Introductory Comments
This document is my Level III Tutor Certification project. It contains information that I hope will be of use to new and experienced tutors at the Learning Support Center. A lot of this “information” is actually practical wisdom which I and other tutors have garnered during the years that we have been there. To collect the content of this paper, I have interviewed numerous contemporary tutors with whom I work. I have also consulted with several outside educators who specialize in one-on-one education in the public school systems. One in particular that I’d like to acknowledge is Cathy Hutchins who is a math specialist in the Tempe Unified School District.
One LSC tutor from who I learned quite a lot, and who was there on the very first day that I tutored 9 years ago, was Paul Scheffey. Paul passed away this year (2005), and I dedicate this project to his memory and to my fond recollections of tutoring by his side for all those years.
Not all of the advice in this paper will "ring true" for all tutors or for all students. In fact, the diversity of needs, abilities and styles which both tutors and students possess is part of what makes the educational process as much an art as a science.
The suggestions offered in this guide are provided in the spirit of a list of suggestions, with the expectation that tutors will pick and choose those ideas that are helpful to them on an individual basis. If you find even just a few ideas or techniques to think about then the mission of this project will have been achieved.
Math? Or every subject?
I have written this as a drop-in math tutor, primarily for drop-in math tutors at the LSC. However, various reviewers have pointed out to me that much of the content is generically applicable to one-on-one educating (i.e. tutoring) in any subject. I hope that this observation is correct.
In discussions with the director of the LSC, this paper is to be put on the LSC website and included as part of the new-tutor training materials. Certainly for people who will be tutoring math, there is useful information within. For tutors in other subject areas, perhaps treating this as a “buffet”, from which particular individual items might be selected, would be a useful way to derive benefit from it. I will be interested in learning what feedback arises from the new tutor training when first this document is referenced.