Frequently Asked Questions
Are students required to meet with the tutor every week?
Yes. Students in SWW sections of ENG160 and ENG170 are required to attend weekly tutoring sessions with you, even when they report that they “have no work to do.” As veteran tutors always say, “There is never a point in the semester when a student cannot work on their writing skills.”
Will students work individually with a tutor or in pairs/small groups?
Tutors should pair up students when possible. Occasionally, a tutor might need to group three students together. And if there is no other option, individual tutoring is possible. Keep in mind your hourly work limits per week when creating your schedule.
What records do I need to keep?
Please fill out the weekly tutoring log and email a copy to the instructor of the course each week. You will also need to keep an attendance record for the Educational Opportunity Program and submit attendance records to their office each week as well.
Tip: Create an Excel spreadsheet of your attendance log in the SUNY NP One Drive and share it with your instructor. You can also email the instructor and EOP a word document with your weekly records. Keep in mind, however, that these are FERPA protected student records, so do not share through Google Docs or another system that is not secure.
Will the instructor I am working with need a copy of my tutoring schedule?
Yes. Once you have a tutoring schedule in place, please email a copy to the instructor. This is helpful for instructors for several reasons. For example, she might check in with a student who is sporadically attending tutoring, saying, “Be sure to go to tutoring on Thursday.”
How will I conduct tutoring?
You will likely find it easiest to conduct tutoring via WebEx. However, if you—and the students you are working with—-would like to meet in person, you can reserve space in the Sojourner Truth Library. See: Reserving Study Rooms
How will I schedule students for tutoring?
First, plan out your week and select blocks of time that work for you. When you come to workshop for the first time, have the students choose a day/time from your calendar that fits into their schedule.
This is how a former tutor and current EOP advisor Ashley Frazier set up her sessions:
I used Calendry to have them sign up electronically, and then I followed up with an email that stated the time and place of our sessions and copied their advisors on the email.* I also think that it is important to follow up with them in person when they miss because it keeps it in their mind.
Calendry is awesome because they will get confirmations when they sign up. I also tried to keep my groups small—no more than 2 or 3 students per session and I made a point to mention that is was first come, first serve.
Now, keep in mind that scheduling may require some juggling of students. This is true, for example, when a student’s free days and times do not line up with yours. In that case, you may have to ask another student to move to another day or time to make it work.
*You will not know who the students’ EOP and academic advisors are. In your case, send a copy of the email to the instructor, so that the instructor knows when students are meeting with you.
Are there any consequences for a student who regularly misses tutoring sessions?
Yes. The general SWW Program policy is that a student who misses more than three sessions during a semester is eligible to fail the entire course. Have students read over the instructor’s syllabus to see whether the instructor has built in other penalties for not attending tutoring or whether the instructor has incentivized attendance.
What should I do when a student is routinely late for tutoring sessions?
Please indicate student tardiness in the weekly tutoring log that you hand in to instructors. This is an important issue, which should be addressed promptly.
What do I do when a student shows up without anything to work on?
Have the student sign you into their course Blackboard site. (Note: You should ask the instructor with whom you are working whether they want to enroll you in the BB course site as a student. Most will do so.) If a student has just handed in an essay that morning, have the student bring up the directions for the next writing assignment and work on brainstorming ideas, for instance. Also, you can look for online worksheets / instructional videos to use during tutoring sessions in the Resources area of this website.
Can a tutor help a student with other writing assignments outside of ENG160 or ENG170?
Yes. However, keep in mind that the tutor’s primary focus is on the writing that the student is doing for ENG160 or ENG170. On most weeks, students should be engaged with reading/writing activities in their Composition class.
Can I write on a student’s paper or edit it on Google docs / Word?
Do not write on a student’s paper or line edit a student’s paper on Google docs / Word. If during a virtual session you need to isolate a particular section or sentence of a student’s work, you may do this by highlighting text. However, this is usually not necessary. Finally, if students ask whether they can share their work with you so that you can line edit or leave comment, just say no. You should not be their personal editor.
What if a pair of students do not work well together in tutoring? Or what if a student requests individual tutoring?
As you work with pairs of students, you may see that two students do not get along. Or one of the students may approach you to ask to be moved to another group. Please report this to your instructor and discuss solutions. It is never a good idea to require students who have personal conflicts to remain paired.
If a student approaches you about wanting to work individually with you rather than in a paired situation, try to find out why. The SWW Program is not in a position to provide individual tutoring on a regular basis. However, sometimes this is an option.
