L1: Introduction to Tutoring

Basic Policies and Procedures for the Mount (Chalon Campus) Tutoring Program

How do I obtain clients? Students requesting a tutor fill out a Tutor Request Form and submit it to the Assistant Director. Besides subject area, matches are made based on comparable times of availability, and if necessary, the same instructors. You will be phoned by the Assistant Director and given the phone number of the potential client, as they are contacted and given your number. If you reach the client’s message box/machine, specify the best time to return your call. Every time a tutor match is made, copies of the tutor request form will be placed in your office folder.

Where do I tutor? We encourage all tutoring sessions to take place in the Learning Center. If your session takes place after 6:00 PM, then you may meet your client at some other appropriate, and mutually agreed upon place on campus.

How do I record my hours? Record ALL tutor activity on your Contact Sheet. Make sure that you mark the date and length of each tutoring session, and make any notes if applicable. You and your client must sign off after each and every session. Accurate Contact Sheets must be completed as an essential and mandatory record of your tutoring activity, whether or not you choose to receive compensation. Contact Sheets must then be recorded on PeopleNet.

How long is a tutoring session? Tutoring sessions should last no more than an one hour to an hour and a half. If more time is needed, consult with your supervisor.

What is the One, Two, Three Rule? Serve one, individual client for two weekly sessions, amounting to a maximum of three hours per week. See your supervisor for individuals requesting more time.

Where do I file my Contact Sheets? File Contact Sheets in your tutor folder. A student coordinator will log your hours on a weekly basis. It is important to turn in your contact sheets every two weeks according to the schedule distributed at the beginning of the semester.

How many hours am I allowed to tutor? You may tutor as much as your schedule permits. Your grades come first, however, so consider the load that you can manage best.

How many subjects can I tutor? You may tutor three to five subjects. The Learning Center encourages you to cover roughly three subjects per semester.

How many clients do we get? You may receive between two and eight clients in a semester depending on the need of the students.

What constitutes a group session, and how large can it get? For recording and payment purposes, a group consists of tutoring three or more students at one time--in a single session. A group should not exceed five students unless you have made special arrangements with the assistant director.

How often should I meet with my clients? Most students need help every week. Schedule one or two sessions every week per client or group. Be assertive with your client(s) in setting up subsequent appointments.

What if a student wants to call me when they need help? Explain to the client that it is better to set up a regular schedule, either once a week or every other week. Avoid allowing a pattern to develop in this area, since you need time to study and complete course work as well.

What if my client doesn’t show up? Tutors are obligated to wait fifteen minutes past a schedule appointment time for a tardy client. Beyond this time, cancel the appointment, but still document the session on your Contact Sheet and notify your supervisor as soon as possible. You will still be paid for this session. If a client misses two appointments with insufficient reasons, they will lose their privilege to free tutoring for that semester.

What if I have a problem with my client? Talk to a learning center staff about it first. The learning staff will deal with the student directly.

How much training is required to be a tutor? You will need a minimum of six hours training prior to tutoring. An additional six hours will make you eligible for CRLA tutor certification.

What is CRLA? CRLA stands for the College Reading and Learning Association, a professional body of educators who establish national certification for tutors.

What are the other services of the Learning Center? Besides tutoring, we offer study skills workshops, computer tutorials, disability services, and a master student course.

How do I get paid? You will be registered with, and trained on the PeopleNet payroll system. Your PeopleNet entries must mirror your Contact Sheets, and you must submit Contact Sheets to receive your check. Tutor checks will be distributed bi-weekly, according to that year’s schedule.

Definition of Tutoring and Tutor Responsibilities:

What is Tutoring???

The dictionary describes a tutor as a person who gives individual or small group instruction combining content knowledge, empathy, honesty, and humor with a caring attitude and unique teaching strategies.

The purpose of tutoring is to help student help themselves or to assist or guide them to the point at which they become independent learners, and thus no longer need a tutor.

Content knowledge is an essential ingredient for a tutor; however, to be truly effective, a tutor must combine content knowledge with empathy, honesty and humor. Empathy requires tutors to “read” the emotional states, attitudes and perceptions of their students. Empathy is the ability to see others from their personal frame of reference and to communicate this understanding to the person involved.

In order for tutors to establish a supportive relationship with their students, tutors must be open and honest. Students are often reluctant to talk with a stranger about their academic problems. If a tutor is perceived as genuine and having a strong desire to listen, students will be more willing to open up and discuss their problems. Humor can also play an important part in a tutoring session. Humor can reduce tension. Shared laughter is a powerful way to reinforce learning. Humor can set student at ease and increase rapport. Humor can also be used to compliment, to guide, or to provide negative feedback in a positive manner.

In addition, a successful tutor demonstrates a caring attitude. This consists of qualities such as: being organized for the tutoring session, being punctual, establishing a learning relationship with the student, developing unique teaching strategies, and becoming familiar with the learning process.

Ultimately, tutoring is sharing yourself with another student in a way that makes a difference in both your lives. (Read – Introduction to Tutoring)

A tutor:

• Promotes independence in learning;
• Personalizes instruction;
• Facilitates tutee insights into learning and the learning processes;
• Provides a student perspective on learning and school success
• Respects individual differences

The Tutor’s Role

• Tutor as a Helper
  • Helps students learn and help themselves
  • Listens to problem
  • Suggests a course of action
  • Gives tutoring help as needed
• Tutor as a Peer Learner
  • Tutors are student learners and not responsible for all answers
  • One of many resources for students (instructor – discipline coordinator)
• Tutor as a Teacher
  • Explains subjects using various techniques
• Tutor as a LearningCenterEmployee
  • Acts as a representative of Mount St. Mary’s College
  • Acts as agent between his/her students and Learning Center
  • Responsible for explaining policies as needed
  • Responsible for fulfilling personal schedules and adhering to the policies and procedures of the Learning Center.

Benefits to the Tutor

• Heightens sense of competence/adequacy in confirming to a new roll
• Encourages higher levels of thinking
• Increases motivation to learn in order to maintain new role
• Increases ability to manage own learning and study strategies
• Increases subject specific knowledge
• Increases related general knowledge
• Increases understanding of subject area
• Improves attitude toward subject
• Provides more empathy with students
• (Read – Introduction to Tutoring)

Benefits to students who receive tutoring

• Offers more individualized, systematic, structured learning experience
• Provides grater congruence between teacher and learner, close role model
• Improves academic performance and personal growth
• Improves attitude toward subject area
• Generates stronger effects than other individualized teaching strategies
• Motivate self-paces and self-directed learning
• Provides intensive practice for students who need it
• Improves self esteem
• (Read – Introduction to Tutoring)

Benefits to the College

• Increases opportunity to reinforce instruction
• Increases positive student interaction
• Enhances measurable positive changes in attitude towards teaching/learning for the participants.
• Improves educational climate
• Facilitates ethnic and racial integration

Tutoring Processes and Procedures

(Including Opening, Collaboration, and Closure)

Typical Tutoring Sessions

From the tutors' perspective, each scheduled tutoring session consists of three essential stages: Preparation, Collaboration and Evaluation. Preparation may last somewhere between 10-60 minutes and takes place before the session. Next comes collaboration during which tutors actually meet with their students and engage in synchronous communications. This stage lasts anywhere from 45-60 minutes. Finally, evaluation begins. This stage may also last somewhere between 10-15 minutes.

A detailed description of each stage is as follows:

Tutoring sessions should be preceded by preparation. During this phase, tutors review pertinent information about students including the previous session activity and review materials since the last session. Tutors should anticipate the student's needs and how to help the student accomplish his or her goals. The tutor should collect all the resources that he/she expects to utilize during the collaborative stage.

The collaboration stage is the heart and soul of the tutoring session. This is where all real time communications take place and when the tutors and students learn together. The collaboration stage should consist of the following sub-stages:

a. OPENING the Session

This initial sub-stage will last about 5 minutes. It will include a couple of minutes of "getting reacquainted" and a couple of minutes devoted to setting today's objective and agenda. As part of "getting reacquainted", tutors check in with students on how their day went and any current issues or upcoming events that students may be focusing on. Tutors answers similar kinds of questions from the student.

Tutors should explain the goals for the session. Tutors should seek out the students' confirmation and/or allow the student to amend session objectives. In particular, tutors should find out if the student is bringing specific questions and problems to the session.

b. Discussion and Practice

This sub-stage will take up most of the online time, somewhere between 40 -50 minutes. This is when tutors follows the "lesson plan," essentially sets up problems for the student to solve and, in effect, "looks over the shoulder" of students as they solve the problem.

If students bring specific questions to the session, tutors will watch and evaluate as the students' attempt to first solve the problems. Once tutors observe and recognize the students' weakness, tutors will put that students' specific question aside temporarily so that, together, they can practice similar questions drawn from the text at hand or study guides prepared by the instructor or tutor. Once students have practiced and "mastered" the skill, tutors will prompt the student to return to the original question again. This cycle will continue until the student successfully answers or solves his/her own original question.

c. CLOSING the Session

Like the initial Warm Up sub-stage, this final phase should last about 5 minutes. Together, tutors and students will review the session's activities and accomplishments and, moreover, identify logical "Next Steps" for that student. If appropriate, tutors will confirm that student's next scheduled appointment and assign interim practice activities and assessment tests.

Evaluation

Aftereach tutoring session, thetutorwil evaluate the effectiveness of that particular session, andconsider whatshould have been done oromited to make the experience more fruitful.

The Tutor Cycle Illustrated

The Tutoring Cycle Observation Check List

(Adapted from Ross MacDonald, Tutor Evaluation and Self-Assessment Tool)

The goal of tutoring is to help tutees/clients increase their confidence and learn how to learn independently, eventually reducing their dependence on tutoring. By following these steps, tutors can help tutees become more independent learners. This cycle can be adapted for all subjects, and for group, individual, and drop-in tutoring. Use this guide to monitor your own tutoring sessions.

Step 1: Greeting

__1a. Greet student(s) by name.

__1b. Display friendliness--smile, gesture, small talk, etc.

__1c Provide efficient seating arrangements (next to, not across from each other.)

__1d. Encourage tutee(s) to initiate the first task: to open books and notes, etc.

Step 2: Identifying Task

__2a. Provide opportunity for tutee(s) to take control and determine focus of session

__2b. Use questions to clarify tutees’ immediate concerns. (“What is the hardest part for you?”)

__2c. Restate tutees’ problems to help tutee understand what was needed and to focus activities for session. If you need to refocus session, explain why.

__2d. Use empathetic statements to help tutee(s) define the problem ("That part can be hard.")

Step 3: Setting Agenda

__3a. Involve tutee(s) in setting the agenda (i.e. "We have ___ minutes today. How should we use them?" "What should we work on today?”)

__3b. Require tutee(s) to state agenda explicitly to help him/her play active role in allocating time on each task. Jot down an informal plan for the session.

__3c. Readjust agenda when necessary, keep track of time.

Step 4: Breaking Task into Parts

__4a. Ask tutee(s) to break task or problems into steps. (“Show me how you did this in class;” “How do you begin?”

__4b. Restate steps mentioned. Have the tutee take notes, if appropriate.

__4c. Ask tutee(s) to explain the steps to confirm understanding ("OK, so now you tell me what we have to do for this kind of problem")

Step 5: Identifying Thought Process Involved in Task

__5a. Ask the tutee(s) to explain the general approach learned in class for this type of problem/concept/thought process.

__5b. Help tutee(s) understand the textbook/lecture notes and how these resources were used to understand the process. Encourage using resources (text and class notes) next time around.

__5c. Help tutee understand other sources of information (i.e. notes, handouts, workbooks, classmates, etc.) for solving problems. Tutor should not be only source of information.

__5d. Ask tutee(s) to explain the approach learned to ensure tutees’ understanding for doing similar tasks when studying alone.

Step 6 : Addressing the Task

__6a. Encourage tutee(s) to address task without overly directing him/her (i.e. "Where should we begin? What do we do next?")

__6b. Respond appropriately, but do not interrupt tutees’ thinking. Show attention without taking over. Pencil and paper should remain in front of tutee, not tutor.

__6c. Encourage tutee(s) to do most of the talking/learning. Did not over explain or take control.

__6d. Allow sufficient "wait time" (“10 Second Rule”) for tutee to do act, speak, or learn before you take over and explain.

Step 7: Tutee Summary of Content

__7a. Encourage tutee(s) to summarize what has just been learned (i.e. "OK, let's review for a minute. Show me what we just talked about.")

__7b. Wait for tutee’s explanation to run its course without interrupting or correcting. Give tutee opportunity to self-correct by asking questions, then waiting.

__7c. Use tutees’ explanations to determine if he or she really understands.

__7d. If understanding is incomplete, return to addressing the task.

Step 8: Tutee Summary of Process

__8a. Have tutee(s) summarize process for addressing the task ("So, how do you do this again?")

__8b. Wait for tutee summary to run its course.

__8c. Determine if tutees’ understanding would allow the completion of similar task independent of tutoring.

__8d. If understanding is incomplete, return to addressing the task.

Step 9: Confirming and Reinforcing Confidence

__9a. After tutee(s) explains content and process, offer positive reinforcement, and confirm that tutee really did understand or improve.

__9b. Congratulate tutee(s) for working hard and not giving up.

__9c. Reassure tutee(s) that he/she can now do similar tasks independently.

Step 10: Looking Ahead

__10a Help tutee(s) anticipate what he/she will learn next that might connect to current task.

__10b. Help tutee(s) understand how information from class, tutoring,

and resources is connected.

__10c. Ask future-oriented questions like "What is the next concept you will learn in class? How will what we did today help you?"

Step 11: Planning next session

__11a. Look at class schedule together. Allow tutee(s) to make decision about whether to return for another session and what to do during the session (i.e. "Should we meet next week? What should we do? What will you have done to prepare before the session?")

__11b. Confirm time and date of next session. Be sure tutee(s) knows who to call to cancel.

Step 12: Evaluating Session/Closing

__12a Evaluate progress on agenda (i.e. "We accomplished a lot," or "We got off track.") Ask what helped most and what could be improved

__12b. Thank tutee(s)for contributions (i.e. "You really came prepared. That helped.") If necessary, make suggestions for next time ("Be sure to come prepared, bring your books, read the chapter, and do your homework for the next session!")

__12c. End session on a positive note ("You made a lot of progress!" or "Even though we got off track, we learned what to do for next time.")