Journal 13

 Personal Reflection

Summary: The student had completed a rough draft of one body paragraph for his essay and had started to plan out two other paragraphs. Though he did not tell me he had constructed a thesis when I had asked at the beginning of the session, he had worked with a previous tutor last week to create an outline he had  unfortunately lost. The work he had done with the previous tutor interfered in the work during our session as the student did not inform me he had already attempted an outline prior to our session, so while I started us back on brainstorming to develop an idea for a thesis, he got frustrated with our session. I believe he was set on following that outline, but because I did not realize he had already created one and he was unable to communicate that to me, I had no way of knowing where his frustration was coming from. It was not until approximately halfway through the session when he walked out of the room to find the previous tutor who had helped him that I was able to learn this information from the previous tutor. However, the student had been frustrated up until that point (e.g. heavy sighs, expletives, and sudden absences to go on his phone), and my further attempts to help did not seem to relieve much stress. Luckily, with the knowledge of the previous outline in mind, I was able to help generate some topic sentences together, but we were not able to make further progress.

Challenges: While I tried to incorporate several of the lessons I had learned up until this point throughout our meeting (e.g. starting with understanding the assignment, brainstorming for the general topic, asking questions about the general topic, trying to insert opportunities for laughter), most if not all of them seemed to backfire in this session. While I had known my approach was not suitable for all students, this session stress-tested my faith in my tutoring philosophy. I likely still need to make further improvements to better adapt my approach to different students. The core of the issue was a communication breakdown. The student often struggled with putting his thoughts into words and I would sometimes struggle to understand his thoughts even when he was able to verbalize them. I tried giving  him greater space and time to form his words, but this did not always seem beneficial as he would go off topic or seek out sources to communicate what was in his head for him. I was unable to understand how those seemingly irrelevant pieces of information connected which I believe increased the frustration on both of our ends.

Ideas or theories: My understanding of the diversity within the student body is reinforced. I was fully confronted with a student who did not enjoy or benefit from my specific style of tutoring. While I do not believe this indicates a failure in my philosophy, it does bring to attention the greater need I have to adapt my philosophy to each student. It also reminds me of several key questions I must ask at the outset of the session to start both of us off strong. For example, if I had asked what work he had done on the paper up until this point rather than ask him to show me his work, he may have been able to mention the lost outline. If I had asked if he had come in seeking help previously, I may have been able to ask how that session went to better adjust the trajectory of our session. These initial questions are extremely important, and I am coming to understand their importance more and more with each passing student.