Week eighth

I’ve begun to incorporate name plates in the sessions with students that I tutor for the College Now program. I often work with four students each week, a group size that lends itself to instructor/student dynamics. I stand in front of the students and attempt to find common issues within their writing (all the students work on expository essays). The name plates serve a practical purpose, allowing me to call on students without the gruffness of pointing to them. There is an intimacy created when names are exchanged that I found allows students to feel that a relationship has been established which necessitates their participation. They come for tutoring sometimes of their own volition, but sometimes their instructor sends them. My reestablishment of the intimacy that they find in their classroom allows for the space that we occupy to take on familiar features, and in so doing also the etiquette that comes with that familiar space. There is also an authority that comes with asking students to write their names down, which translates to their feeling a sense of order to the session that keeps them attentive. What’s important of course is what follows the request. But this simple acts as a strong opening for the two hours that I am with them.