So how do you guys deal with it when someone comes in and just wants to go over their punctuation? I mean, I feel pretty capable to give them some quick advice on a few rules, even though Penny would discourage it. And I feel bad trying to force them to discuss content when that's not what they want.
Students really don't have anywhere to go to ask grammar (by which they usually mean punctuation) questions: writing teachers don't cover them, Erica's hours are extremely limited, and our lovely handouts can only take them so far. I know we're not an editing service, but what's a student supposed to do? I feel so bad for them. Ideas on how we can better deal with this?
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I know I can't answer this in a "this is what I do in tutorials kind of way," but I can add a comment, I think.
As a secretary, it is really frustrating to have to tell students we won't edit their papers-- or even help them with commas. The fact that we have only one grammar tutor with just a few hours is rough. There are soooo many students who need help with grammar. There really should be a service on campus to help students with grammar and punctuation, but there's not. I don't know how to better deal with it, but I know it's also important to stick with the policy. We can't serve every student who needs help with punctuation, and so I hate to say it, but that means we can't bend the rules for anyone. I know it's probably hard when you sit down with a student and realize all they want is comma help, and you know how to help them, but then they will think that we will always proofread or edit their papers. I think, in the end, it causes more problems than it solves. Even though we all understand the basic rules of punctuation, we okay . . . no, you (general plural you as tutors) aren't trained to teach the rules so students understand them. They then think they can come back and we will continue to help them with punctuation, and that's not our purpose.
Sorry, long rant. But the secretaries always have to deal with students who say "but someone did it before!" And then they get mad at us and call us racist and call Penny to complain. I'm not kidding, that really happened. So, sorry, I didn't offer any suggestions on how to fix it, but I think it's important to realize why we can't.
Oh wow, sorry. That was WAAAAAY too secretarial of me. Sorry. Maybe that's why you wanted to lump us into one poster. :(
Very secretarial, but very true. We do have to stick to policy to keep people from freaking out at our beloved secretaries.
Is there any way we could solve this problem? What do you guys think about teaching grammar classes? I think we could do a decent job . . . .
There used to be a "grammar rodeo" like a mini-class, just like speed reading. I don't know why Penny stopped doing it. It could be because we lost the extra room we had in the old place. Maybe it will be resurrected when we move back to the JKB. I hope so.
It's on my list of projects to do this spring, actually. Doug, Jamie, and I were discussing it the other day (Tuesday, I think).
In my (humble, naive) opinion: 1) the classes desperately need to be resurrected, 2) from what I've heard of the old classes, the curriculum needs a serious revamp, and 3) we'd need to work harder as tutors to incorporate that service (potential service, anyway) into our recommendations so the classes don't get canceled again. I'm taking a Teaching Grammar class next fall (it's Engl 329, maybe?), so I really want to get rolling on the project soon. Hopefully by September I can have something to go off of and build on.
Input?
Erica wants to revamp the whole grammar tutor thing. So this summer we are going to change some things to hopefully be more of a help to students. I think that's a huge task Cathryn, but good luck!
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