TLC Tutor Training

The Learning Center at Central Arizona Collge

Tutor Training

Fall 2009

Definition of Tutoring, Beginning and Ending of a Tutoring Session, Tutoring Do’s and Don’ts (.5 hours presentation and about 1.5 hours informal training)

Learning Outcomes

                At the end of this training session, trainees (tutors) will be able to:

     Level 1

• Discuss and present most frequent errors that tutors do.
• Engage students into a constructive and critical learning.
• Communicate on what tutors “do” and “don’t” in the most general terms.
• Increase the level of self-efficient tutoring negotiation in the first and the last five minutes of tutoring.
• Use the skills from this session in Subject Area Tutor Training.

Level 2

• Review the material, and re-evaluate authentic experience with tutoring that may be helpful for new tutors.

• Add ideas and observations to the presentation and discussion of the topic.

Level 3

• Review, compare and contrast their first session on tutoring with the experiences of two semester work with tutees.
• Participate with topics on meta-cognitive learning as a reason for tutoring “do” and “don’ts.”
• Support the presenter with fresh ideas on record-keeping and using to improve services.
• Share ideas and experiences.

• Assumptions of Prior Knowledge

New tutors and tutors who are working on levels 2 and 3 of tutor training may have different understanding of the skills they will need as tutors. Often new tutors have the assumption that any help is acceptable.

Misconceptions

One common misconception is that we can change few rules of tutoring as needed "on the fly." All rules of tutoring are interconnected – the change of one rule may require changes in the Tutor Training Manual; therefore, we change the rules with care for the integrity of the program. Tutors often are happy to teach, but teaching is not exactly tutoring. The problem with this misconception is that students will expect teaching services in the future. 

Learning Specialists work together each semester to include the most important rules for new tutoring. The session is highly interactive and creative.

To move from rules to practices, all trainees must understand, support and discuss the rules of tutoring with examples. The trainees and facilitators work together to derive the definition of tutoring and compare the definition with the one constructed on the previous tutor training.

Presentations

          Facilitators should consider help from trainees.  Role playing is the most common way of working on the rules. For better understanding all tutors are involved in construction of knowledge instead of reading the rules.

Procedure

(This procedure is only one of many possible procedures.)

Trainees will:

• All participants are encouraged to suggest different goals of tutoring.
• The facilitator records all suggestions in groups, for example learning objectives, learning strategies, and results of tutoring.
• The facilitator organizes the data into a meaningful, short and memorable definition.
• One of trainees read aloud the vision and mission statement.
• All trainees compare the vision and mission statement with the definition of tutoring.
• Having the definition of tutoring, trainee work in small group to explain the list of “do’s” and “don’ts.”

Before the Training Session

1. Evaluate the records for this activity.
2. Prepare the handouts for all participants.
3. Invite leading tutors to get ready to facilitate small group discussions.
4. Write the three topics of this activity on the white board.
5. Get ready a moving white board for the first part: definition of tutoring.
6. Distribute the list of tutoring do’s and don’ts into four groups and prepare the list with the rules in each group.

During the Training Session

1. The first part of this activity is an interactive discovery method of what tutors do and don't do to be successful. (20 minutes)
2. For the second part, divide trainees into four groups, and distribute all handouts.
3. The leading tutors should facilitate the preparation of short topics.
4. After about 15 to 20 minutes, all trainees and facilitators work together in open discussion about the wise rules of tutoring. (20 minutes)
5. Part 3, Role Plying: three tutor trainers present the right and wrong way of first and last five minutes. (20 minutes)
6. Discussion and analysis of presentations.
7. Planning for improvement and conclusions (30 minutes).

After the training session:

Reflect, record results, re-fine the information needed for possible improvements with all tutors.

Further Explorations

After few consecutive implementations, the topic should be supported by well established training procedure.

 Works Cited

Gordon, E. (2009). The state of tutoring in America: Changing the culture about tutoring. Retrieved  

           July20, 2009, from The Association of the Tutoring Profession: 

           http://www.myatp.org/Synergy_1/Syn_a5.htm

MacDonald, R. B. (1994). The Master Tutor. Willamsville, New York: The Cambridge Study Skill

           Institute.