Tutoring a student can be extremely rewarding if done right. Many college students want to become tutors, but they just don’t know the best way to approach the teaching process. It’s not something that can be improvised as you go along – teaching requires a steady plan of action, and a method that can accommodate a student’s progress as it becomes more and more advanced. Here are some tips on how to become a great one on one tutor.
Know your subject.
In order to become an effective tutor, you must know exactly what it is you are teaching. Just like with any other profession, knowledge can change lives. If you aren’t really proficient in the subject matter you are trying to teach, maybe it’s time to sharpen your skills or turn to something else. It not only is a waste of time and money for the other student, but you yourself will feel guilty that you didn’t help to the best of your ability.
It also helps if you have an enthusiasm for the subject matter and a willingness to help others. If you really don’t enjoy it that much yourself, how can you get a student (who probably already hates it) to enjoy it? Besides these traits, a good tutor must also understand how to take initiative and make something out of it. Great tutors see problems in what the student is having trouble with and help them with it. It’s not just about you having the answer key while your student doesn’t.
Know your student.
The benefits of having a good one on one tutor for a student is that you pay more attention to him or her. This is probably the main reason that they hired you in the first place. In order to know what he or she has more trouble with, you should spot out weak points immediately. Each student you will be tutoring will be different, so make sure you don’t just follow one plan and try to stick it down everyone’s throat. Flexibility is key to being a good tutor, so be sure that you can adjust your teaching styles to fit different types of people.
Don’t be so boring.
It is vital to engage the student in order to make things fun and interesting. This way, your student can learn all of the information he or she needs without being bored to death. When you as a tutor make learning things fun and intriguing, everything will follow. The reason you were hired in the first place was probably to help the student get interested in the subject, as they probably wouldn’t be here if they knew everything. Most times, students who need help with a specific subject matter find it to be too boring, so their minds automatically shut off when they need to learn it.
Talk…not just about school.
Although your job is to be a tutor regarding certain subject matters, make sure you strike a conversation up and talk about other events in a student’s daily life. Being a good tutor isn’t all about earning some extra money – tutors who really value their jobs come out with a greater feeling of satisfaction, having done something that really benefited another student in need. Many college students really enjoy their job, knowing the hardship they once had was eased a bit.
By really talking about anything and everything, you serve as a mentor to a student during tough times. Go beyond your call of duty to teach just academics – you’ll feel much better about yourself and I’m sure your student will appreciate it too.
Don’t be dominant.
It is in the best interests of the student to do most of the work. If you spoon feed all of the information, answers, and facts to them, then you are not doing your job correctly. If they wanted just brute information, they could have read a book or gone online. The interactive part is what they need help with. Let them break down the problem, analyze the situation, and come up with their individual solutions. The tutor should merely serve as a watchman, only answering questions or guiding students in the correct direction.
A student who learns things by themselves will not only have a better understanding of the basic underlying concepts, he or she will have a solid memory of what exactly was learned. Tutors who don’t make their sessions challenging tend to have students who don’t remember what it is they actually were learning.
Make sessions useful.
Time management is one of the major problems tutors have with their one on one sessions. Tutors need to learn how to get all of the logistics out of the way before the session actually starts. For example, if you know that you are going to teach a certain lesson next time, tell the student to skim over it and read the directions and such. Make sure you are familiar with what you want to teach before your tutoring session actually starts.
With both the tutor and the student ready for what to expect during the actual lesson, more time can be spent on doing productive things, and not on fumbling around trying to find out what to learn next. Set out strict guidelines on what it is your student should do for homework – if they’re ready and you’re ready, you guys can get right down to it.
Be reasonable when planning things besides academia.
When students are tutored, they need a place to meet and a fee to pay, among other things. It is best to meet in a public place so both of you feel safe. Make sure someone else is present during your sessions, until both of you feel more comfortable and move from there. Also, never get emotionally involved with a student. Any type of activity besides academics can turn into awkwardness or get either person into trouble. Tutoring sessions are not the place to find significant others.
Lastly, never charge exorbitant or high fees. Be reasonable in what you charge others, but make sure that you aren’t taken advantage of. Everyone understands that this is a business, so be reasonable when dealing with these things.
Overall, being a good tutor requires commitment, reliability, enthusiasm, and empathy. Similar to that of an engineer, your job is to pinpoint what isn’t going correctly in the curriculum, feel out what your student(s) need help with, and apply a solution to the problem. Unlike an engineer, you have a student with a problem who can speak out and let you know what he or she is having trouble with. Understanding what another person’s needs are is an important skill, and this job experience could help you in the near future. Sooner than you think.
