Every student comes to the writing center with different needs, even if they are working on the same paper for the same professor. Some students struggle with grammar, word choice, and organizing their paragraphs, while others struggle with not writing “fluff.” However, helping students improve their writing is not a simple formula because each student needs something different from the tutor. Some students need silence to organize their thoughts, while others have come to the writing center for ideas and expect the tutor to talk a lot. We, as tutors, contemplate how to respond to each specific student. In fact, we may be a listener, a proposer, and a cheerleader all in the same day; our job is to help students succeed by responding in a way that best connects with them.

Staying Silent

I remember a session I had recently with two students who were working on a group project. They had ideas for their research paper on mental health and temperance and had come to the writing center for help with organization. One of the students and I did most of the talking and brainstorming about the order of the paragraphs and division of topics and subtopics; the other student sat and listened. At one point, the talkative student and I hit a wall: we were working on wording the thesis statement, but we had run out of ideas. We could not state our thoughts precisely no matter how hard we tried. Just then, the second student organized our thoughts and stated them beautifully, which amazed me. Because she was so silent, I thought she was not paying attention. However, the opposite was true. She was paying attention even though she was so quiet.

This tutoring session showed me that people need different conditions for thinking. Sometimes, students do not need to hear all my ideas, and my quick responses may distract them. Instead, they need time to think for themselves; they need time to formulate and organize their ideas. Our job as tutors is to read the student’s body language so we know how to respond. Is the student thinking, or are they out of ideas? Is the student paying attention, or are they bored? Does this student need silence so they can formulate their thoughts? Some of the best ideas have been born out of silence—the silence that is only available when I stop talking and let the student think.

Posing Suggestions 

As a tutor, I seek to determine when to respond with silence versus when to respond with suggestions. Some students do not know where to start with an assignment, and staying silent is not going to help them get anywhere. In sessions like these, tutors can respond by providing students with prompting questions to stimulate their thinking or by having the student vocalize what they are thinking before writing. For example, I had one student who was having a hard time completing an assignment. As I worked with her, I realized that she was so worried about grammar that she was not writing. Every time she would start to write, she would re-work the sentence. Her obsession with grammar was hindering her progress. So, I suggested that she dictate her thoughts while I transcribed them. She had a lot to say when she was not thinking about grammar. In fact, she had so much to say that I had a hard time typing quickly enough. This student was shocked when I showed her how much she had said. I have found that simple suggestions can help students make a lot of progress in one tutoring session.

Giving Encouragement

Research shows that students succeed more academically when they receive more positive feedback (Hirn et al. 43). As a tutor, I do my best to encourage students throughout the tutoring session. With some students, giving positive feedback is not difficult because they are advanced writers keeping up with their writing assignments. However, some students coming to the writing center are less practiced writers who may struggle to begin and develop their writing. Sometimes, the student only has ideas on the page and a couple of paragraphs instead of having written close to a thousand words on their topic as their paper requires. In these sessions, I strive to provide positive feedback so that the student feels empowered to bring their writing to the next level.

Other times, it is a challenge to identify positive aspects of a paper. Instead of focusing on critiquing and correcting a student’s work, I try to redirect the student to why they chose the topic for the paper. In a recent session, the student and I did not even talk about grammar, even though there were several grammatical concerns. Rather, we focused on finding her essay’s argument to clarify its purpose. At the end of the session, this student better understood the writing assignment, and she had an outline to follow for writing her paper. I believe that I can say something good about each student, even if complimenting the paper itself is somewhat difficult. Sometimes a compliment as simple as, “You’re doing a good job,” or “Now you have a direction for your paper. You’ve got this. You’ll do great,” can encourage students to do well and keep working on their papers.

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to tutoring. As tutors, each day will be different because every student is different. Some days, we may be working with a student’s grammar, and other days, we may be helping the student to meet the word count. What matters is that we respond to each student’s individual needs. Some students may need silence, others may need lots of suggestions, and still others may benefit from encouragement. Whatever we end up doing, our job as tutors is to respond to students in ways that work for them.

Works Cited

Hirn, Regina G., et al. “Exploring Instructional Differences and School Performance in High-Poverty Elementary Schools.” Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, vol. 62, no.1, 2018, pp. 37-48. Taylor and Francis Online, doi.org/10.1080/1045988X.2017.1329197.

 

About the Author

Katelyn Snyder is a sophomore music major at Southern Adventist University and works in the Writing Center as a writing tutor. She enjoys both revising her own papers and helping fellow students revise theirs. When she is not playing the violin, Katelyn enjoys doing crafts, hiking, and riding motorcycles with her brother. She welcomes opportunities to help students grow in their abilities and confidence as writers.