L2 Principles of Effective Tutoring Revisited

Remind the Tutee/Client about THEIR obligations and expectations while receiving our services:

ON BEING TUTORED

Tutee/Client Responsibilities

1. Prepare yourself in advance by completing all reading assignments and finishing as much of any written assignment as you can before meeting with the tutor. This will help to make the best use of your limited tutoring time.  The tutoring session is not a study period to read your textbook or begin your assignment.


2. Mark the parts of your textbook or class notes that need clarification.  Try to determine exactly what you don’t understand, and write down specific questions to ask the tutor. Think about how you would like the tutor to assist you (e.g., clarify a concept with examples, check your understanding of the material, demonstrate a general problem-solving approach, or help organize the material).  Let the tutor know how you can best be assisted so that he/she can do their best within the Center’s policy.  Please remember that a tutor cannot do the client’s work. 


3. Bring your course syllabus, textbooks, lecture notes, handouts, assignment directives, and any other necessary materials and supplies. Neither the Learning Center nor the tutors can be expected to have copies of textbooks, lecture notes, old exams, solution manuals, or extra supplies.


4. Be on time for your scheduled appointment. If you are 10 minutes late for your appointment without having phoned ahead, your appointment will be cancelled and made available to another student.  If you do call, your appointment cannot be held for more than 15 minutes from the scheduled starting time.  Remember that the tutors are students just like you and are subject to the same kinds of illnesses and emergencies.  For that reason, if you have to make a special trip to campus only to meet your tutor or have to wait a few hours before meeting your tutor, call or stop by the Learning Center to see if any messages have been received regarding the tutor.  If we receive notice that a tutor will be absent, we will make every effort to contact you at home as soon as we can. If you need to cancel your appointment, please phone your tutor immediately, or call Daniel Aucutt 310-954-4142 as soon as possible so that your appointment can be made available to another student.  The Learning Center’s telephone is equipped with a 24-hour answering machine to receive your telephone messages.


5. Expect to do your own work. Tutors will exert their very best to guide you, encourage your participation and efforts, offer suggestions, and explain or demonstrate what is confusing to you.  Our policy discourages the tutors from doing the student’s work in such ways as reading, translating, or summarizing the answers (e.g. math placement exams,) solving or answering entire problem or question sets, or assisting with take-home exams, quizzes, or extra-credit problems.  Please do not place the tutors in an awkward position by asking them to do these things.


6. Please be patient. The tutors will be doing their best under occasionally trying conditions to answer your questions. The tutors are students like you; so do not expect them to instantly know every answer or solution to all of your questions or problems. Remember that tutors may have had different instructors and different textbooks, so do not be critical of the tutors if they ask to refer to your textbook or notes. If a tutor is not specifically addressing your question or problem, politely let the tutor know. The tutor may have misinterpreted your question. Feel free to ask the tutor to repeat or re-clarify when necessary.


7. Expect good service. Just as tutors and office staff need to be treated in a friendly, respectful, and patient manner, you also have the right to be treated in the same manner. If you encounter a problem, try to resolve it calmly with a tutor or office assistant.  Unintentional errors and miscommunication can easily occur.  If the problem cannot be readily resolved, ask to speak with Daniel Aucutt.

Chalon Learning Center and Tutor Management:

Daniel Aucutt, Associate Director
Learning Assistance Programs
H207 1-310-954-4142