Monday, October 6, 2014

Keys to a Successful Tutoring Session

I have seen about three tutoring sessions so far (going on tot 4 soon) and after rereading my own observations and observations from my classmates and students from last semester, I've seen many common occurences in the sessions as far as "Do's" and "Dont's" for both the tutor and the student going in for tutoring.
Do: Introduce yourself. As a tutor, you should always start with an introduction because it makes the student feel welcomed and its just plain ol' common courtesy.
Don't: Forget to bring in your prompt. It is extremely helpful for the student who's going in for tutoring to bring in the essay prompt or the assignment instructions and directions given to them by the teacher. It helps the tutor understand what the essay should look like and also helps to avoid misunderstanding between tutor and students. (Also I've noticed tutors get really mad when students forget this so try not to do it for your own benefit)
Do: Have good body posture. People really notice another persons body posture. As a tutor, it is just rude to look uninterested because people are coming to you for help. As a student, it is also rude to look uninterested when someone is doing you a favor.
Dont: Focus on LOC. LOC stands for Lower Order Concerns (grammar, spelling, punctuations,etc...) which are not important to worry about as a tutor in a session. Instead focus on HOC (Higher Order Concerns) which are the thesis, essay structure, essay "flow", and other bigger parts of the essay. (Unless otherwise stated by the student) 
Do: have questions. As Cindi (another student in my Writing Seminar class) said, even if there isn't much work given to start off on, If a tutor asks the right questions, productive conversation can be made to work on improving the lack of work given.
Dont: Take over session. Let the students own thoughts and comments guide the direction of the paper, as Melissa observed in one of her tutoring session observations (Another student in my Writing Seminar class) it is very unproductive to the session when a tutor does this.  

No comments:

Post a Comment