What is a Tutor?

So what is a Tutor? A tutor is someone who gives an individual or a small groups of students instructions in the learning of new information or skills.

What do tutors do?

Tutors help students improve their grades, complete their homework, understand difficult concepts, catch up with classroom lessons, prepare for college and get ready for formal standardized examinations. Tutors can help students in person, or online through Skype or other online tools.

What is the primary role of a tutor?

In order to serve students effectively, tutors must be able to tap into what motivates each individual student and adjust their approach accordingly. A tutor is not necessarily a teacher, but rather plays the role of enhancer - enhancing a student’s academic and often personal development.

Effective tutors facilitate a learning climate that is open and non-threatening but nonetheless rigorous. Their students should be comfortable enough to identify their difficulties openly and to admit when they "don't know".

The tutor’s role is to be prepared and familiar with the students learning objectives and to facilitate and support more personalized, direct and supportive learning.

The tutor encourages critical, creative and practical thinking and ensures that the students' knowledge is challenged and probed. The sign of a great tutor is one who asks more questions than they answer. As a tutor, you are a vital part of the academic support network of a student!

What are are some good tutoring techniques?

So what makes a professional tutor? Think back to when you were a learner. What was your experience like with teachers? Or the schooling system? What was your most powerful experience? Were there elements that really stand out to you as being particularly helpful or not? Where were the gaps? Think back to preparing for a test or exam. What was most helpful for you? What about engagement with peers? And how was this different to your engagement with teachers or self-learning? Did some of your classmates learn differently in school? How? because that might be what works for your student. A big part is about discussing these questions with your student and to leverage your experience to understand what will be the most benifit to your student.

Principle approaches in tutoring include:

-Formulating goals -Engaging students -Planning lessons -Organising resources -Developing strategies -Communicating achievements

Good, proper tutoring should help the student become an independent learner, who acquires critical learning skills, and equipping the learner to help themselves.

In closing

Act as a guide rather than teacher. Teachers and tutors have different roles. Teachers have many students to oversee at once, and must act as authority figures who pass on knowledge. Tutors offer one-to-one tuition, and are more like "educated peers" than authority figures. You only have one or a couple students to work with at a time, so you don't have to lecture. In fact, you should get the student to teach you! Let students take charge of learning objectives, and guide them toward their goals.

Ask a lot of questions. You don't want to lecture your students. Instead, ask open-ended questions that force them to come to conclusions on their own, with research you help them conduct.

Facilitating tutoring looks like:

1. Asking non-directive, stimulating questions, challenging students as appropriate
2. Promoting individual learning by helping students to develop a study plan
3. Indicating when additional external information is required
4. Referring students to resources
5. Assisting the student to set early goals and a plan which can be modified
6. Sensing problems in learning function and helping the student to deal with them
7. Serving as a role model for productive learning and ways of giving feedback
8. Helping students improve study methods including the selection of appropriate learning resources