I have noticed, the more time I spend tutoring, that there
is something of a disconnect between the tutors and Success Assistants. Both
teams work in their own designated areas, working on their own projects, and
doing their own tasks. While we all get along wonderfully, I see much room for
growth. We are two sides of the same coin, all part of the same team. We all
need to take a significantly more egalitarian approach to working together to
ensure that students have the best, most rewarding experience possible while
attending UCC. The current status quo works for us, but not necessarily the
students.
As tutors, we have a wonderful opportunity to utilize the knowledge
and experiences of the Success Assistants to better our students. We need to remember
that we can utilize the Success Assistants and that they have the ability to
provide just as much help as we do.
As tutors, we are the ones who have the primary contact with
the students. Our interactions with students can last upwards of several hours.
In that time we may hear about the student’s experiences in life and at school,
and our knowledge of this builds into the relationship that we have with them.
We hear about financial issues, family problems, and bad experiences with the
college, often as a subtle cry for help. On top of all this we help them
through our primary role as being a tutors. We know the students.
The Success Assistants are also here for the students, but
they do not have the same contact with the students that we do. Students will
walk quickly through the center and often pass the front desk entirely to sit
down with a tutor. After the tutoring session finishes the students will
generally leave the center without making contact with the front desk. In their
eyes, they have no reason to interact with the assistants because they could
easily have a tutor log them in and out. This results in the assistants having
very little opportunity to know the students, especially on a personal level.
With the knowledge of our
student’s experiences and the good rapport that we have with them, we have an
opportunity to help them like few others on the campus have. The students are
more likely to listen to us. With that, the Success Assistants are here for
anything that goes beyond our normal interactions. They are being trained to be
a “Hub of Information,” having a deep
and comprehensive understanding of how to navigate the UCC experience and its
resources. This is not a comprehensive list and these are in no particular
order, but here are some of the things assistants can help with:
Navigating financial aid, finding scholarships, seeking
counseling, seeking academic advise, finding instructors and staff on campus
and knowing who to talk to, scaling and surpasses Dev-ed courses to get to
college level courses, utilizing center resources like the Writing Lab,
tutoring, SmarThinking, Student Lingo, and High-school Homework Help,
scheduling tutor office hours, finding apprentice programs and jobs with UCC,
finding important dates and school closures, and utilizing UCC resources like TOPS,
Peer Mentoring, and the library.
An assistant’s bottom line is to
ensure that the student gets the help that they need. Think of them as
“everything else.” We can initiate the interaction between the students and the
the assistants by walking them over.
We all have our strengths and weaknesses. The success
assistants, as a team, can provide just as much help to students as the tutors.
We need to remember this, and be ready to utilize all our strengths for the
benefit of the students at UCC.
Before reading this post, what did you think the Success
Assistant’s role was? How did they help students on a day-to-day basis?
*****
A few notes about
Success Center operations this week. Clara will have time sheets in our inboxes
tomorrow, Aug. 12th. Remember that hey need to be returned to her no
later than Aug. 14th by 1000. Be sure to put all hours you work or
will work for the 14th and the 15th on your time sheet.
Also, Daniel needs to have the Fall term availability sheets
turned in as soon as possible. Please remember to put all subjects that you
tutor on your availability sheet. If you are not planning on returning to tutor
this fall, please let him know that as well.
—N (With major addendums by Robert K, thanks!).
Whoop whoop! I'm published! haha
ReplyDeleteWith the personal nature of the interactions that each of you have with your tutees, you all have a powerful influence of success over our students. If you recognize and use that knowledge beyond the actual tutoring, imagine how much more we could be doing for our students.
Tutors don't need to do all of the work. Send the students our way!
Don't let it go to your head . . .
DeleteIt is always nice to greet the students that come in though! Getting to talk to them as they walk in is sometimes a challenge but it creates a more communicative and friendly environment(Smile though!). I think the Tutors and the Success Assistants should communicate a little more, therefore we can all know each other a little better! It would be great to soon be a tutor myself and hoping that I can benefit in getting more familiar with the other tutors as well!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the time sheet reminders as well!!
I have always thought of the folks behind the assistance desk as guides. They have a general knowledge of how things work around here. Better than my own. I have on few occasions turned students to them in order to get information that they needed because I could not help them.
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly that we need to stop looking at the front desk as a wall between us and communicate more.
I would say that we need to be "one with success and one with each other as a team."
ReplyDeletethere seems to be a need to be more in sync with how we do what needs to be done to make UCC, the success center, etc. much more successful.
may success be with y'all l!!!!!!!!
I agree that there could be more interactions between the tutors and success assistants. Though we chat every once in awhile when we are getting our tutor tags and time sheets from their area, we don't always do much after that. Maybe it is because everybody is busy with their own thing, as you said. I do believe it would be very beneficial for us all to work together in order to provide our students with the best experience possible. I know that there is a very large variety of knowledge within all of us here at the success center. Together, that would make the greatest resource for students and even ourselves. Although we don't all communicate as much as we could, I still feel like the environment here is very friendly and relaxed. I don't think there has been a time where I have not been greeted with a smile and a good morning by the success center assistants when I come in. Even when they are busy with other tasks, they are still always polite and welcoming. I think we all put out a very positive vibe and that is a great thing.
ReplyDeleteThe success students have always been able to help when a student needs help with things like math practice websites and many useful tools the students have access to outside of the tutor lab as well.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there could or even should be more interaction between the assistants, and tutors.
ReplyDeleteI feel like there could be more interaction too. A very good point was made that the tutors tend to KNOW the students, while the success assistants don't. I think that plays a huge role when talking about comfortability. People are going to feel more comfortable with someone that they sit and work with, sometimes even hours at a time.
ReplyDeleteI never really gave much thought to the Success Assistant's role that much thought. I
ReplyDeletejust thought that they checked in students that were dropping in to study or if a student is working the CSM system or something else, or if we need help. But you do have
a point-we as tutors need to use all resources at our disposal-Success Assistants included.
I feel that as a tutor, we need to know the material and to get to know our tutees. However, we can
also contribute our knowledge of the UCC system as well to the tutees. And if we don't know---well,
the Success Assistants can help as well.
I would have no hesitation to call over a Student Assistant if a tutee needed help in navigating the
system.
This was a very interesting post, so thank you for the brain food Robbie and Nathan! I have spoken about this topic with another tutor earlier on in the school year about the possible barrier that seems to have been placed on the Student Assistants. I have personally never felt this barrier, giving all of the students and staff an equal amount of respect and candor. However, I also do not completely understand all of the roles that the SAs provide. I do hope that this barrier can be lifted as we are all here for the same reason, to make the students of this campus be successful and feel welcome in our center! Thank you all for the wonderful experience that you guys have given me throughout this year! Good luck to all of you in the future!
ReplyDeleteI think the Student Assistants, this term, has been very friendly. They are always there to answer any questions I may have. They also help students that are unsure of what we offer here.
ReplyDelete