6 Ways To Make Your First Tutoring Session A Success

By Allie Mitchell on August 19, 2016

Tutoring is one of the most helpful ways to make sure that you understand a subject better and that you get the best grade possible.

Whether it be tutoring by your teacher or tutoring by another student, taking the first step to even be tutored is a big deal in a lot of people’s eyes. Most students want to do things on their own so they don’t think that tutoring is for them. The idea of asking questions and making themselves look stupid is quite terrifying to students.

Personally, I abhorred tutoring when I was younger, but learned that it helped me in the long run; I just never liked asking a question that my tutor may find dumb or if I answered a question wrong and I just wasn’t getting something.

The tutors are not meant to make you feel unintelligent or small. They are meant to and get paid to make sure you are learning something from your time with them. They are honestly just there to make sure that you understand the material and that you have a good enough grasp so that you can ace your test, quiz, or the entire class.

This article is meant to help the tutors, first-time tutors especially, learn how to get the most out of their first session. The first time you tutor someone could make or break you ever tutoring again. When you agree to be the help someone needs, they rely on you and the last thing you want to do is let them down.

Here are some ways to ensure that you do not.

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1. Learn about the student: Prepare yourself for who you are about to tutor. Learn as much about them and their issue before you start. You want to make sure that you can just jump right into the lesson when they come to you.

Ask them to bring any relevant work that would assist with their learning and make sure during your first session to discuss how much during each session you want to cover. Not all students can retain as much at one time without forgetting everything.

Also, make sure to confirm a set date and time that you will be meeting for tutoring sessions and a cancellation period as well.

2. Create the right environment: Make sure that the student feels comfortable to learn and you feel comfortable to teach. The usual environment is a quiet place with no distractions. Cut off all phones and only answer in an emergency. Bring snacks if you need to.

Depending on the students’ situation you may have to choose a different setting such as their home, a park, or even online tutoring just to accommodate them or to accommodate yourself.

 3. Ease your way to success: Release all the tension beforehand. Make the student feel like they can talk to you and vice versa. Tell them a little about yourself aside from the academics, and have them tell you about them.

Be professional but don’t be too strong armed or you will push them away. A student wants someone who will listen to them along with helping them achieve academic success. They want someone who can act like a friend and a tutor.

4. How they learn: Establish what the problem is and then figure out how to solve it. You have to determine where they are struggling and hope that then you will be led to the reason why they are struggling with the subject.

Every student learns differently and retains information differently. It may help to find a way that would convey the information better to the student. Some people are visual learners, some people are kinesthetic learners. This just proves that getting in touch with your student on less of a stoic level would be highly necessary.

5. Give homework: You are technically another teacher so giving them homework isn’t such a bad idea. Not too much, so that it interferes with their regular schoolwork, but just enough to where you can pinpoint how they are doing and what needs improvement. They will appreciate the extra effort in the long run.

6. Next lesson: Make sure that at the end of every lesson to schedule another. Especially if your student has a busy schedule you want to get a jump start on the next lesson so that you both can mark it in your calendar. Everyone needs to be on the same page for this to work.

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Tutoring can be fun if you make it fun, especially when you see your good grades that you have been dying for. You may dread it in the beginning but if you try hard and work at it, tutoring could quite possibly be the best decision you ever make. Believe me on that.

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