Advice for Future Tutors

There is nothing I could say that would completely prepare a future tutor for the experiences they will endure. Though this is a bit unfortunate, I believe that the notion that tutoring is best learned via experience is perhaps the best advice one can give. It is important for one to know the commonly held misconceptions about the "purpose" of the writing center, and even more importantly to know the actual purpose of the writing center. It is important for one to acknowledge the scholarship that has preceded them, be it through the act of reading or just general conversation. While on the surface this scholarship may seem pedantic, the ideas underlying writing center scholarship are ideas that can be applied to virtually any tutoring session. Any tutor, regardless of how long or little they have been tutoring, must consciously work to find his/her own "tutoring voice." With the discovery of this voice comes the recognition of all a tutor's responsibilities and a release from the anxiety that often accompanies the intial portion of tutoring sessions. This voice is not an easy thing to come by. A tutor must be comfortable in his or her own knowledge of writing, in his or her own writing, and in particular in the mode of expression they utilize to convey suggestions to the student. There are times throughout the course of tutoring that frustrating situations may arise. These situations must be tackled head-on, though with relative patience and a cordial nature. We, as tutors, are expected to "understand" where the student is coming from or how that student has gotten themselves into such a position. This is certainly easier said than done, though it is expected of any tutor. We must not kid ourselves into thinking we always perceive the student's situation, but we must acknowledge that when we do not, or if we cannot, we must still approach the situation with a degree of compassionate understanding. A tutor must be firm, ethical, though open-minded. There are times when we are forced to endure papers from students whose native language is not English, often leading to papers that are hard to understand and harder to work with. This is to be expected. We must approach these situations with a different mindset than the mindset with which we approach other tutoring sessions. Not that one or the other is consistently easier or harder, but they are different, and it is important to recognize that tutors, just as papers and students, are adaptable. Tutoring is a profession that is never stable, but inevitably growing. If I were to give one last piece of adivce to a future tutor, having said all this, it would be to take all as it comes and learn from your experiences. Some things work and other's don't, but tutoring is always changing, as are tutors, and it is our job to remain pliable.