College sophomore Saken Kulkarni said his pupil only uttered two words to him during their entire first semester working together.
Unfortunately, Kulkarni said, that problem is not an uncommon one for students who tutor in West Philadelphia.
To address this and other issues experienced by the many Penn students who volunteer in community schools, the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project hosted a series of workshops this week to give tutors advice for dealing with adversity.
College senior Andrew Parker heads the project, which pairs Penn student tutors with students in West Philadelphia schools. He said that major challenges result from Penn students' inexperience with the neighborhood.
"A lot of time when students head out to the schools in vans, it's the first time they have been west of 40th Street," Parker said.
"People are always going to be apprehensive in a new environment," he added.
To become familiar with the backgrounds of students, College senior and four-year tutor Jesse David recommended that students build strong relationships with their students before moving to academics.
According to outside experts, their advice is right on.
Maren Aukerman, a professor who specializes in literacy at the Graduate School of Education, agreed that this can be a useful tactic.
"The first thing is to listen very carefully," Aukerman said.
She added that often, tutors will assume that a student is incorrect if they present ideas that differ from those of the tutor.
"We often approach stories from different cultural interpretations," Aukerman said, "and it's important to shift out of your frame to see it from the student's perspective."
Aukerman also stressed the importance of focusing on the strengths of the student rather than the agenda of the tutoring session.
But doing so is not always easy.
"A lot of the material we teach is so basic to the tutors," Parker said. "It can be hard to realize what the [students] don't understand."
Marybeth Gasman, a professor at the Graduate School of Education, recommended talking to students about common interests and highlighting current events and music as commonalities.
"Everyone's pretty savvy when it comes to pop culture because all of us are hearing about it all the time," Gasman said.
Other problems in forging relationships can stem from the organization of tutoring programs, College junior Jen Woods said.
"Sometimes I go and there is a different student each time, so then it's hard to create a good relationship with the kid," said Woods, who is a coordinator for tutors at Hamilton Middle School.
Parker pointed to Penn's and the neighborhood schools' differing agendas as the reason for this difficulty.
"Penn students are trying to experience tutoring while the schools are there trying to meet state guidelines and test the kids," Parker said.
But regardless of whether a tutor is familiar with the pupil, David said a little creativity can help bring down barriers.
"My second semester sophomore year, I had the hardest time teaching my [student] fractions," he said. "It wasn't until I brought in M&Ms; and demonstrated it did he figure it out."
