Tami Fagan, Assistant CAE Director shares:
For almost ten years, I taught high school English. Invariably, the response I got when I told a new acquaintance about my chosen profession, was something along the lines of, “Are you serious? I could never do that job.” People assume that standing in front of a classroom of 30 or more adolescents would be the stuff of nightmares, and many would prefer Chinese water torture to even a brief stint as a purveyor of knowledge in the American high school.
There is only one job that is harder: one-to-one tutoring.
Teaching takes skill, commitment, instinct, and intelligence. Tutoring takes all of the above plus the demonstration of the following within one hour or less, often multiple times per day:
· The ability to develop an instant rapport with a stranger
· The ability to develop a sense of confidence in a tutee
· The ability to criticize constructively without condescension
· The ability to quickly identify areas of weakness and provide a tutee with guidance accordingly
· The ability to understand how to differentiate between coaching a tutee and doing the work for her
· The ability to provide meaningful praise
· The ability to help a tutee develop new skills
· The ability to reduce a tutee’s frustration
In fact, this list is only partial. Tutoring takes an enormous degree of sustained energy; you are aware of this fact if you have felt drained after conducting several back-to-back tutorial sessions. Tutoring re quires that the tutor is always “on.” There is no down-time, as there might be within a regular classroom setting.
Because all tutors have unique strategies, skills, and approaches, let’s use this opportunity to share our ideas with other content tutors. Consider one or more of the following questions as you post this week:
1. How do you develop a positive rapport with a tutee?
2. How do you help a student alleviate frustration?
3. What tips do you have that would help other content tutors?
For almost ten years, I taught high school English. Invariably, the response I got when I told a new acquaintance about my chosen profession, was something along the lines of, “Are you serious? I could never do that job.” People assume that standing in front of a classroom of 30 or more adolescents would be the stuff of nightmares, and many would prefer Chinese water torture to even a brief stint as a purveyor of knowledge in the American high school.
There is only one job that is harder: one-to-one tutoring.
Teaching takes skill, commitment, instinct, and intelligence. Tutoring takes all of the above plus the demonstration of the following within one hour or less, often multiple times per day:
· The ability to develop an instant rapport with a stranger
· The ability to develop a sense of confidence in a tutee
· The ability to criticize constructively without condescension
· The ability to quickly identify areas of weakness and provide a tutee with guidance accordingly
· The ability to understand how to differentiate between coaching a tutee and doing the work for her
· The ability to provide meaningful praise
· The ability to help a tutee develop new skills
· The ability to reduce a tutee’s frustration
In fact, this list is only partial. Tutoring takes an enormous degree of sustained energy; you are aware of this fact if you have felt drained after conducting several back-to-back tutorial sessions. Tutoring re quires that the tutor is always “on.” There is no down-time, as there might be within a regular classroom setting.
Because all tutors have unique strategies, skills, and approaches, let’s use this opportunity to share our ideas with other content tutors. Consider one or more of the following questions as you post this week:
1. How do you develop a positive rapport with a tutee?
2. How do you help a student alleviate frustration?
3. What tips do you have that would help other content tutors?
