We are onto week 10 right now! The past few weeks I have been experiencing more and more No-Shows. It was a little discouraging at first. It can be hard when people don;t follow through with something going on, especially if it is pre-scheduled, but as a tutor, there are a lot of things to consider. You never know what a student could be dealing with, and even though they do have the option to cancel the appointment, they may not know how to or think about it with everything else going on in their life.

It is important to be patient with your tutees, as many of them have probably never used the Learning Center before or the tutoring services. It can be frustrating to be ready for an appointment and recieve a no-show, but it’s important to be patient. Things happen. And always mark your no-show in cardinal star, in case it becomes a consistant thing. I noticed that around midterms is when they became more frequent. I would have thought the opposite: that students would use the services more in preparation, but midterms take up so much time for students. They may want to get the help, but end up not having the time to. The second half of the semester is stressful for everyone, so don’t be discouraged! You’re doing amazing, and be patient with your tutees, because you never know what is going on in their lives.

I have also been experiencing more students who are unprepared lately.

New students might not know how to be prepared because they have never had a tutoring appointment before. Other times, the student may not know exactly what the assignment is. Both can be difficult for us tutors because we don’t know exactly how to help if we don’t know what the assignment is. Again, be patient. I find that suggesting a place to start is a great way to begin an appointment with a tutee who is uncertain. I try to still help tutees even when I don’t have much to go off of. It’s important to be honest with them and explain that you can’t do too much without knowing the assignment requirements or knowing what the assignment itself is, but you can still try to find places to start, and encourage them to contact their professor for new copies of the rubricks or clarification on assignments for future appointments.