Guidelines to be a Good Tutor
It is essential to ensure that every child ifs given the necessary support regardess his/her social background in terms of education and other co-curricular activities. It is here that one to one private tuition becomes significant. It delivers additional support to the pupils who are not able to achieve their potential with classroom teaching. This is because the level of support required varies from child to child. Some needs to be coached in smaller groups or individually to make the progress needed to achieve their full potential. Here are some tips for tutors about delivering the support to such children:
First and foremost learn the art of motivating the child. To this closely study the child?s strengths and preferences. Try to find out if the child is getting enough scope to use them. Also see if there are confidence and self assurance in the pupil. Even if he is interested and has certain talents in sports, music or drama, encourage him participate in those. This will bring the confidence in him which will help him to pay attention to academic tasks too.
Don?t punish a pupil for poor grades. This will diminish the confidence and usher fear towards the subject. Keep high but reasonable expectations. Try to know his problems. For instance, if he does not do his homework, find out if they are too difficult for him; or if he is having problem about getting started. Help him out. The main hurdles to success are depression, family problems, negative peer influence, or a learning disability. Try to figure out if the pupil has any of the above. If so, take the required action.
Make the homework environment appealing to him. You can do so by helping him to have a clean and organized work space with pencils, erasers, paper and other materials. Encourage him to work as independently, as possible. But be there to help if needed.
Try to make study time interesting and packed with fun. Devise Games like word searches, to help study words and meanings. You can think of other unique games that will both teach the subject and remove boredom of learning.
Always praise and reward the pupil for small achievements. Don?t scold for goof ups. Ask him about how to fix the mistake. This will make him realize that there is no fear of failure. Read to him for pleasure. This will boost the skills of reading, writing, spelling and speaking and will also improve general knowledge.
Help him to connect between school and everyday life and also career goals. You can relate the day to day estimate of groceries and gas mileage to calculations he is learning in Math. This will make him understand the significance of Math. Talk to him about the elections and connect it to civics and social studies. As a tutor, you can talk about several interesting things about day to day life and associate them to studies. This will help him take the academic responsibilities more easily. To be a good tutor maintain a positive attitude and a sense of humor.