For my first ever tutoring session, I worked with Victoria. Of course, it started a bit awkwardly, but we were transitioning and switching, me from tutee to tutor and her tutor to the tutee, and classically I was having some network connectivity problems. The first thing I did in our session was to read the work that Victoria had brought with her. It was a very structured two paragraphs focusing on how every tutor and tutee will enter the session with their own identity, and how through identity we must promote peerness and inclusivity.
I was very interested in her idea and impressed with the level of professionalism within her writing, so I first praised her work, noting that I did genuinely feel as if this was something straight out of an academic journal. I then began to highlight what I thought were important parts of her thesis and research and took on the role of the reader. In The Oxford Guide for Writing Tutors, Ianetta and Fitzgerald write that “As a living, breathing audience, tutors can show writers that their writing does indeed matter” (59). This was the first thing I did after reading Victoria’s work and praising her writing, I believe. Victoria and I worked a bit on re-structuring her work, as she was looking for some feedback on how it flowed and where to add certain aspects of her thesis. Through acting as a reader, Victoria and I were able to sustain a stimulating conversation on how a reader would interpret her work, and how to best work so the reader could best understand her work.
I thoroughly enjoyed being a tutor in this instance, because I truly do love being a reader, and being able to read while providing kind, constructive feedback. While I’m not particularly in love with the online tutoring format, it’s good to do practice sessions in order to understand what these sessions will be like in the future. The online sessions are fine, save my horrible, fluctuating WiFi connection.
I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to work with the tutee once the session began. I have been most nervous about establishing a connection through tutoring, but this session was great! Victoria and I both knew what she wanted out of this assignment, and we were able to work to achieve these goals, all with an air of comfort. It wasn’t nearly as awkward or uncomfortable as I expected, and there wasn’t really a dull moment. I am very excited to tutor in the future, and this showed me precisely why!
Works Cited:Fitzgerald, Lauren, and Melissa Ianetta. The Oxford Guide for Writing Tutors. Oxford UP, 2016.
Pure Vibes. 