TUTOR'S AS MEDIATORS
A tutor's primary role is that of mediator. That means that the tutor serves as a kind of catalyst, bringing about a cognitively important reaction between students and events in their experience. Helping students to understand the generalized meaning of their experiences, of new learning, and of relationships is an important aspect of mediational tutoring. The goal is to extract from every encounter the students have with content materials the maximum learning of generalizable principles and strategies of perceiving the world, of thinking systematically, clearly, and effectively, of learning and of problem solving.
In pursuit of their cognitive goals, mediational tutor's do several things differently than do other tutors.
First , mediational tutor's try to elicit evidence of thinking from their students. This means that they ask many questions. In addition, they ask questions of a different kind: questions directed to process rather than to answer.
Second , they accept to the fullest extent possible the answers given by the students, and then take the students a step beyond those answers; i.e., they may often say, "Yes, there are those things and you could do it that way. Let's try to think of another way to do it!"
Third , mediational tutors challenge answers requiring justification and explanation of process; They often say things such as " Yes, that's right, but how did you know it was right?" "Why is this one better than that one?" "What would be wrong with this one?" Correct answers are as likely to be challenged as incorrect answers.
Fourth , mediational tutors tutor inductively by asking students to form generalities from successive examples, objectives, or events. They then tutor the value and uses of rules (not in the behavior control sense) and the economy and efficiency of generalizing rules. They also tutor deductively by requiring assessment of the applicability of these rules to specific situations.
Finally , mediational tutor's work to enhance the students' metacognitive functioning, that is to say, they try to make the students themselves aware of their own thinking processes. Often they ask students to think how they themselves do things to reflect on and analyze their own processes and strategies. Then, they typically ask the students both to plan systematic approaches to problem solving and to summarize their cognitive processes and strategies after they have learned something or solved a problem.
Can anybody do all of that? Certainly not, not all the time with all students in every interaction! Total mediation is a goal to be approached, probably never to be reached. What we must constantly ask ourselves is whether we are being as sensitive as possible to opportunities to mediate generalized meaning to the students, and whether we are actually using (and constantly refining) all of the available strategies for doing so.
ASKING MEDIATIONAL QUESTIONS
Occasionally, we find that some people make the mistake of equating mediation with the asking of a lot of questions. It is possible for a tutor to ask numerous questions of students and be doing very little mediation. While good mediators typically ask few questions. It is not the number of questions that is significant, but the quality of the questions. A good mediator asks questions that are directed to process rather than to content. Below is a sample of 12 mediational phrases that exemplify the important emphasis on thinking processes. These phrases, or variations of them, should be heard often in tutoring sessions. Tutors should study this list from time to time and ask themselves if they are using the kind of mediational language shown here:
1. What do you need to do next?
2. Tell me how you did that.
3. What do you think would happen if.......................?
4. When have you done something like this before?
5. How would you feel if............................?
6. Yes, that's right, but how did you know it was right?
7. When is another time you need to....................?
8. What do you think the problem is?
9. Can you think of another easy way we could do this?
10. Why is this one better than that one?
11. How can you find out?
12. How is................. different (like) ...................?
QUESTIONING TECHNIQUES
A tutor will ask a student questions for several reasons:
The following general rules apply to asking questions:
BAD - "Any questions?" Good, now let's. . . . .
BETTER - "Is there anything about this type of problem you're unsure about?" (long pause while student examines problem and formulates a question).
BAD - "Was Hitler's Germany a totalitarian country?"
BETTER - "What are the characteristics of a totalitarian country? Give me two examples of totalitarian countries."
BAD - "Come on, what is the First Amendment? You've heard of the Bill of Rights, haven't you?"
BETTER - "Are you familiar with the First Amendment?"
BAD - "Doesn't it seem like interest rates are influenced by the inflation rate?"
BETTER - "What is the relationship between interest rates and the rate of inflation?"
(very) BAD - "Your church really believes that?"
BETTER - "That's interesting, but this isn't the place for us to discuss religion."
BAD - "Well, there were several other causes of the Civil War besides slavery including...."
BETTER - "Yes, that was one cause, what are some others?"
BAD - "That's wrong. Don't you know better than that?"
(also) BAD - "Well, I guess that might be true" (even though you know it's not).
BETTER - "No, that's not right. I can see how you might have come to that conclusion, but look at it this way. . . .
A FINAL WORD:
You are about to begin a commitment which can reward you with a high degree of accomplishment; whatever you give to the students you help will be worthwhile. With dedication, your contribution in time may be an immense one. Approach this commitment with seriousness of purpose and intelligence. You will get from tutoring only what you give to it.