Fridays are almost always my most frustrating day to work; mainly because most of the sessions I have on Friday tend to be online sessions where something goes wrong whether it's someone who didn't check the book twice on what's an online tutoring and what's not or Google Hangouts decides to screw up.
Today was especially annoying since I was not only the one available staff tutor around but I was the only one who's trained in online tutoring. That's another thing, there needs to be more people who are able to online tutor too! On Fridays, it's only me and one other staff tutor who's able to make those appointments. Having more people who are also online tutors can really help.
The writer I was scheduled to work with was quite stubborn. When I told him our session was over, he kept persisting that I'd give another 15 minutes of my time. I ain't getting paid enough for that (just kidding, I love my job), so I had to remind him about our 50-minute policy and that I indeed had other obligations to attend to.
I could tell from his voice that he was angered by this fact, claiming that he deserves those extra 15 minutes because of a screw up on our part. I agreed that we did, in fact, screwed up because I was not aware that this was going to be an online session since it didn't say so in the book as well as the name of the writer I was going to work with but that doesn't change the rules. If I had to give him more time, then it wouldn't be fair to those who didn't get the same treatment and I know I sound like a broken record at this point but I wish writers would understand that there's only so much I can do in the amount of time we have together!
Finally he agrees to reschedule at another time because, as I've said earlier, there aren't a lot of tutors who are able to tutor online on Fridays besides two including myself.
tl;dr Scheduling online appointments and the lack of online tutors is still a gripe that needs to be worked on.
Friday, November 21, 2014
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Let's talk about goals
Before I had a chance to talk about them, I have already had several goals in mind prior to working at the writing center. Now that the Fall semester is coming to a close, it's time to look back at them: which goals have I achieved and which could still use more work in reaching that goal by the time Spring semester is over.
I'm very thankful for having the privilege to work at the writing center and for it to be my first ever job that actually feels like a job. A laid-back one, but still a job. The readings we were assigned to look over before conferences really made me think what it is I wanted to get out of my time at the writing center as well as changing my view of what a peer tutor is expected to do. Peer tutoring will always pose a challenge and I did have doubts about my abilities. Now I feel more comfortable with what I do to help writers who come see me and it's all thanks to those readings!
tl;dr one of my goals was to make sure writers feel comfortable in their writing without me silencing them in their papers.
It's a broad kind of goal, but it works for me. I knew exactly what I wanted from proposing this goal and I could safely say that I've done a good job at it. I still get some of the same people I've worked with before want to come and see me again specifically, so, that's a good sign, right?
Another goal that I don't think I've quite reached to its potential is to become a better writer myself. Granted, I did learn a few things while working here (how to do conclusions without paraphrasing everything you've already said earlier is one that comes to mind!) but there's still so much more. I want to feel more comfortable in sharing my own writing to other tutors and to do that I need to be more vocal about it. It is nice to see people comment on my posts here, so that's a start!
For someone who didn't have any experience on what a staff tutor is expected to do earlier on this semester, I'd say I'm doing fairly well; better than what I had feared. This kind of thing comes naturally after all.
I'm very thankful for having the privilege to work at the writing center and for it to be my first ever job that actually feels like a job. A laid-back one, but still a job. The readings we were assigned to look over before conferences really made me think what it is I wanted to get out of my time at the writing center as well as changing my view of what a peer tutor is expected to do. Peer tutoring will always pose a challenge and I did have doubts about my abilities. Now I feel more comfortable with what I do to help writers who come see me and it's all thanks to those readings!
tl;dr one of my goals was to make sure writers feel comfortable in their writing without me silencing them in their papers.
It's a broad kind of goal, but it works for me. I knew exactly what I wanted from proposing this goal and I could safely say that I've done a good job at it. I still get some of the same people I've worked with before want to come and see me again specifically, so, that's a good sign, right?
Another goal that I don't think I've quite reached to its potential is to become a better writer myself. Granted, I did learn a few things while working here (how to do conclusions without paraphrasing everything you've already said earlier is one that comes to mind!) but there's still so much more. I want to feel more comfortable in sharing my own writing to other tutors and to do that I need to be more vocal about it. It is nice to see people comment on my posts here, so that's a start!
For someone who didn't have any experience on what a staff tutor is expected to do earlier on this semester, I'd say I'm doing fairly well; better than what I had feared. This kind of thing comes naturally after all.
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