The Tutoring Book - California State University, Sacramento

try reassuring them that writing isn’t something that comes easily or naturally to even experienced writers
like ourselves, that we, too, often find things like structuring an essay, carefully wording thesis
statements, etc. to be frustrating, painstaking processes. That, as Thomas Mann put it, “A writer is a man
to whom writing comes harder than to anyone else.”
In my experience, such performance anxiety or fear of failure is one of the most common sources
of passivity among tutees. While levelling with them in this way is certainly not a magic bullet that will
instantly make them churn out A+ work, it may go along way in helping to build their self-confidence.
And even if tutors accomplish nothing more than this, they’ve made no small contribution to their tutees’
personal and academic development.
As for tutees that really do seem to have something of a full-on attitude problem, I would
recommend collaborating with them on reaching some mutual understanding of what the tutor-tutee
relationship ought to be like. In doing so, you might have to explain that your purpose is not to get your
tutees better grades but to help them become better writers and that because of reasons of academic
integrity you cannot in good conscience simply hand over the “right” answers.
This sort of misunderstanding of what the tutor-tutee relationship is occurs most frequently with
drop-ins looking for quick fixes to their problems. Of course, not all drop-ins will be quite so
disagreeable, but you’re sure to encounter at least a few of them. The problem with these tutees is that
they may simply not understand what we’re trying to accomplish in having them think for themselves and
reach their own conclusions. But if you can manage to convey to your tutees that there is real value in
doing things the Writing Center way, they will understand their being active and enthusiastic
collaborators is part and parcel of their becoming stronger writers. Given that all the empirical evidence
supports this view, this shouldn’t be too hard to do.
So far I’ve discussed only two types of passive tutees. As this is undoubtedly not an exhaustive list
of all those one might encounter at the writing center, I also wanted to offer a few “high percentage”
strategies that, while not sure-fire moves, work more often than not. The first was suggested to me by one
of our many experienced tutors, Sarah Faye:
Don't be scared of silence. Once you have asked your question, wait for the answer. Just sit
there with an engaging smile, until the student will feel awkward for not answering. If you think
the student did not understand the question, rephrase it, but don't answer it yourself. If there is
still complete silence, ask a question about the question.
Easy enough, right? If you’re worried that this approach might be a little time consuming (I can
imagine some tutees turning such occasions into a game of chicken in which they try to make you feel
even more awkward than themselves), I have a few suggestions of my own that might help keep things
moving along. First, after initiating a brainstorming activity (or a similar activity), remove yourself from
your tutee’s immediate environment. This strategy prevents the tutee from thinking that they can wheedle
the answers out of you or wait for you to get frustrated and cut the activity short. It also has the added
virtue of allowing you to take a break for a few minutes to get some coffee, stretch your legs, etc. If
you’re still worried that after five or ten minutes of break time, your tutee will have nothing to show but a
blank sheet of paper, you might also assign them some minimum amount of work you expect them to
accomplish during their brainstorming session; when working on persuasive essays, for example, you
might try asking them to come up with at least 3 different “pros” and “cons” for the position in question.
If you’re worried that continually interrupting your sessions with these activities won’t leave you
with enough time to read through their entire essay, simply make note of important issues as they come
71