Thursday, September 26, 2013
Chapter 1 of the Bedford Guide: The Writing Center as a Workplace
The chapter focuses on professionalism as a value permeating all writing center interactions. The third bullet point on page 3 touches on a challenging scenario in which a student attempts to discuss a project's grade with a tutor. What would you do and say if a student you were tutoring said, "Dr. Jingleheimerschmidt gave me a C on my last paper, even though I always got A's in high school English. Don't you think this paper I'm working on now should get at least a B?"
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If a student asked me that question, I would first explain that as a tutor I'm not in a position to comment on what grade I think essay's might earn. Guessing grades is beyond my capacity as a tutor; I am there to help the student improve their writing as much as possible, which will hopefully result in higher grades, but I cannot evaluate their essays or guess how Dr. Jingleheimerschmidt will grade them. I would then explain that the standards for writing in college are much higher than they were in high school, and that a basic competence is not enough to guarantee A's. I would then draw some examples from their essay of characteristics that might have been successful in high school and demonstrate how college expectations are different. I would use this time to begin the actual tutoring. This strategy should answer the student question, refocus them on what the tutoring session is for, and then kick start the session.
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