Thick descriptive, narrative practice

Harsh fluorescent lighting above, the math tutor continued talking at the student, who alternated between looking away, closing his eyes with a look of frustration, and staring at the paper.  The body language of the math tutor showed he understood what was going on, and could see he wasn't reaching the student - but, rather than altering tactics, taking a different approach, he just did what he was doing "more" with additional emphasis on particular words, more scribbling on paper, and leaning closer to the student, more (and bigger!) head nods.

• I wonder if the student is paying this guy?
• What sort of training has the tutor had?
• Does the student think this is the best way for him to learn?
• Is all the effort of two hours' worth of tutoring going to go right down the drain once the upcoming test is over?

So what?

This experience helped illustrate two things for me:

1. It seems the model described above is accepted as commonplace, even comfortable, for many learners, educational stakeholders, and instructional professionals.  Why?  I see some of Lortie's "Apprenticeship of Observation" at work - in that the tutor (or more broadly, the folks mentioned above" are examples of success within a given model.  So, from an egocentric perspective, why should they change?  That's powerful anti-innovation work right there.  I also imagine there could be a training issue too...I bet the tutor hasn't had significant pedagogical development training, or reflected deeply among a group of his educational peers about how he might best reach a student in this situation.

2. I am prompted to consider how often I do this in my own practice.  I try to partially redesign material each course - to look at what is working and what isn't - then to improve both of those for the better.  But just how am I going about that?  It's entirely possible that my Constructivist, Multiple Intelligence biases color my view to a point that I am not reaching those students who are more comfortable absorbing an answer delivered didactically, then looking for ways to reapply it later.  In an age of information saturation, what tools are out there to help a mere mortal who also has to nurture relationships outside of those with students, sleep, eat, and be human in his own right?