Almost the last...

I'm gradually saying goodbye to colleagues here in the Center. I can't say that I've gotten terribly close to the other tutors here, so the goodbyes haven't been emotionally taxing--and in one case, at least, a bit of a relief. I don't know why I found this particular colleague ever so slightly irritating, but I did, so it is rather nice to know I won't have to make nice any more.

And as for summer, I put in for the hours but didn't get any. There is, I suppose, a chance that someone who has currently been scheduled will change her mind (I think all the tutors for the summer are women), but I have to say, I was somewhat relieved when I got the news that the schedule was already full. More options for beach days!

Today, I only saw one student--well, to work with, at any rate. Silent Betty had an appointment, but she came in to ask if she could move it, as she had an exam the next period; I guess she wanted the time to study. We moved it--but then apparently she came in just before that later appointment and canceled. Originally I was also supposed to see Earning Honors today, but he also canceled.

I'm sure I've given a moniker to the student I did see, but I don't see her regularly enough to remember what I called her--but Word Salad would be appropriate. We managed to get part-way through her essay, and at a rough estimate, I'd say one in five sentences actually made enough sense that I could fix it with only minor adjustments. The rest were truly incomprehensible. I'd have to try to pick up on individual words that might contain the kernel of an idea and try to work from there. And it wasn't until the last few minutes of our appointment that I realized she was plagiarizing left, right, and center: not only presenting ideas without citations but also mixing in far too much language of the original source--and creating more word salad in the process. I persuaded her that she really has to come back in tomorrow for more help; her essay is due on Monday, so she actually can squeeze in another tutoring session--and if she doesn't, the paper won't pass. She very proudly showed me the two essays that I laboriously went over with her; one got a B-, the other a B. In retrospect, I wonder just how much of those grades rightfully belongs to me--though as I've said, she has great ideas. How she managed to get to Comp 1 is a mystery, though--unless she's relied incredibly heavily on help from the Center along the way.

I also found out today that part of the problem is that she works a graveyard shift, so she is chronically going without sleep. That's clearly adding to her already profound problems with language processing. I'm not sure if she is dyslexic, but that would be my hunch--and profoundly so. I don't know if she's getting any particular help from the Center for Students with Disabilities, but I'm guessing not. And that department is woefully understaffed for the number of students we have who present with disabilities of some sort or another.

Mercy me.

In any event, I didn't have an appointment after Word Salad--but I chased her out at the end of the 45 minutes anyway, because I was wearing out. What she really needs is to see a language tutor every day, someone who knows how to work specifically with whatever her particular processing problem is.

Nevertheless, she is no longer mine to worry about. I sincerely wish her well, but I don't think I'll spend the weekend--or even tonight--feeling concerned about helping her further. I hope she gets the help. I won't be the person to provide it.

At the moment, I have one appointment scheduled for Monday--and it's rather interesting to read the client report forms, as they have rather diametrically opposing views of the student's capabilities. If he indeed keeps the appointment, I'll be most interested to see what he brings to our session. But ... a session on the last day of class? If what he has isn't in damned good shape, he hasn't left himself much time to make changes.

But again, not my problem.

Thinking about the fact that in all likelihood, Monday will be my last day as an employee of this college, I realize yet again that I still haven't felt the full separation--and probably won't even then. As I've said before, I suspect it will be September before it fully soaks in that I'm officially severed from this institution ("severed": what a ferocious term for it!). How very, very, very odd. I just can't quite wrap my emotions around it. My brain gets it, but ... I still feel very attached to this place. Relieved as hell to no longer be suffering the tortures of the classroom, but still: I've been here 18 years, counting this semester. That's almost twice as long as I've ever worked anywhere else. Strange, strange.

But now, it's just the usual Thursday; I'm finished here for the week and will now head off to embark on my weekend. I'll be most interested to find out how Monday feels when it arrives.