This is going to be a huge rant. Sit tight, friends.
First of all, this session was scheduled on 12pm on the dot- as soon as I walked into the writing center today, I immediately had gotten on hangouts to await for my client. After ten minutes had passed, I decided to call her and she wanted to start the session at 1pm instead. That did not irk me in anyway, I haven't even gotten there yet. I kept track of time. When it was time for our now rescheduled session, I put aside my Stats textbook and finally, my client's name showed up.
Here comes one of the many technical difficulties I briefly mentioned earlier: she was unable to upload the document onto Google Docs. Of course, I expected these things to happen, however, I for one didn't want to figure out why that was because I didn't want to waste time during this session so I opted her to send me the file through via my personal Roosevelt e-mail as we talked on the phone discussing the paper. While we had waited for her paper to show up in my inbox, I asked her what any tutor would ask after introducing themselves: "What are we working on today?" She told me it was a research paper. Then I asked, "What parts would you like to work on most? What are your main concerns about your paper?" She said APA formatting and structuring. Grammatical errors only came naturally, so I was left to assume if I see any, I would catch it or she would as I read aloud her paper.
When I received the paper, I only skimmed through it quickly before telling her, "Alright, I'll be reading your paper aloud to you and if you find any errors please feel free to stop and correct it if I don't find them myself." This was unspeakable to her! As a tutor, it should be my job to find those mistakes and for her to correct them.
Well, I told her she was wrong but not exactly put it so bluntly.
"We will work collaboratively," I explained. "I'm not going to be able to find every single error, and the same applies to you. Having two minds is better than one."
That was enough to persuade her.
She argued with me sometimes and other times praised me for my input. We reworded the same sentence more times than I could count until she felt satisfied with it. Even when she did, she still found some problem with the way it was worded and suggested another way of phrasing it. I strongly believe that I do not want to completely take over a writer's paper, rather, I'd give my 2 cents and let them decide on whether or not they'd like to take my advice. So I told her as long as it made sense, whatever way she wanted to say it should be fine.
Essentially, she wanted me to write her summary. Again, I didn't want to completely take over the paper and at the same time I didn't see any problem in that since she would put it in her own words. I gave her ideas on how to start a sentence, she would use that to type her summary out. Same thing goes to her conclusion.
She argued with me sometimes and other times praised me for my input. We reworded the same sentence more times than I could count until she felt satisfied with it. Even when she did, she still found some problem with the way it was worded and suggested another way of phrasing it. I strongly believe that I do not want to completely take over a writer's paper, rather, I'd give my 2 cents and let them decide on whether or not they'd like to take my advice. So I told her as long as it made sense, whatever way she wanted to say it should be fine.
Essentially, she wanted me to write her summary. Again, I didn't want to completely take over the paper and at the same time I didn't see any problem in that since she would put it in her own words. I gave her ideas on how to start a sentence, she would use that to type her summary out. Same thing goes to her conclusion.
What should have lasted for 50 minutes ended up being two hours. When it comes to online tutoring, I really don't know how to end it in a way that won't stop the writer from sharing their ideas and what they think. On the other hand, I had no other clients to see after her so I wasn't too disheartened by this. I just believe it's unfair that I gave her too much of my time when in a regular session, I would not extend the 50 minute mark. That was my own fault.
In spite of some difficulties and having this work through phone, she enjoyed working with me. I guess that's something good to hear at the end of the session. She even asked about my hours and wanted to see me some other time for another appointment! Can't say that's a bad thing either; another good thing to know is when your client likes you enough that they want you to help them with their future papers too.
Next time I'm going to be firm on how I limit these sessions; 50 minutes and that's that. I'm sure if I were to have another client waiting for me, I would certainly end the session without any hesitation. It's just not fair to give so much time to someone when in regular sessions it wouldn't be two hours!
Although next time might be soon with her.
I really don't know how to end this.
Next time I'm going to be firm on how I limit these sessions; 50 minutes and that's that. I'm sure if I were to have another client waiting for me, I would certainly end the session without any hesitation. It's just not fair to give so much time to someone when in regular sessions it wouldn't be two hours!
Although next time might be soon with her.
Karishma, It sounds like this was a really frustrating session! I agree with you that it's important to limit your sessions to 1 hour, and politely tell the writer you're working with that the allotted time for your session has ended, and you could happily make another appointment for her at a later time.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I don't think this issue is connected to online/distance tutoring, at least not necessarily. There are just some writers who will take up all of your time. Setting priorities at the beginning of a session is one way to avoid the two-hour slog.