re: Tutors and Classroom students

[Marjorie=Keil%Faculty%WAYNE@polskys.cc.uakron.edu]

Thanks to those of you who responded to my question about tutoring one's own 
students.  You've given us yet another topic for staff meeting discussion. 
   Our staff consists of three professional tutors, all also part-time 
instructors, and a coordinator who tutors 20 hrs/wk and has teaching and 
administrative responsibilities.  With only one of us on duty at a time, 
sometimes tutoring our own students is unavoidable.  We recommend getting 
feedback from another tutor, but as commuters, students here spend little 
extracurricular time on campus.  
   Our switch hitting from evaluator to tutor creates a problem of student 
perception.  For example, I've read in more than one student's journal 
something like "I'm disappointed I didn't get an A on this paper because, 
afterall, you helped me with it in the writing center."  
   I can't agree that students who have WC sessions with their instructors 
have an unfair advantage over peers who either don't visit the WC at all or 
who see another tutor.  They'd be making office appointments (if I had a 
_real_ office) anyway, owing either to their extraordinary effort or to the 
desire for brownie points.  Overall, I see the classroom/WC question as a 
matter of skewed student perceptions of the WC.                  
   Reading Wcenter is a highlight of my workday, but now's the time to return 
to the lurkers' lair for a few more months.  And on that reclusive note, 
Happy Groundhog Day.

Marjorie Keil
MarjorieKeil@UAkron.edu