Being a chemistry tutor, there is often not enough time in each session to cover all of the topics gone over in class. Therefore, it is important that the student come in with specific concepts and questions after thoroughly attempting the material. With my repeat clients, I remind them to do the weekly Problem Sets before coming in, so that our time can be best spent on concepts that they don’t understand, as opposed to just enforced mandatory study time. With my first few experiences with this “mandatory study time”, it was perfectly fine with me. However, I noticed that there was often a mad panic with only five minutes left when a concept my client had no grasp of was reached. Therefore, I started asking my clients to have in mind what they wanted our tutoring session to be like before they arrived.
Step 5- Set an Agenda
This is the first step for me. I let my client share his/her goals for the session, and then make a mental plan of how long each should take to accomplish in order to stay on schedule. If I don’t believe we have enough time, which has happened on more than one occasion, I ask the client to prioritize what s/he wants to tackle first.
Step 4 & 6- Address the Task & Identify the Thought Processes of the Student
These two steps go hand in hand for me. As we address the topics that need to be covered, I observe what clicks with my client and what doesn’t. For instance, I have one client who is a very visual learner. After asking her how she reached the correct VSEPR structure, she said that she saw the picture of it in her head. Knowing this, I was able to better explain things in a visual way, drawing pictures and building models to represent the visualization aspect of chemistry.
To address the task, first I ask the student to re-explain to me what s/he got out of the book and class notes. Often, simply restating what the book says in different words is enough to get the “Aha!” moment. If s/he is unable to explain it based on the notes and text, I explain the concept in a way that is most suited to their style of learning, drawing pictures if s/he is visual and thinking aloud if auditory. I use some combination of these is I don’t know the client well enough. However, most of my clients are repeats and I understand the general ways they like to learn.
Step 7 & 8 – Have the Client Summarize the Process and Content
To make sure the client understands, I have him/her do an example problem (most of general chemistry is the application of concepts using equations or diagrams). During their execution, I’ll have him/her explain his/her process to me. I ask why s/he does random steps to see if s/he understands the concepts behind the actions. As they are thinking aloud about the process, I write down the steps on my tutoring form.
