I could not attend this tutoring session due to transportation issues. So instead I surfed the web for interesting tips or articles about tutoring. I came upon this website http://www.studygs.net/tutoring.htm during my search which offered a list of some useful tips and strategies for tutoring. At the top, the first thing they suggest is that tutors don't provide answers. Instead they are a sort of medium through which students can get extra help to find their own answers. Tutors are there to provide "expertise, experience, and encouragement". This directly reflects the things we discussed in class as well as the previous tutoring experience I have had. In my little experience as a tutor, I found it was easy to promote encouragement, as the two students I had experiences with were both eager to receive help. I also noticed, through watching and trying it myself, that merely identifying a problem to a student can be of great help.
Some of the strategies listed seemed to be for tutoring a single student over the long term, but some of them can be applied to our situation in this class. The first suggestion is to receive training, of which we have through taking this course. They also suggested creating a set of rules to follow that is agreeable to the student, however in our situation the writing center has already provided most of those rules for us. For example, making the disclaimer at the beginning of sessions that the writing center does not edit papers. The site mentions knowing your own strengths as an asset to tutoring. This can serve at least two purposes. Knowing what you can bring to the table, so to speak, obviously means that you can more effectively help students with things you excel at. However, it also allows you to judge for what situations you may need to seek outside help. Analyzing yourself in this way not only allows you to help others better, but helps you to better yourself as well.
Another particular point of interest was some of the tips given for building trust in the tutoring session. It said that you should remain open and honest. This doesn't imply that a tutor should be overly critical or mean, but that if you do not understand something do not hesitate to ask. Also remember that the tutor isn't there to impress the student but to help them. If there is a concept that you do not understand, don't be afraid to let them know and then perhaps look it up together to figure things out. It also recommended that if a situation arises where the chemistry between you and the student just isn't right, for whatever reason, it is okay to recommend that they talk to a different tutor. Of course, it is imperative to be polite about the situation, but if the problem is big enough to hinder the tutor's ability to help, then the whole tutoring session becomes a waste of time.
posted by Rich @ 7:14 PM
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