Tutor Training

What do you need to know to be an effective tutor? Your job is important! Your support can make a real difference in your tutee’s academic progress and confidence. In fact, research shows that both the tutee and the tutor receive academic and social benefits from working together. Following the advice in this training guide will help you become an effective tutor.

Build Trust Good tutoring is built on mutual respect and trust between you and the tutee. Get to know the person you are helping. Find out what they are interested in and tell them about yourself. Always communicate respect for the tutee; never laugh at his/her level of understanding or lose patience. Empathize with the tutee’s position by remembering a time when you struggled to learn something. Maintain confidentiality! Do not discuss your tutee’s grades or level of understanding with others.

Encourage Your main motivation is to build the tutee’s self confidence and independence. Be positive about the subject you are tutoring and your tutee’s ability to progress. Give positive feedback when a tutee does something well. Give gentle correction when a tutee makes an error.

Model Good Student Skills Teach your tutee to be a good student. If you are regularly paired with a tutee, check IC with him/her weekly or more. Teach the tutee to find answers; never do your tutee’s work for them. Help the tutee organize & prioritize assignments. Make sure the tutee understands the problem and the associated vocabulary.

Teaching Techniques Try to figure out what the student already knows and build on it. Simplify as much as possible. Use reflective questioning: When you are asked a question, rephrase it, break it into parts and reflect it back to the student for response. The purpose of this is to generate discussion. Get your tutee to make connections themselves and pull information together. If students reason out the answer or put the pieces together themselves, they are far more likely to remember. Give hints to encourage the tutee to build his/her own understanding. Think of alternative ways to explain the problem – draw a picture, use different words, think of an analogy, make a game.

Possible Words to Use “Show me your planner/binder/assignment list.” “Let’s prioritize your late assignments/homework together.” “Looking at this upcoming project/paper… due date, let’s break it up into shorter deadlines.” More…

Possible Words to Use “What do you know about this topic/subject already?” “Why is this important to learn?” “How have you tried to learn this already?” “Show me a system/strategy you have for learning this material (graphic organizer, mnemonic, etc.).” “I can help you in these ways (editing, proofreading, double checking your work, etc.) So how would you like me to help you today?”

Tutoring Tips Have fun! Be patient! Give your total attention, listen! Admit when you don’t know something and model good problem solving skills to try to find the answer. You don’t need to know all the answers!

Support If you have fears or questions before you begin, ask for help! If your tutee is unclear on the help they need, ask their teacher or the coordinator for guidance. If you feel tutoring isn’t going well, ask for help! If you feel something is working well let the coordinator know.

Thanks for volunteering!

Resources http://frank.mtsu.edu/~smcdanie/ACA_3000F/TutorTrainingHandbook.htm http://users.moscow.com/mareese/bestpractices/peer_train.html