How to Become a tutor

How to Become a tutor

  

Becoming a private tutor is not easy. Home tuition is a great responsibility for the sincere ones. When the duties are handled well, nothing can be more rewarding in life than becoming an excellent tutor. Some people feel that if they know a subject matter well, they can become an excellent or successful tutor. But in actuality, it is not so. Together with the expertise on a subject matter, a tutor needs to understand the psyche of each student and mold the teaching strategy accordingly.

There are many tutoring services that provide jobs like home tuition jobs, online tuition jobs, online teaching jobs from home, etc. Such tutoring service portals give such jobs without even having a proper method to a tutor's ability testing. So do not get happy if you get selected for such online tutoring jobs quickly.

Become a tutor

If you are interested in learning about what is required to become an excellent tutor and how to grow as a tutor, this article is for you. Here, I am going to discuss the four essential steps that need to be followed by every tutor. The game of teaching starts not with the tutor, but with the student.

A tutor should begin by evaluating the needs of the students. So as discussed, let me explain the four steps:

1. Assess the Student’s requirement

2. Plan your teaching sessions

3. Develop a good relationship with students

4. Develop an ideal partnership with parents and teachers

ASSESS THE STUDENT’S REQUIREMENT:

A.) Know what they already know:

Both experienced and inexperienced tutors need first to evaluate what their students already know. Some private tutors start with the assumption that the students know this and that as they are in some specific class, but it is not always the case. This assumption sometimes can cost badly. So try to evaluate what the students already know by following different ways. Have an open-ended conversation with the student and let him/her open up. A private teacher may have to start teaching the student at an elementary level.

B.) Find their weaknesses:

While assessing, try to know the troubles and weaknesses of students. Students are mostly aware of their shortcomings so that you can ask them directly. If they are unsure, start asking them about where they get fewer marks, where they lag behind in quizzes, which class lectures appear dull to them, etc. In this way, you will get a hint. Private tutors mostly get all the information through interpersonal communication with the student.

C.) Set goals:

After knowing the students well, set up long-term and short-term goals with them. Most of the students go for the home tuitions so that they can set the goals to meet their pace of learning rather than that of any group. So as a tutor, take them in confidence and make them visualize about how they can achieve their goals. Let them manage their personal goal tracker sheet to make them feel responsible for their actions.

D.) Measure progress:

Merely observing the improvements in the students is not enough. It is best for both the tutor and the students to create a chart and assess their improvements. In the graph, you can include entries like test grades, quiz grades, goals reached, class grades, effort grading, etc.

PLAN TEACHING SESSION:

Now when you know all about your student as their private tutor, you can plan your session. Prepare for the sessions on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. Merely making a timetable or schedule is not enough.

The planning session includes a lot of things. If you are planning your lesson, keep in mind the following characteristics:

1.) Set a goal for each lesson plan and apprise the students about them beforehand.

2.) Start the session by asking questions related to the previous lesson.

3.) Help the students in their school or college assignments or tasks during the session, even if it is not pre-planned.

4.) Give them such tasks or opportunities in the middle of the session that they can efficiently complete and which gives them a sense of satisfaction and success.

5.) Give occasional breaks not extending more than 5 minutes.

6.) Change the pre-planned session plan sometimes according to the mood of the given day. Do not be strict always with the planning. E.g., if it is raining and no one seems to be in a spirit of studying, give a break.

7.) Try to adapt your teaching style to the student’s learning style.

DEVELOP A GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH STUDENTS

To help and motivate the students, a tutor sometimes has to become a friend or cheerleader, and sometimes a strict parent. Building a relationship with the students can help you to motivate them efficiently and lead them to success. Their success means your success. Though most of the tutors know that building a relationship is essential, they don’t know how to do it. Here are some useful tips that can be followed to create a productive relationship with your students:

1. Tutors should talk with students about how they feel about the subject. Even if they perform poorly in the class, make them feel unique instead of ashamed. Tutors who support their students in downtime are more likely to win the heart of the students, and ultimately they succeed in motivating them to study.

2. Sharing the personal experiences of failure and success and how you overcame the lousy phase interests the students.

3. Try to learn the student’s style of communication. No student should be ignored in the class. If someone is shy, you need to focus and find out when he/she opens up or how they can be brought to an open conversation.

4. Even if you feel low, try to show a good mood. It is because all the students follow the tutor's lead. You don’t want to spoil your session for the students, do you? Remember, you are always an ideal figure in the class.

5. Do you know how teachers and tutors are different from each other? While teachers deal with many students at a time in the classroom, and tutors work one-on-one with a student. A tutor is expected to be a guide who enlightens and shows the path. In the class, it is always better to ask open-ended questions, and this helps the student to start a conversation with the tutor.

DEVELOP AN IDEAL PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS AND TEACHERS:

All the students and their parents expect that a tutor will help them to succeed in school. How can you decide the content of your session without knowing what’s going on in the classroom? High school students can explain the course objectives to the tutor but not the whole picture. So it is always better to reach out to the teachers and parents. The best time is whenever you meet them or call a special session. You can even communicate with them through e-mail.

Conclusion:

If you are doing a home tuition job, online tuition job, an online tutoring job, private teacher job, or online teaching job from home, it is always good to follow the above-discussed tips to grow as a better tutor. Tutoring services are accessible to give but challenging to and should be shouldered with responsibility. If you are a private teacher, please make sure to develop a rapport with the student and plan your session according to the needs of the student. We wish you all the best in all of your tutoring endeavors.


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