he could only see evidence in the later parts of the story, so we went over the earlier parts, which is actually where her loneliness is established. It was one of those experiences I just love, when suddenly ideas would click together for him, and his face would light up. His ideas--and the way he expresses them--are still very simplistic, but that's OK. The main thing is that he's aware of what he needs, and he's trying.

Backing up, the first student of the day was a trifle annoying--not because of the student but because of the reason for his appointment. He's in a sort of "intro to college" course that is recommended for everyone but required for students who place into two or more remedial courses. His assignment was simply to have someone from the Center "review" his essay and sign a paper attesting to that fact. His essay was written pretty well, so it wasn't painful to read. My annoyance arose because 1. he didn't want any corrections or suggestions: he just wanted me to sign his piece of paper and 2. the professor's assignment essentially asks just that of whatever tutor sees students from that class: my knowledge/expertise were not required, just that I read something--or even skim it (because "review" could mean a lot of different things)--and sign a piece of paper. Easy, yes, but I don't like being used essentially as a rubber stamp.

That student may be back, actually--or so he said when he was leaving--and if he is, that will be ... interesting. He clearly is "on the spectrum" somewhere: very smart but, well, odd. What wasn't odd was the fact that he had an excuse for every error I found and told him he needed to correct: that's incredibly common student behavior.

Backing up a bit, and while I'm grousing about what professors require of their students and therefore, by extension, of us here in the Center: I understand that we "should" be able to turn students in 102 loose on research using the databases, as ostensibly they were introduced to that kind of research in 101, but to tell students they need to do that kind of research without providing any kind of tutorial or lesson on how to do it is really expecting way too much. Even students who were introduced to database research in 101 would need reminders--and help doing research specifically on literature--but more to the point, and more galling yet true, we can't assume that whoever the student had in 101 actually required that kind of research. One of the students I saw today needed help understanding how to turn topic statements into research questions--but then it turned out she had absolutely zero clue about how to do database research. I can't tell you how many students I've had to show the ropes in that regard.

My final student--also in a 102--was a drop-in. He'll be meeting with his professor tomorrow, and it's a good thing: he was describing scenes in A Glass Menagerie to show conflict--but that wasn't the purpose or focus of the essay assignment. He kept saying "OK" as I told him what was missing/what was needed, but I have sincere doubts whether he understood what I meant. Perhaps his professor can be more beneficial. I mostly simply felt relieved that the appointment was short; I wasn't annoyed by the student in the least, but what he had to show needed so much work there was little I could say--and if he didn't have questions, I couldn't do much more than point out the fact that nothing was adding up to anything.

So, that was today. Tomorrow, I already have an almost-full docket, starting the day with Annabelle. I don't know which assignment she'll be working on: her argument essay or her research paper. Either way, I anticipate the usual trying to keep her on track. The other students currently scheduled are new to me--and one of them is new to the Center. So we'll see what that's like.

Perhaps the strangest realization of the day is that I will only be here four more Mondays--and, after this week, only three more Tuesdays and Thursdays. Excuse me while I have a small panic attack about the cessation of the regular influx of funds. And actually, I will be a bit sad to say goodbye to this work. It's been good to and for me. I'm not sure how much I'll miss it once I'm moving on with the rest of my retired life, but I do wish I could take it with me.