In our last article in this series, we discussed that while it’s important to take ownership of your investment in private tutoring, you should still expect specific behaviors from your tutor. We covered what is reasonable to expect before the actual session from a communications, logistics, and preparation perspective. In this article, we’ll explore what you should expect during the tutoring session.
During the Session
Environment, timing, and focus
- You should be very comfortable with the tutoring environment. When you are struggling in a class and have decided to invest in a private tutor, you need to focus on the learning process. If there is too much noise or other distraction, future sessions should occur at a different location. Now, this doesn’t mean that public coffee shops can’t be good places to conduct a tutoring session. In fact, many students are far more comfortable meeting a tutor in a public coffee shop than in their home. A private room in a library is typically an excellent venue for a tutoring session.
- There should be open communication about the starting and end times for the session. If the tutor is late, if you spend 10 minutes discussing the weather, politics (probably something to avoid) or sports, or if the tutor must step away for a private call, this time should not count against the hour(s) you’ve purchased. At the same time, if you are late, it’s fair to expect the tutor to “start the clock” when the session was supposed to start, although we encourage tutors to be flexible. Also, at MyGuru, we ask tutors to report time in 15 minute increments, rounding down. So, if the tutor has been working with you for 65 minutes, it would be very reasonable to discussion whether a) things should be wrapped up in the next 5 minutes so you are billed for an hour or b) you continue working together for 15 or more minutes, so you are billed for 75 or 90 minutes.
- You should feel and observe that the tutor is 100% focused on your learning during the sessions. If you feel the tutor is distracted (i.e., checking his or her phone, not listening to you, etc.) then you are not receiving the attention you deserve. Your tutor should be 100% focused on you.
Planning and organization
One of the keys to a successful tutoring relationship is the development of a customized study plan. If you are receiving tutoring in a specific class, this becomes quite a bit less important, as the syllabus for the class can be followed. But even then, your strengths and weaknesses might necessitate a different “path” to learning the material for the class.
- You should be aware of the plan being followed in the tutoring relationship overall. Generally, the first session is somewhat diagnostic. The tutor is identifying and confirming strengths and weaknesses and coming out of that session, creating a plan for you.
- You should be aware of the plan being followed in any session. The tutor should explain the key objectives of the session, and highlight the major topics and expected takeaways. A student should never feel as if they aren’t sure where a session is going or why something is being covered.
Tutoring techniques
Every tutor has their own style, and there are different ways to connect with a student to help them understand difficult or new concepts and build new skills. That said, it is reasonable to expect the following from a tutor:
- Some upfront investment of time should be made in establishing a personal rapport with you. Tutors are generally well served by getting to know their clients/students a little bit. What are they motivated by? What do they like/dislike? This helps both parties get more comfortable with one another and can even be a source of useful analogies in explain the material. This article on edutopia.org lists the personal relationship first in a list of keys to a successful tutoring relationship.
- Students are far more likely to learn when they are asked to actively engage with the material. If the tutor is talking for most of the session, or simply working out problems while the student watches, then the learning that is occurring is likely to be passive. Instead, there should be a give and take of questions, answers, problems being completed in real-time by the student, etc. You should be an active participant in the session, not just an observer.
- You should be getting clear feedback associated with your mistakes. Whether it’s during real-time review of problems or as you are reviewing practice sets you completed on your own time, your tutor should be providing you with clear feedback around why you missed a certain problem and what to change moving forward to complete the problem correctly. Even if you feel the tutor explains things well, you are still not maximizing the value of the sessions if clear, targeted feedback isn’t provided. This is an excellent article about the importance of feedback in building study skills and learning new things.
- Your tutor should generally be able to explain most concepts in more than one way. One of the major benefits to 1-1 tutoring vs. reading a test prep book or taking a test prep class or sitting in any given math or English class is the high level of customization that is possible. If something isn’t clicking with you when explained this way, the tutor can approach the problem that way, etc.
- Concepts should be broken down into small pieces where possible and brought back to their more basic underlying components. A common issue teachers or tutors face in connecting with students is using language or concepts that seem basic to them, but which the student does not understand. There should be a constant drive to break things down to their more basic, foundational parts, and then build them back together. If a student is missing foundational conceptual knowledge, the tutor needs to identify that gap and find a way to fill it. This is an excellent article on the importance of creating increasingly larger “chunks” of information over time when learning new things (but by starting with very small ideas and concepts).
- Your tutor should be giving you “mini tests” during the session to check your understanding. Studying with heavy use of “mini” ‘quizzes is critical. Even if you are actively engaged in the session, asking questions, etc., it’s always possible that you aren’t truly understanding the material. Frequent “mini tests” can serve two purposes. First, research shows that “mini tests” are an excellent way to retain information because it is a highly “active” form of learning as described in this article. Second, “mini tests” help identify whether or not you truly are understanding a concept.
- Your tutor should be forcing you out of your comfort zone. To be getting the most of a tutoring session, there should be a certain level of discomfort. If the whole session is very comfortable and you completely understand everything that was discussed, then what really was the point of the session? If it seems like you are having no trouble at all in understanding the questions or concepts being reviewed, an excellent tutor will move on to more advanced material in the same area to push the student’s thinking.
In our next and last article, we’ll discuss what to expect after a tutoring session.
