requiring wc visits

[Muriel Harris <harrism@omni.cc.purdue.edu>]

> Such consultations are invariably useless for the student and 
> frustrating for the consultant, especially when other, eager and 
> serious, students are waiting for consultants' time.  Any comments, 
> questions, or solutions?  I am eager to hear your input. 
> Sara
> P.S. I am new to the list, so if I am rehashing old issues, please 
> let me know. 
> 

Sara, don't worry...we rehash old issues because we're still looking
for answers, and I'm very glad you brought this up again. In addition
to looking for solutions that your question will provoke, I also find
great comfort in knowing that I'm not alone in trying to cope with
this problem of required visits and teachers who refuse either to give
us advance warning or to listen to any explanations of why requiring
tutorials for everyone is not a productive use of everyone's time
(including the student who slogs in knowing that he/she has to "do
time" in the lab).

At our last staff meeting when we were dealing with what to do, we had
just about ended the conversation when one of the "offending" teachers
we had been talking about  appeared in the lab with a cake she had
baked for us...in appreciation for all our help. She said that she
knew she was burdening the lab but that she wanted everyone to try a
tutorial. Later, in a note she sent me, she said that "I've found that
once a student gets in to the lab and walks away with a positive
experience, he or she is willing to return voluntarily." She's right,
of course, and I felt humbled by her recognition of what we plead
for....that students give us a chance to see how much there is to gain
by talking with a tutor.

I also need to keep reminding myself that no system works perfectly
for everyone and nothing we dream up as policy or method will work out
perfectly in all cases. 

And a question: What do you think of the frontal approach to students
who don't want to be there, have nothing they want to talk about, and
still have to have that damned "note from a tutor"...namely, that
after a few minutes of trying to engage them, we just sign the slip 
and let them go. Any thoughts?


-- 
Mickey Harris
harrism@omni.cc.purdue.edu