By Preston Greene
The difference between most writing assistants and their students is much smaller than first-time tutors realize. The course reader contains multiple examples of first-time tutors who felt unworthy of their new job. In My Students and I: Our Struggle with Writing, Nha Kim shares her feelings on applying to be a writing tutor, stating, “I thought for sure they were going to hammer me for attempting to make a fool out of the EOP office by saying that I can write.” Yung Min Kim has similar feelings in her essay Learning to Write: A Second Language for All Students, where she states, “when I was first told last spring that I was going to be a writing tutor, as excited as I was about working with students and writing, a part of me felt undeserving of the position.” I believe these examples spell out universal fears for first-time tutors. These fears stem largely out of the idea that writing tutors must “know it all.” Writing tutors are viewed as those who have already figured out how to write, and now are willing to lend their expertise to less fortunate students. This is a fatal notion. It puts too much pressure on first-time tutors and severely undermines their tutoring style. Writing tutors, instead, should strive to become equals with their students.
The most valuable lesson I learned in Writing 169 was not to think of myself as “more than” my students. This was not written into the lesson plan; it was through subtle hints that I came to this realization. The first assigned readings suggested that tutors sit on the same side of the table as their students, and then proceed to read the student’s paper out-loud. This was far different from my pre-conceived notion of a tutoring session, which involved the tutor sitting across a table and taking five to ten minutes to read over the student’s paper with a red pen. This suggestion emphasized that both tutor and student were attacking the same problem, instead of the writing tutor “attacking” the problem of the student. I was also surprised by the large number of students in Writing 169 who had failed the subject A exam the first time. This fact initially eluded me under the weight of tutors who find it infinitely necessary to mention, “I know nothing about Subject A since I did not have to take it because of high SAT/AP English scores.” A whole new picture of tutoring was being drawn for me, one in which a group of regular students were being paid to act as a “writing buddy” to pupils that were not much different from themselves. This revelation was relieving. I no longer felt like I had to lie to my students; I could be honest about something I had felt since I was hired: “I am no different from you, and you too could be a writing tutor in a year.”
Tutoring Through Power
Yet many tutors find it necessary to keep this bit of information secret from their students. At first, it is rather easy to hide a tutor’s level of competence, but it grows increasingly difficult as the sessions accumulate. If a tutor sets up a relationship in which they are a “teacher,” it will become most difficult to hold the student’s respect as the tutor works out the kinks in their teaching style.
Those who believe that only a feared tutor is capable of holding a student responsible for their work are adhering to the misconception that students only learn “when they have to.” I believe this derives from a tutoring philosophy much different from my own: the philosophy of power. Many believe that a student will respect a tutor’s input only if the student believes that the tutor is reasonably better at writing than they are. It also follows that a student must receive some kind of warning if they do not show up to a session, so that they will not repeat the absence. In both these examples, it is the power that the tutor holds over the student that is the key motivator. I believe it is important to ask how this power is gained.
To start, tutors must work to uphold all the pre-conceived notions that students have about tutoring. First-time students almost invariably believe that: 1) their writing is inadequate, 2) the tutor’s writing is excellent, and 3) they will get in trouble if they do not listen to the tutor. This mentality is what prompted several good one-liners from a male student on my first day of tutoring, including: “my brother is an English nerd like you” and “will I get in trouble if I never show up to our sessions?” Obviously, these statements show a severe lack of understanding regarding the tutoring process, but, again, a tutor who wishes to capitalize on power must validate these views.
Fear is also used to gain power. If a student misses a tutoring session, he fears that the tutor will tell his teacher, and that it will affect his grade. Students are motivated to follow the tutor’s suggestions in future papers in order to avoid scorn. In this way, the tutor acts as an extension of the professor. The tutor takes the authority of the professor and extends it to include a more personal surveillance. And where does the professor’s power rest if not in the fear of “the grade?”
Tutoring Through Friendship
While this power relationship may be necessary between professor and student, I believe it is an ineffective tool for writing tutors. The first notion I tried to erase from the minds of my students was that I was teaching for the professor. This was rather difficult due to the way my professor introduced me to his students, which went something like, “Preston is like family to me, if he has any problems with you, I’ll be sure to hear about it.” I had just met him several minutes earlier.
During the first session I told my students that, contrary to what their professor had told them, I was not going to report every detail about the tutoring. Whenever discussing the grade a student received, or how a student could improve their essay score, I made a point of referring to their professor in the third person, and to the student’s paper as “ours.” My mentality was that the student and I were going to work together to solve a difficult problem: what “the professor” wanted in the essay. I never referred negatively to the professor, instead as a “wise judge” whom we both would be working under.
I believe my mentality sparked an increase in my students’ interest. After the second tutoring session, they did not believe that I had all the answers, and instead came ready to discuss possible strategies for revision that they had come to during the walk over. When a student came to a session with a paper that had received a low grade, I expressed genuine sadness, and told the student that we should look at the essay and figure out ways it could be improved for next time. The underlying message always being that I was on their side, not the side of “the professor.”
More than anything, this tutoring philosophy emphasizes friendship. True friendship is based on equality; a tutor cannot achieve friendship with his students if he holds power over them. In this relationship, students are motivated not out of fear, but out of a desire to impress. At first, my students would apologize for their papers before they read them, saying, “Oh, I’m sorry, it’s not very good.” However, toward the end of the sessions, the comments became less negative and would include things like “I think you’ll be proud of the way I followed your advice,” or “this paper is a lot better than the last one.” By not feeling pressured to write effectively, students want to move past expectations, to show that they followed instructions even though they did not have to. This mentality, I believe, will foster writing habits that will last forever, not just for the extent of the tutoring sessions.
Relating to Students on a Personal Level
Before tutoring sessions began, my professor gave me the profiles of the students I would tutor. He keyed on one girl who might be particular trouble. She had written her first essay on globalization, yet halfway through the first draft her paper morphed into a story detailing how a girl she knew was recently kidnapped, raped, and killed. This story took up just under half of the paper. My professor warned me that this girl might be very mentally unstable, and that I should be careful in suggesting revision of her paper. Yet, after several sessions with this student, I began to realize that she was probably not mentally disturbed after all. She told me that her reasoning behind this seemingly non-related story was that she wanted to add a personal touch to the essay. She had been taught in high school that essays are far more powerful if they center on a personal experience. She also confided in me that she had exaggerated the story in order to make it more powerful, a fact that my professor would never discover from the student directly. I realized that the student’s only problem was that she had failed to explain that the murderer had found his victim over the Internet, which she viewed as a sign of globalization. The inclusion of the story made perfect sense when properly introduced. When my professor told me that he was considering recommending this student for psychological counseling, I was able to persuade him to reconsider in light of what I had learned first-hand from the student. If I had acted only as an extension of the professor the student would not have been willing to confide in me regarding the truth about this miscommunication and the problem would have been exacerbated.
I have argued that it is possible to set up a relatively equal relationship between tutor and tutee, and that this relationship is superior to one centered on a power differential. It is worth mentioning that my experience is based on students who are relatively easy to tutor. I have no experience with dealing with ESL or highly abrasive students. I believe students may respond to responsibility only if they already have some confidence in their writing. In any case, being completely honest about whom one is as a writing tutor is very effective for instilling trust in the student. Professors already represent a looming source of power to their students; it is not necessary for writing tutors to imitate this relationship.
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