Teaching and tutoring

[wuvvumsoc]

I've been tutoring for a couple months now as part of work study in writing and part of our training is a course about tutoring. Because I'm a graduate I can simply shadow this course and I actually don't have to do the assignments or projects but we are encouraged to talk about a tutoring or writing center issue. For example, one of the students

Comments

[pklemica]

I've tutored in math - my main perseveration - since high school (helped my sister out well before then too), was the person in the front of the classroom for 3 years of math grad school as part of my Teaching Assistantship, and am in my second year employed full-time now as a math teacher for high schoolers at an elite boarding school. I adore my job (I mean, I get paid to talk about math all day!) and am actually really, really great at it. In part, spending most of my free time for the past two and a half decades thinking about all the different angles of every mathematical notion I could get my hands on means I have a full-view understanding of the material and can explain each concept from a zillion viewpoints until I've found one that makes it click for each kid. Meanwhile, having had to learn most of my social skills consciously means that I'm an excellent resource for these adults-in-training as they begin to sort out what it means to be a good person and what sorts of behavior are good, what is considered weird but

[old_cutter_john]

My impression, from reading previous accounts of your art, is that you've refined the process of explaining from a zillion viewpoints so that you don't have to go through very many with any one student: you've learned to take feedback so as to perfect your theory of a student's preferred way of thinking, and select an explanation suited to that particular student in very few iterations. This is, of course, a skill that can be learned; and you learned it. In the bad old days, very few autistics had enough information to know that such a skill exists.

[wuvvumsoc]

I had some thoughts actually, since we want to make resources for the writing center. I worry that this could be underresearched, but I do feel like it may be neat to have some sort of guide if you are AS or autistic and you get into tutoring. There are some things I found difficult like having the stumped student (which maybe the "zillion different angles" could help with). And learning to let others speak. I've been getting better with brainstorming questions and asking things so they can respond. I don't know what the chances would be that there would be another person at the writing center that has to learn how to do "hands off" and "nondirected" learning (which I haven't practiced as much) while having AS but it could be an interesting resource to have.

[ascendingflame]

I've been teaching for 9 years now and have only found out last year I have AS. I'm not sure what kind of information you're looking for. Do you have any specific questions?

[wuvvumsoc]

I could think of some. In general I just like hearing things from the perspective of people with AS, instead of articles about dealing with people who have AS. Tutoring is an especially hard topic to look into because I get pages for having tutors that specialize in AS or homeschooling

[ascendingflame]

I'm really sorry but I still don't get what you want to know.

I teach languages at a high school and I don't know how you would teach the things you mentioned (use of commas and verb-subject-agreement) without knowing the rules. I mean, you cannot teach anyone to know that kind of stuff intuitively. Either they do or they don't. If they don't, they need to be taught the rules, memorize them, learn to use them in clear cut examples and then use those rules in their own writing. It's really more about making them memorize and practice, practice, practice than making them understand.

But is that at all what you were asking? I don't know what you mean by "giving them the answers". You have to give them a clear cut model on how to get to the answers themselves. That's what the rules are for. And that's what they have to practice.

Is that what you meant?

I don't really know how any of that would be different for an NT. None of it is AS specific...

[wuvvumsoc]

Yeah, the model is what I meant. The thing is the model feels complex for me too because I do it intuitively without it. Perhaps I need to study it more.

I wasn't too certain on questions when I approached this topic, but I was interested on getting some views. I mentioned originally that I couldn't find a lot about teachers or tutors who were on the spectrum because all the results come up for dealing with students on the spectrum instead. I didn't know if there were some challenges especially in communication and trying to convey ideas to other people.

[mplsindygirl]

quick reply -
I have been a tutor, a teacher, a childcare worker, a nanny, a babysitter, a mother. All forms of teaching. All before I knew what Aspergers syndrome was.
One of my early fascinations (as a college student) was kids with autism. Spent a lot of my teaching time working with kids on the more severe end of the spectrum.
Also worked my way through college tutoring algebra to individuals and groups of up to 100 students.

[issac_spinoza]

hmm, first as to thesis statement, the thing is to prompt them, ask them what they are trying to say. Ask questions, look at it as a problem to be solved. and as to whether people with AS can be tutors, TAs and professors of course they can. I suspect that there are many undiagnosed AS people in university's as professors particularly in physical sciences.

Are we all good communicators, no. The fact that you care about your students and want to improve I think is an important piece of the puzzle.

[shashigai]

I have taught both in brick and mortar and online. I've done some tutoring and once tutored my autistic nephew.
The most helpful part of autism and teaching is that my grading isn't related to any social manipulation on the part of students. Sometimes I can tell when they are trying to do it, but my response usually is to be extra careful documenting contacts so that the student's position and mine are clearly defined.
In terms of one on one contact, I've had more experience online than in person at this point.
In general my predilection for collecting things has also contributed to my teaching skills because when a subject related question arises, I collect every related bit of information.
I was an English major as an undergrad. My skills are rusty, but I could tell you nightmare stories about the carnage of the language that I see in my classrooms.