First Week of Tutoring Update

My first sessions went well, though one thing I am running up against is trying to assist students with assignments unlike ones I have ever done before.

For the first student, we were working on brainstorming for an assignment that is due in a couple weeks. The students have to take an author's text (one book, website or three periodicals) and critically respond to the author's main idea. Though I have written critical papers, I have not really written a paper like this one. The student came into the session with an idea already formed; she had read an article about running being used as a treatment to cure depression. We tossed ideas back and forth about this topic, but I didn't want to dissuade her from using it or say it was not a fruitful one for this kind of paper (even though I did think that a little bit and may have hinted at it/cautioned her accordingly). Having just met her and this being our first session, I wanted to be supportive of her own ideas, and I didn't want to hijack her paper by suggesting other topics. Her interest is in science, but she asked me a good question: what can she say about the author's main idea if it's a scientifically proven fact? I didn't quite know how to answer that question.

My second student came with an assignment that is due on Monday next week, which is before we will meet again. The students had to interview a professor about the field they are interested in, but she was discouraged, because after she transcribed her interview, it didn't seem as interesting as the samples her instructor had given the students. I tried to be supportive and suggest ways she could still work with the interview as-is, but it's a bit difficult with assignments like this one when the research is already done, or you are already at a certain far-gone point in the assignment when you are just trying to make the most of what is already there. She also said her instructor told her that her writing seems like she thinks in Spanish and then translates her thoughts into English before she writes them down, and that's where she gets mixed up...though that had never really occurred to my student, she didn't really identify with that idea, and she has been working at a law office translating documents into English for awhile. Once again, I tried to be supportive and suggest that either way, I'm here to help her polish her writing and grow through the simple practice of writing more and more.

I think the difficult part about tutoring is not knowing the students' instructors personally and not knowing what is up to their expectations/standards. I definitely want to introduce myself to their instructors just to open up lines of communication, present myself as a resource and get a feel for how they work as teachers/graders.