The Tutoring Book - California State University, Sacramento

Tutoring the Know-it-All
68
Peggy Kincaid
Spring 2011
Some tutees make you wonder why they came to the center at all, because, according to them, they know
everything. When you work with one of these Knows-it-Allreadies, you feel like you’re being accused of
trying to deface Michelangelo’s David. Back off, you idiot tutor! Don’t touch my masterpiece with your
chiseling pen. Simply step back and admire my genius. This may be an exaggeration, but if you have tried
to tutor a Know-it All, you get my drift. The following stories illustrate my point.
Story 1: A drop-in (fictitiously named Dejan), wanted help with a ten page paper that was due the next
day which he had not yet begun to write. Sound familiar? But, to top that, he also wanted the tutor he
worked with (me) to know everything about Confucius and Theravada Buddhism! And to further top
that, his manner was demanding and superior. When I offered to be a sounding board and brainstorm his
topic with him, Dejan said, You can’t help me. I need an expert. Then he stood up and walked away. I
was not sorry to see him go. I thought for certain that the writing center had seen the last of this puzzling
man. To my surprise (and, I admit, mild horror) Dejan dropped in again the next day. I was the only
tutor available, so I took a deep breath and dived in. I wasn’t too worried since we only had 15 minutes in
which to work, and I thought I could survive that long.
Dejan told me he wanted me to check his grammar and punctuation. Knowing his paper was due that
afternoon, I told him I would check his organization. (He was not an ESL student who needed line-by-line
work as some do.) That was when the battle of wills began. He said, My organization is fine; I know how
to write. I said I would check for organization and clarity at any rate, just in case. He conceded –
reluctantly. It was obvious that taking the “dumb reader” or the supportive listener approach would not
work with this writer. To my surprise, Dejan had written his ten pages without the assistance of an expert
in Eastern religion and written them well. He was a very high level ESL student, and his writing was
sharp and direct. Thankfully, his grammar and punctuation were nearly flawless, and I was able to get to
the heart of his paper quickly.
I am human enough to say that I was happy to see that Dejan had some organization issues and a few
confusing sentences with structural difficulties. Although I didn’t have a specific strategy in mind at the
time, I see now that I took what Muriel Harris calls the stance of “Tutor-as-diagnostician” (McAndrew
and Reigstad, 113). While Dejan tapped his foot, looked frustrated and told me, over and over I know
that. I don’t need your help with that, I continued to take notes. Finally, I gave him my feedback,
expecting him to get angry and walk away again. To my surprise, he listened! Not only did Dejan listen,
he asked me to clarify my remarks. He acknowledged that my comments were valid, thanked me and told
me I was very fast. You could have knocked me over with a mechanical pencil.
Story 2: A fellow tutor, Andrea, told me about her experience with Jim (also fictitiously named) -- an
older man working on his MBA. Jim was highly intelligent and spoke five languages. His writing was
excellent, but he kept forgetting to include articles. He was frustrated and emotionally resistant. Andrea
decided to scale back and take an indirect approach. She reacted to Jim’s paper as if she was not the
reader, and never expressed her own opinion or made direct statements. Andrea couched all of her
comments from the perspective of a third party reader who might read the paper, taking what Muriel
Harris calls the “tutor-as-commentator” approach (McAndrew and Reigstad, 113). She used comments
like, If you write it this way, your reader might think . . . Gradually, Jim’s defenses went down, and he
was able to see that Andrea’s comments made sense. She successfully helped him to detach himself from
his work and become a reader of his own writing.