Tutoring @ TJ’s

Attitude 4- I really enjoyed tutoring this semester and I enjoy the material, biology. I feel like I was able to help students with the material because I myself understand it. I think that tutoring a subject that I enjoy helped me become more comfortable and confident with the material.

Encourage and supports 4- I really tried to be uplifting and supportive to the clients who came in for help. I would not be over supportive or enthusiastic because that might freak them out.. like think of me as the freaky biology girl, but i would smile and encourage them to keep up the good work. I think that facial expressions give off a good message without being over exuberant.

Approachability 3- I think that I was approachable and kept good eye contact. i tried to make the appointments comfortable and relaxed. I gave the client the option of where to sit, most of the time I sat on the couches. I never want the client to feel like there in the classroom again. The point of tutoring is for the client to be in a different setting where they are getting a different point of view. I tried to keep eye contact and look at them while asking constant questions to see if they knew the material or not.

Processing time 2- I think that some times I felt like I was rambling on and on about material that they were not understanding. I think that I thought that no matter how many times I explained the subject they w ould understand it. I need to work on that area of my tutoring skills. I also think that some times I did not give the client enough time to process that information before I moved onto the next topic. This is something I want to work on in order to become the best tutor that I can be!

I had some really awesome experiences tutoring this past semester. I really feel like I was able to help students with their studies and gave them the confidence to succeed on tests and quizzes and study habits. I had a frequent client that gave me good feedback on how I was helping him. He made appointments before all tests and before his exams. I think that I really did help him which makes me feel great! Most people think tutroing isn’t hard, but it is because it has to do a lot with personality clicking. In order for your advice as a tutor to impact the client, your personalities have to understood by each other or else the client will just sit there adn nod their head while the tutor struggles to explain the subject matter. During a few sessions, I felt like I was not getting across my point to the client. That makes the session frustrating because because the tutor knows when the client isn’t understanding what in the world your saying. i only had one bad experience during a tutor session. It started off badly because I hadn’t checked my schedule past 1oclock that day so i thought I was off for the night, but at 8:05 I received a phone call notifying me that I had an appointment. I was so embarrassed because i would never not show up for anything so when I got there 15 minutes late, my client was kind of ticked at me..oopppss…. So I finally got situated, and asked the client what we would be working on that night. he explained to me that he had a lab report due the next day and had a few questions about his paper. So he opened his lab top and began asking me editing type questions. he was a little rude and chauvinistic in his words but I blew it off thinking it was just an arrogant type of personality.. whatever haha. I gave him editing advice and then he wanted me to start looking things up for him online and actually do his project for him. i explained to him that it was not my job to do that for him and that it was a waste of our tutoring time for me to Google search the entire time. I didn’t think think this was unreasonable but apparently he did because he complained about me. i guess he was just anxious and on a time crunch with his lab report to get it done because it was due the next day and he still had a lot of work to do on it, therefore he wanted me to the things he was having a hard time doing. I guess i would consider this experience an ugly one. All in all I love tutoring and ca not wait for next semester.

I have been asked countless times how I find the time to tutor and why I do it. And the answer always is that I find the time becuase I like it. I think that tutoring at TJs has been one of the most rewarding things I have done at Rollins. It is great to take a student who seems to be so unsure in what they are doing in class and get them to the point where they really don’t need you anymore. The point where I know I have done a good job is when my clients become tutors themselves. They then learn what a rewarding experience it truly is…as corny as that sounds.

But, I think it has helped me as much as I have helped others. I am more confident in my knowledge now and am not so hesitant to help out others. I know how to approach and explain a problem in a more clear manner. These are lessons that I can use everyday!

I was looking over this handout that was with all of my TJ’s stuff and realized that becoming a successful science student and tutor are interrelated. I am currently a tutor for Organic Chem, which I took over a year ago. I am not a chem major but I continue to tutor for this course because I found it fun and interesting. It’s funny becuase coming into college I was told that this would be the worst class I would ever take and that it was impossible to pass. But, I found that the right teaching and learning style could actually get you an A. The first point I think is the most important….motivate yourself to study. Or motivate yourself period. One of the hardest things to do is to pick up the book and simply read it or motivate yourself to go to class and participate in it…not just sit there and stare off into space.

It seems like such a simple concept but I think to get it across to clients what you have to do is relate to them. Looking at my science background you would not have pegged me to be one that would do well in organic…I disliked gen chem, I have a hard time grasping concepts, and I tend to memorize instead of apply. But, with this course I learned that I could understand concepts and learn them well enough for examination. Sure it took me longer than other people, but now I’m one of the tutors. So, organic or those other classes that one dreads could be the best class one takes, depending on your attitude and effort.

To just start out I am going to put up by scores for each category:

attendance=3

attitude=4

approachability=3

fosters independence=3/4

encourages/supports=3

processing time=3

active learning=3

verifies knowledge=3/4

modeling=3

learning skills=3

scaffolding=4

Like Aimee, I am going to focus in depth on few categories.

Attitude: I know that I am an upbeat person and usually am quite cheerful. But I have found that the number of clients that come to me are usually fed up with or overwhelmed by their coursework. Becuase of this, I am positive and interested, but a great part of it is also empathy. If you have shared the professor, then it is usually fun to throw in a small tidbit that shows you know how they feel and that you’ve been in the same place. That way the client does not feel so alienated. I usually wait until the end of the session and while we are all packing up to move up front I do a little small talk. This could be about future plans, current stresses of the week or even a current movie. Just so that the client relaxes a little and sees you as a student as well.

Fosters independence: This is an issue that I have had a hard time with during my time as a tutor. I always seem to get one to two clients that come on a regular basis. At first I thought it was necessary to walk them through problem sets and verify work. But, soon the clients came to depend upon me too much and I realized that I was talking and writing too much–it was like they were back in class. So now I make a point to speak less and set up questions and concepts so that the client talks them out and decides how the session goes.

Active Learning: Science is all about finding main concepts and details, and using all the information in an appropriate manner. So, I now have a system that works almost every time. Once the client is settled I ask them why they are here that day and what problems we are going to tackle. Once they have stated the chapters or concepts they have trouble with, I ask them to explain to me what they know about each of them. Usually they know more than they think they do and it’s a nice surprise for the both of us. Or if the basic concept is wrong or more complicated than it has to be, then I work to clarify it. Once that’s set, we usually work on a problem together than reinforces the concept we reviewed.

Attitude and Approachability (4) - Sometimes when tutoring gen. bio. you can see the student’s frustration with “why is there so much material and most of it is really boring.” I’ve felt that way too about some of the material. So when tutoring I always try to strongly encourage the student to think positively about all of this and focus on things like learning how to study and master the large amount of material and also try to relate these things to everyday life. You can use examples of things that you read about in the news and show how gen. bio. stuff does relate and try to generate more interest in the material. Also, I feel like I keep a relaxed friendly attitude when tutoring and try to get the point across that I am just a student as well and that we can get through the difficult parts of the material together.

Active learning (3) - I try consistently ask and repeat questions that will help the student really understand the material. I encourage them to say it out loud and work through it so they have the confidence in themselves for the test. Sometimes I feel like I do over-explain and the student kinda goes “what did you say” I like to go over the details by re-reading them in the text and then discussing that along with the broad concept.

Verifies Knowledge (4) - I make sure that the student can critically think about the material and answer questions that lead to discussion of the material. Depending on how well the student knows the material I also quickly quiz them on topics that we talked about before or from the text in between different items on the agenda. Sometimes I feel like I ask too many open ended questions but I’ve realized that that’s not really a bad thing as long as it becomes clear and the students understands that topic.

Modeling (3) - This is something that I am doing more and more even if I really don’t need to look up a certain topic, I will go through with the student and use the index and other sources to make sure we have all the necessary details for that topic. I’ll say “let’s make sure we convered everything for (x) and make sure we’re not missing anything important” As we do this I encourage them to do the same when they read and study. Sometimes I forget to stress this but it’s definately something that is important to share with the students and encourage.

Processing, Scaffolding, and attendance are some of my weaknesses that I will focus on for next year to be a more complete tutor.

I’ve seen a good variety of students come for tutoring. Things that definately make a tutoring session good are the student AND the tutor being prepared. I had one session where I basically sat back as the student would tell me everything she knew about a topic. I didn’t even get a chance to write anything down on the form because she said so much, so fast. We had a really good biology conversation (nerd alert) because she knew the material so well and I could tie all of that in and help her connect all these different topics. It was good to hear her say that she felt much more confident for the test and we went over some test taking strategies since it was the first test. The student was thinking critically and organizing the material in her head and I just provided positive reinforcement. Other tutor sessions aren’t so easy when one person is not prepared. Sometimes you just have to say to them that they need to read the material before there can be any kind of discussion about it. When there’s that silence after you ask a question and you can tell they have no idea what you’re talking about all you can do is say ok, let’s look in the text where they talk about that and then after reading it we can discuss it and make sure we understand it. Sometimes it helps when they read it aloud and then I ask questions because right there they have practiced looking something up, reading about it, and then trying to understand it. What made me nervous the first couple times I tutored was what I would do if they asked me a question and I had no idea what they were talking about. I realized though that it happens and it’s actually a good learning opportunity for the student if handled correctly. I always bring other biology textbooks so we can look things up together. That’s really important in studying because you can stare at the text forever and not get it, but sometimes a different approach or another source will lead you to that ‘ah hah’ moment. I also ask the student before the session what they want to go over more specifically so I can make sure I am up to speed on those topics. Also I make sure we’ve talked about their learning style so the session is effective and geared towards how they learn. Some of the things I do now when tutoring are using other sources (internet, textbooks) to look up more information on topics we are discussing to show them how important that is when studying. Also I have them explain to me the concepts and think about why you would do some bio. technique or how does that topic relate to (x) etc. I haven’t had any ugly tutoring sessions but some definately had more uneasy moments than others. I’ve learned a lot from the ‘tougher’ sessions and will be that much more prepared next year.

Steps 4 and 5 I usually do together. Normally I try to set some kind of agenda over what topics we will go over that day. Sometimes it’s just “let’s do chapter 5″ and sometimes it’s more specific concepts. I write those down quickly so we don’t forget to go over any and at the end can look back and re-cap those topics. With biology concepts I usually try to start a conversation about the material that begins with “what can you tell me about (x) concept.” This way I can see whether or not they’ve looked at the material and have specific questions. Once we start talking about the material, and I always have the book out with diagrams and figures to look at, we can discuss it and make sure the specifics are down and also tie it in to the more general, broad concepts. Most of the time I try help the student connect the new material to relevant material from way before to tie some things together. Step 6 - address the task goes along with all of this. With the book open to figures and diagrams we can go through them and discuss out loud what we know about the topic instead of reading it right out of the book (hopefully they’ve already done that). I try to model how to effectively use the textbook by going to the index to look up stuff we don’t know or can’t remember. Steps 7 and 8 - summarizing - i work on right after we go over a concept and also at the end of session. Looking at the agenda we wrote down at the beginning we can make sure we covered it all and had a chance to re-cap those topics.

After getting past the format of this smarthinking website with their online chat type tutoring, I realized that a lot of the things we went over in our first meeting were exemplified by the tutor. To make sure that the student understood, the tutor asked the student to explain the concepts that they just went over. Sometimes it’s easy to just say it and wait for the student to nod and say “uh huh i get it,” but then you don’t really know if they actually understand. Another good thing the tutor did was use examples that would get the student to think and apply what they are learning to a problem. The tutor was encouraging and helpful, but ultiamtely it was the student who was doing the ‘thinking’ to work through the problem.