I seem to come across three types of students who come into the Writing Center each quarter: The Completely Clueless, who leave with a new excitement for writing; The Apathetics, who have absolutely no opinion about being with me or writing a paper; and, my absolute favorite, The Victims, who acts like I have crushed their only thing worth living for, and fights me on every issue. Now, there are varying degrees of how the tutees fit into the categories, and some quarters I feel like I'm making a Venn diagram in my head to encompass all of these personalities. But, in the end, each one of these students has challenges they are facing in writing-- some just want to make them a lot more difficult.

The students I grow agitated with the quickest are definitely The Apathetics. I know some students are strong armed into coming into the Writing Center, but that doesn't mean they have to sit across from me, slouched in their chair, trying to text while I tell them that, no, you do have to cite this entire paragraph that they "paraphrased" from Wikipedia. Students like this... well I think I need some more tips on how to even deal with them.

As far as The Completely Clueless, I really adore them sometimes. They seem to come in with a blank canvas, and by the end of the session, they are completely filled. They always seem the most appreciative and, in a way, are like a sponge; any information I give them, they soak it all up. These are the students with whom I normally form a bond, and they are my "regulars." Last quarter, I had a wonderful Completely Clueless who turned out to be a wonderful writer by the end of the quarter; his professor even came in to comment on how much his writing has changed.

The Victims... oh, how I crush their hopes and dreams with every purple mark on their "perfectly" articulated piece of art. They, along with The Apathetics, are the most likely to fight me. With every suggestion, comment, and question of change, they are defensive and rude; they have a reason for everything, and to them, I don't know what I'm talking about. They are another student that I could definitely benefit from learning how to tutor better; the sessions turn into an endless circle of excuse after excuse, and no changes are made.

But I guess that's tutoring. There are definitely skills I need to refine when working with students who have a bad attitude or who simply don't want to be here because I'm sure I will run into just as many this quarter as I have before.