Tutoring with Seuss

By Lucy Manley

During our last staff meeting, the icebreaker was to share the most recent book you read; and while everyone rattled off academic texts, I (half)jokingly reported my book as Yertle the Turtle thinking about my three-year-old son’s nightly bedtime story. Rereading Seuss classics as an adult reminds me of important lessons I bring into writing consultations:

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.[i]

Relying on and utilizing your training is essential, but don’t forget to be yourself by bringing your unique personality and expertise to a consultation.  Play to your strengths and be honest about your own writing with the writer.

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.[ii]

We are also tasked with the responsibility to build writers’ confidence.  Showing a writer support can not only improve their writing, but also make them feel connected as a student.

 “Everything stinks ‘till it’s finished.”

This Dr. Seuss quote reflects the attitude of many writers (especially when they schedule a consultation a few hours before an assignment is due).  As a tutor, one of the best things you can do is to help writers develop a plan to finish.

“There are so many things you can learn about, but you’ll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut.[iii]

Even when you are helping a freshman on that same assignment that every other freshman (including yourself) has written and you’ve seen it 12 times in the same week, it’s their first time.  Be present, act interested, and maybe you’ll learn something new.

“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try.[iv]

One of our roles as tutors is to encourage writers to be creative and take risks.  Working and thinking together with the writer accomplishes this goal.

While my preschooler enjoys the colorful characters and silly rhymes, Dr. Seuss’s books remind us of the power of connecting to writers, the importance of simplifying the writing process, and the joy that can be found in language.

 

[i] Seuss, Dr., Happy Birthday to You! New York: Random House Books for Young Readers, 1959. Print.

[ii] Seuss, Dr., The Lorax. New York: Random House Books for Young Readers, 1971. Print.

[iii] Seuss, Dr., I Can Read with My Eyes Shut! New York: Random House Books for Young Readers, 1978. Print.

[iv] Seuss, Dr., Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! New York: Random House Books for Young Readers, 1975. Print.

 

Lucy Manley is a writing tutor at Valley Forge Military College near Philadelphia. She recently finished an MA in Composition & Rhetoric from Miami University and anticipates the launch of her blog, www.naptimescholar.wordpress.com, in June 2016. 

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