Strengths as a Tutor and Plan

As I have said before, I have tutored before at Penn State, so I am pretty aware of my strengths and weaknesses as a tutor. I think one of my biggest strengths is my ability to make people feel comfortable, which is very important in the writing center. My philosophy about the writing center is based on the tutee feeling comfortable enough to talk openly about his/her paper, while being responsive to suggestions. Making him/her feel comfortable through conversation or humor sets up this comfortable atmosphere.

Another important strength that I have is my subject knowledge. Through my many undergraduate classes and activities, I have learned a great deal about writing, grammar, and editing, all of which I can use when tutoring. If tutees don't understand when to use a comma, I can teach them how, which makes me feel like I am helping them not only improve the papers they bring to the writing center, but also their ability to write as a whole.

My approach to tutoring, as I briefly mentioned above, is centered on a comfortable learning atmosphere. I never want the tutees to feel uncomfortable, pressured, or incompetent; I want them to feel good about what they have written and confident that they can learn to write better. In each session, I will listen to what the tutee feels he/she needs to work on and give my honest opinion about how to fix such issues. However, at the same time, I will be sure to tell the tutee what he/she is doing right because I think too many times, tutors in writing centers forget to tell the writer what his/her strengths are and often focus solely on weaknesses. Overall, I want tutees to learn that writing can be fun and useful, when they learn the proper steps to take.