Halfway into the semester, as tutors, we were asked to experience tutoring on the opposite end: we scheduled an appointment with an English tutor ourselves and attended the session as a student receiving critique. Then, we wrote a case study report about the experience and what lessons we could learn from it.
The writing is entirely my own, and the experience consisted of both mine and the tutor's efforts.
This case study, just as with many of the other academic assignments expected of us as interns, served multiple purposes. Academically, it asked us to examine our own tutoring skills and understand the alienation many students feel as they walk into an appointment. Organizationally, it allowed the professor to force a connection between our experiences as tutors and our experiences as students. All of us are students, and while it can be easy to distance ourselves from those we tutor, we share the same background and circumstances. Professionally, it highlights our willingness to meaningfully engage with the program as a whole.