Okay, let us start with a newsflash: I applied for tutoring last week as a result of an e-mail from the student union prolonging the time to apply for tutoring as they did not have enough people volunteering for the forthcoming year. And so I did what I was already considering during the actual appliance time a couple of weeks earlier. I e-mailed with one of the people responsible for choosing and training the next "generation" of tutors, asking what they require from a tutor and what would "my" students be majoring in. As I am in the middle of a transition from my previous major to the next, they figured my future major subject would be the one I would be most qualified to tutor. I agreed and I already made an "essential links to a fresman" list *before* the interview (so technically I wasn't even a tutor at the moment and might not even become one).
The actual interview last Thursday went okay (despite my lack of knowledge of the current student union leader... :P). It also became clear no one before me had replied to their question of the favourite Moomin character being a Hattifattener (Hattivatti). By the time they found out I don't drink alcohol, there was a short silence followed by an expectant question whether or not I have a driver's license. There was a sonata of 'Damn it's to my negative reply. Someone even suggested the student union pay for my license. =)
Anyway, I got the results on Friday. My sister (also applied for tutoring and called me early when she got her results) became a tutor in the subject I thought I'd be tutoring. But as she said there were other tutoring that subject, I thought I could very well be one of them; I didn't stop to think too long about the fact that my sister would now be tutoring a subject she doesn't even have as her minor; basically she knows nothing about the department or its staff. I got my results a few hours later: I am now going to be a tutor for the students accepted in what is called "erillisvalinta". Mainly this consists of adult students who have families and jobs. My main -and only- duty is to guide them through the bureaucratic maze of the university and give them help in making their schedules with appointed programmes and such. My group will consist of all departments of the faculty. Therefore, I am supposed to help them through at least three departments I've never had any contact with. But the thing, the reason for the above existing smiley, is yet to come.
I know what most of people think: this is exactly what I'm made for. I don't drink and I'm not too social so guiding new students to the academic world from this point of view is perfect for me. I guess so but, you see, there's a catch. My main motivation for tutoring was to have a perfect excuse and company to go out, to socialise with other people, get to know them, to have a life that would actually include other humans. I suppose that, in some sense, I should have said that in the interview; it just sounded -and still does- too pathetic. Maybe I would have even ruined all my chances that second.
Fuck.
- - -
Now playing:
'The Sixth Extinction' by Ayreon.
4 kommenttia
millikan
6.4.2008 19:59
Oh, difficult situation...
Do you know any other tutors from your faculty? Maybe you could see if you can form some kind of combined group with other tutoring groups...so that also if some of your students might also feel like doing something social every now and then they wouldn't be completely lonely...
I was a tutor for...three? Four? times in my faculty and especially the less active groups did often meetings like that, two or three groups together. Otherwise it was quite random, sometimes you got bunch of people who immediately hit it together and want to party, sometimes you get more of those people who are not too keen on socializing together...
Splenetic
7.4.2008 18:14
The mix group idea sounded interesting as I'm sure there will be students whose main semantic level of 'socialising' does not equal getting completely wasted... I'll have to suggest the group thing as it would also have people from other departments -or faculties even!- to get to know each other which would not be bad at all. Cheers!
My own tutoring group was very much like the latter you described: we formed some smaller clicks that did the group works assigned at lectures and spent time between lectures but we really didn't have that much to do with the rest of the tutoring group even though we had several same courses going on. Or maybe modern Finnish students just are not the 'sosiaalinen ja aivan liian äänekäs trendipelle' type the communications students seem to be. =)
millikan
8.4.2008 12:19
Yeah, from what I have gathered main function of tutor groups is still to provide at least some social network, so that you would know at least couple of faces from the same lectures, and some older students too...
Chemistry students are a varied lot, there are some older people often with jobs and families (some of which are however quite interested in at least some social activities), plenty of people who did fail to get to medicine or somesuch and come to take a prep year in chemistry department (some of which are "this is not a serious study year, so LET'S PARTY" and some of which are "I don't want to have anything to do with you, I'll go and be a doctor next year"), noisy and shy people...
My own tutoring group was one of those inactive ones, couple of people who went to same courses who I chatted with but lots of people who just, dunno, disappeared. So I did end up joining quite often other tutor groups :)
Splenetic
8.4.2008 18:21
Maybe I'll manage to join other tutor groups as well. I was thinking about joining those groups with students from my group who are nonetheless going to participate the same courses as the "normal" students having the same major. Maybe that'll help.