Difficult Student

[lenaya.flowers1]

Hello Everyone,

For some time now, there has been a particularly difficult student visiting the Writing Center. Almost every tutor has worked with her at some point and our experiences are similar. She is rude, inconsiderate, says things that are out of context and can be deemed inappropriate. She doesn't understand that tutor=/=servant.

She is loud, obnoxious, disrespectful, and from my experience, just an all around terror. Although I've never seen her act in a violent manner, according to other WC personnel she has been displaying violent tenancies. Her presence now will no longer be a painful nuisance but rather disturbing and possibly dangerous.

After "tutoring" her three times (she's nearly impossible to tutor), I can't deal with her. I will not work with her. I avoid her at all costs. I've hidden under a desk and made up fake meetings with the WC directors. She has no understanding or awareness of what is respectful and responsible behavior in the WC.

I, personally, would like her banned from the WC. Since banning her may not be an option (yet), how can we deal with this student?

Lenaya

[Robert Lunday]

If you can give me her name (in a private email), I can talk to Beverly about how we might involve Counseling -- perhaps they can talk to the student. I think we can prevent disruptive people from coming in -- they're infringing on the rights of others, after all, if the behavior is especially egregious -- but we have to go through proper steps. SO, let me know, and I'll talk to Beverly.

[Ronald Foster]

I've been hearing about this student, but I'm not sure if I've had her.

I have had some students who were difficult, as have all of us. What I do is when it gets to the point where we're not accomplishing anything, I just tell them that we're done and somewhat politely end the session. I sometimes even tell them that we're not accomplishing anything. Once, a student was so 'out of it,' I told her to go get a cup of coffee and maybe something to eat and come back. Not long ago, one answered her phone and kept talking, so I just signed her sheet and told here we were finished.

Last semester, a student got angry with me because I 'wouldn't help her,' which meant that I was not going to write her essay for her.

Good luck with that, Robert. I hope she can work things out.

Ron Foster C. 281-748-1994

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Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:03:35 -0700
From: robert...@gmail.com
To: hccs_se_wri...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Difficult Student

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[Danny Asher]

I have worked with this student (for convenience I'll call her Ms. X) perhaps for four sessions. Like many of our students, Ms. X has serious problems with the fundamental of composition, from sentence structure to essay organization. However, the problems that I have had working with her did not primarily concern her writing. Problems arose from her disordered mind and unstable emotions. For example, after I had commented on some aspect of her writing and asked her a question, she has simply remained silent, staring into space or has made a comment totally unrelated to writing. She has confided unpleasantly intimate details of her personal life. She has spoken loudly and angrily into her phone, even after I asked her to take her phone outside. Ms. X has begun our session in such a rage over a private matter that conversation was impossible.

 

Ms. X has violated, sometimes aggressively, the normal boundaries of WC conversation, and I have found her difficult or impossible to work with, but I have not felt threatened by her. I agree with Ron and Selena that with uncooperative students we should politely end the session.

 

Could we perhaps establish a written "grievance procedure" in case students complain of their treatment at the WC? That might help defuse conflict between student and tutor.

 

Danny Asher

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From: Ronald Foster <toro...@hotmail.com>
To: "hccs_se_wri...@googlegroups.com" <hccs_se_wri...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Fri, September 28, 2012 2:59:54 PM
Subject: RE: Difficult Student