Encountering the Tutee:Encountering the Tutee:Dealing with Difficult Dealing with Difficult

SituationsSituations

Greg Cohoon, Irvin Lucero, Gene Munar, Tuyettrinh Nguyen, Mary Deen, and

Chris Boyter

December 4, 2008

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Quiet and Unresponsive Quiet and Unresponsive TuteeTutee

Difficult to determine exactly what the tutee is confused about because of their lack of physical or verbal communication.

Difficult the gauge their understanding level of the material.

Quiet and Unresponsive Quiet and Unresponsive TuteeTutee

Tutors must learn to tolerate silence. When communication stops or is at a standstill, wait thirty seconds. Someone is bound to talk. It takes time to formulate a thoughtful response. It may help to ask the tutee why they are stuck or ask them to summarize the material.

Keep talking until a light glows in their eyes.

Be enthusiastic!

Distrustful TuteesDistrustful Tutees

ApprehensiveReluctant to accept helpAdamant that your answer is

wrongDiscredit your help and

knowledgeImmediately ask other tutors for

help.

Characteristics of Distrustful Tutees

Distrustful TuteesDistrustful TuteesProve your method is correct

◦Show evidence from notes or a book◦Walk the tutee through a derivation of

the ideas used in solving the problem◦Have the tutee try similar problems

and show that the answers are similarSuggest other learning resources

◦Internet, Articles, Books, Teachers, and other Tutors

Don’t take it personally

Handling Distrusting Tutees

ArgumentativeArgumentativeAfter getting past the first impression

stage and begin tutoring an argumentative tutee, there may be a couple specific issues to overcome;◦Challenging tutee: a tutee who does not

respect your knowledge of the subject.◦Personality trait: The tutee may strongly

misunderstand concepts and feel they are not being heard or understood. Tutoring may turn into a debate between the tutor and the tutee.

ArgumentativeArgumentativeResolutions & Strategies

◦ Establish expectations and ground-rules.◦ It is best to use non-hostile statements.◦ Focus on behavior, not attitude. Some students

may appear to have the worst attitude when in fact they may have a learning disability. We should never criticize before we know the facts. We can change behavior.

◦ Establish credibility: explain the concept a couple times to the tutee and then explain its future relevance. One leadership tactic is to first disorient someone and then show him or her you know the way. An alternate method is to indicate past success of similar

situations.

◦ Allow the tutee to vent his or her frustrations.

Understanding HelperUnderstanding HelperThe tutee is enthusiastic about

coming to MaSH and everything you say.

They retain the information you give them and applies it to their work.

In the future, they can be found helping other students in MaSH with the very same advise you gave them.

Understanding HelperUnderstanding HelperThese are generally the best tutees

and are the easiest to work with. However, some things to look out for is:◦Assess if they are saying “yes” because

they truly understand what you are telling them and not because they want to make a good impression.

◦On the part of the tutor, don’t give this tutee preferential treatment just because they are easy to work with.

Tutor/tutee FriendshipsTutor/tutee FriendshipsA light atmosphere leads the

tutee to feeling comfortable to share weaknesses, troubles, and feelings about their classes.

The tutee develops trust for a particular tutor, leading them to seek that tutor’s help over other tutors. This helps develop a trust/dependant relationship.

Tutor/tutee FriendshipsTutor/tutee FriendshipsPros

◦ The tutor knows the tutee’s strengths and weaknesses.

◦ The tutee is easier to work with and thus they learn faster.

◦ The retain the information given to them better.

Cons◦ They seek you

outside of MaSH (on-campus, email, etc.)

◦ The tutee may expect preferential treatment.

This situation can lead to a needy or possessive tutee

Needy and PossessiveNeedy and PossessiveThe tutee comes in for help with

a long list of problemsHe/she does not allow the tutor

to leave and help other tutees.They only seek help answering

the problems from the tutor and doesn’t want an explanation.

Needy and PossessiveNeedy and PossessiveEstablish your expectations from

the tutee and firmly state ground-rules.

Give the tutee something they can work on by themselves.◦This should be something that helps

them understand the problem and grants you enough time to help other tutees.

Adult Tutees over 30FriendlyWilling to LearnNeed more attention as they

understand less basic concepts from not being in school for some time

Adult Tutees over 30Although grouping people working on

similar assignments is usually encouraged, some adult tutees will need more attention to get a foundation understanding without other tutees just giving their work group answers

Embrace their willingness to learn and give a short lecture on subject pertaining to homework and have them work on problems by themselves

How to Tell If Adult Tutee needs Individual or Group Tutoring

Section 5.1 of Tutoring Manual