My teaching philosophy features an elaborate song metaphor wherein the classroom becomes the interplay of equally strong and unique instrumentalists. I mention this because I spend a lot of time helping people realize innate strengths of their voices, something I will bring to my tutoring as well. At the outset of all of my classes, I focus on coaxing students into understanding that their voice matters, that what they think and write matters and will be fostered. No large symphonies are being conducted in tutoring sessions, but I begin in a similar place.
Clearly music informs my tutoring, so too does my background in philosophy. I am a big proponent of dialogic thinking, of the push and pull between perspectives and readings, and I love questions. I begin with general questions, about goals, concerns, and thoughts on how your project is going and move into regular perception checking as much as possible. I often ask writers to restate their thesis to me, or to tell me what their purpose is in a section they feel uncomfortable with. Such questions usually lead people into a more clear version of what they're trying to write. That sort of dialogic process drives my tutoring. Explicitly, this allows for constant elucidation, for the writer to restate and re-imagine their own points. Implicitly, it frames the session as dialogue and collaborative process, one in which two writers are working through a project together.
This begins by meeting writers as a partner - or as close that role as I can get. I do not want to commandeer any writer's work, though I recognize the practical reality of me being seen as the authority figure in the room. Despite this, I hope writers see me as a collaborative thinker rather than an absolute authority. I know full well how frustrating writing can be and how deflating that can feel; input and questions I have on projects stem from shared experience.
The best songs are symbiosis, a perfect harmony of sounds and players, a space in which all individual elements can be unique and part of something greater. I view writing and tutoring through a similar lens. I tutor because I want to help people better access and communicate their own powerful thoughts, and because, no matter how frustrating it feels, writing is a joy.