TUTORING SUGGESTIONS

            Tutoring is essentially a "togetherness" or interpersonal experience, the inter-relationship of two individuals working closely together. In this relationship there is no one method, no easy answer. The greatest success will be found with methods which you develop yourself while working with the student. Any method which helps the student will be considered the best method. Tutoring tips presented here summarize suggestions which other tutors have found helpful. They are intended to serve as a guide for you in your work. They will be valuable only to the extent that you use and test them yourself.

COMMITMENT:

Tutoring demands a definite commitment. Please do not start unless you can be faithful to continue the process. Few things will kill a student's faith in his tutor quicker than having a tutor who fails to appear at a scheduled session.

REMEMBER : Tutoring is not teaching. Tutoring provides additional assistance and support. Many educators agree that those not trained for teaching can change a student's picture of himself and his attitude through effective tutoring.

GENERAL TIPS:

1. Relax and be yourself.
2. PERSONAL CONCERN FOR YOUR STUDY PARTNER IS YOUR GREATEST ASSET AS A TUTOR. Past experience has shown that effective tutoring is based more on rapport between tutor and study partner than upon expertise in a subject area. Tutors should work to build a relationship of mutual confidence. Keep in mind that what you do is as much a language as what you say. What you say and do is very important
3. Review these pages frequently. There is a tendency for experienced tutors to forget their goals and purpose.

TIPS FOR THE FIRST SESSION:

1. Be sure that you and your tutee have names straight. Learn nick-names, if any. It will help to write down your name and give it to your tutee. Cards are available. Students often are hesitant to communicate with tutors when they are uncertain of names. In addition, exchange telephone numbers and e-mail addresses for emergency communications. Make it very clear the tutee is free to call or contact you anytime he/she feels help is needed.
2. To build rapport, talk with the tutee about mutual interests and above all, listen . Attempt, mentally, to put yourself into the position being advanced by the study partner.
3. Devote most of the first session to clarifying the tutoring relationship and finding the student's learning problems. Most students will be able to tell you where their difficulty lies. Once you know this, seek the cause of their problems.
4. Assess the student's study skills: Ask to see the tutee's notebook. Do the notes cover major points? Are they clear and thorough? How and when does the student prepare for class? How does the student prepare for a test? The student may need to be directed to material in the Tutoring Office
5. Begin tutoring at a level within the grasp of the student you are helping. This will provide an atmosphere of success. Remember, many tutees have had little success in school and need a rewarding experience to restore their self-assurance. This atmosphere will build the student's confidence and will help establish a good working relationship between tutor and tutee. Three corollaries to this are:
   • It is not advisable to let your tutee flounder on an answer for more than a few moments, especially in reading. Step in, tactfully, and help out.
   • Indicate immediately whether the student's answers are right or wrong. Do not show your disapproval to the point where your tutee becomes discouraged. This is very important.
   • Avoid turning this into a "con" or ego game. Be sincere. A student may need tutoring, but he/she is intelligent enough to spot a fake.

TIPS FOR LATER SESSIONS:

1. In general, the less work you do for your tutee the better. Although it is quicker, easier, and less frustrating for a tutor to do a problem or an assignment, it is of little permanent help to the student. Help him/her to learn HOW to do his/her own work.
2. A good tutor will spend most of the time ASKING QUESTIONS, LISTENING, AND HELPING THE TUTEE TO THINK FOR HIM/HERSELF, rather than lecturing to him/her.
3. When you supply an answer, be sure your tutee understands how you arrived at it. If you are not sure that he/she does, test your study partner with a similar example. In this manner your study partner should be able to handle what you are helping him/her with when he/she is in class.
4. Move on to more challenging material as soon as you have established a working relationship. Once you feel the tutoring is going well, don't be guilty of under-expectation. If you expect little from your tutee, he/she will produce little. Let him/her know you have high expectations for hem/her. With this encouragement he/she may come to have the same high expectations for him/herself.
5. To the extent possible, be creative and imaginative in your tutoring methods. Look for ways to motivate your tutee and to involve him/her in the activity. Do not hesitate to innovate.
6. Many of your questions about the tutee's difficulties and solutions to them may be answered by a visit with his teacher. Instructors may be grateful for the work you are doing and they can be most helpful. This will also serve to interest teachers in the program.
7. Be sensitive to the existence of emotional or psychological problems which may be affecting the performance of your tutee. However, it is not the tutor's role to handle these problems. Bring them to the attention of his counselor or someone else whom you feel may be of service.
8. AVOID ASSUMING THE ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE INSTRUCTOR: Your job is to help these people, not replace them. Contact the study partner's instructor and let the instructor know you want to help.
9. Always be on time. This adds to the effectiveness of your tutoring. If you are late, the tutee may begin to doubt the sincerity of your concern for tutoring and for him/her.
10. Don't be afraid to admit to your tutee that you don't know certain answers. Tell him/her you will find the answer and follow through.

THE TUTORING HOUR

1. Begin your sessions with a short review of what was covered before.
2. Ask the student what they need help with and give an explanation what you will cover in this session.
3. Demonstrate in a step by step manner, explaining verbally your own thinking through each step.
4. Assist the student in going through the process or in explaining back to you the information.
5. Allow the student to complete the process from beginning to end completely independently, without any reinforcement (positive or negative) from you.  
6. Repeat steps 3-5 for each area to be covered in the session. Remember that step 5 is the most important step and that if the student cannot work through the problem independently while with you, they will not be able to do it on their own. This may mean that   less is covered in a session but when the student leaves the session, he/she will have gained more out of the session.

CAUTION

            Tutoring is a way of trying to help other people. It is not difficult, in trying to help others, to do more harm than good. People who offer help in a patronizing or condescending way easily can compound the very feeling of inadequacy they are trying to help the other person overcome.

            To reduce this danger, there are several approaches in helping your study partner, which have proven valuable in other tutoring projects.

1. One way to avoid a patronizing tone is to relate to your tutee as an equal. Do this in the sense that you and he are human beings with problems and a future to face. Think of working with your tutee, rather than talking at him/her. Many tutors like to think of being a friend, and the essence of friendship is the practice of truthfulness.
2. Avoid thinking of yourself, and talking to others, as the giver and the helper, or, in the extreme, as the savior from the outside with the answers to all the problems of the educationally or environmentally disadvantaged. Do not waste his/her time talking about yourself.
3. Don't expect your study partner to show appreciation for your efforts before you have become a friend. One tutor destroyed whatever relationship he had developed with his tutee by repeating on two occasions, "Here I am traveling 10 miles twice each week to help you out of your difficulties and you haven't even finished your homework for me."
4. Empathy is an important quality to seek if you are tutoring. Have enough understanding of your study partner and knowledge of his/her background and possible cultural differences so that you accept him/her as she is, rather than reject him/her because he/she is not what you think he/she ought to be. Be willing to start at his/her level and go at his/her pace if you want to make progress.
5. Be sensitive in communicating with your tutees. More than anything, this means being a good listener.
6. Don't be quick to judge. Many of the students who are tutees have lived a life of finding themselves judged according to stereotypes of character, ability, and intelligence. Avoid perpetuating this pattern.
7. Many of the characteristics which make your tutee different from you are what make him/her an individual. Viewed this way, his/her differences often appear as strengths.
8. Set the same standards of effort for your tutee as you would set for other students his/her age. Do not adopt the attitude, "Well he/she did as well as could be expected." Avoid lowering standards out of a feeling that they are unattainable. Don't allow your tutee to just "get by."
9. Don't take advantage of a situation or relationship such as this to play "boy-girl" games. This will reduce your effectiveness as a tutor. The tutee needs your help, not a "come-on."