Tutoring @ TJ’s

Over the last semester of tutoring, I have found myself in two of these categories: the good and the bad. Although a majority of the tutoring sessions that I have fall into the “good” category, there were a few sessions that crossed into the bad. There were a few reasons that these few crossed into the bad. First and foremost, it was the client that was completely unprepared and unorganized. When an unprepared and unorganized client came for a session, I would spend the majority of the hour trying to narrow down the topics into categories that were of manageable size. This was a problem because the client would get a lot less out of the session than usual because they failed to prepare. The client would in turn associate the lack of help and understanding with the tutor. I would consider this “bad.” Another reason that a tutoring session could turn for the worse has to do with my organization. On one or two occasions, I have found myself leading a client onto a tangent that more likely than not would not help them in the long run. It is important that, as a tutor, you stay on the path that you lay out at the beginning of the session lest you move into the “bad” realm.

I viewed a few of the sample tutoring exercises and I think they have some significance to them. The math exercise was of particular interest to me mainly because I understood it the best. You can tell by the way that they went from point to point that they are working off of the same principles that we here at TJs work off of. Take for instance they way that we are told to start a topic off. The problem was analyzed by the person being tutored rather than the tutor. Also, the tutor made use of being on the computer by being able to show things on the graph using graphics. Interesting things like that would make smarthinking a good idea. On the other hand, I feel that tutoring is a real personal exercise that is very difficult to do over the phone or even over the internet. There is the personality that is missing when on the computer that fails to make the person being tutored feel welcome. I feel that the atmosphere is not as sympathetic or warm. I personally would never visit a site like this or recommend it to anyone with a real problem that they do not understand.

Foster’s Independence - I’d give myself a 3 in this category. I think especially with a math course it is hard not to just write out all the steps yourself. When explaining supply and demand it’s easy to ask “So which way to you think the curve moves?” But with the stats classes the answer is either right or wrong, and I sometimes find myself giving the next step instead of “leading” to it.

Modeling - I think I’d get a 4 in this category. I’ve found that example problems work out really well, that way I can explain a certain concept one time, and then the next time it’s up to the client to figure out how to solve the problem if the numbers are slightly different.

Learning Skills - Here, I think I’d give myself a 3.5. I try to show clients other ways of thinking at things. This really comes in handy when someone maybe isn’t as comfortable with numbers. There are usually charts in the back of books with shortcuts that can help, and many people don’t realize that they are really useful and not just there to waste paper.

Processing Time - While this usually changes day to day, depending on the mood I’m in, for the most part I’d give myself a 4. And this is the category that I would give myself a “most improved” in. When the semester first started I would want to jump in right away, recently I had a client who basically sat there and looked at me. So the two of us had a western movie-esqe showdown for about a minute. You’d be glad to know that he cracked first.

I’m really glad I decided to tutor this semester. I learned a lot, and I think that my helping other people has helped me in my own studies. It’s been a fun experience. See you all in the fall!

The Good - It’s always really good to feel that the time we’ve been putting in has paid off, when a client finally “gets it” and is really appreciative of the help. This is especially true because of the drama we’ve had this semester from a particular class (see “The Bad”) some of the people I’ve seen just needed a little bit of extra guidance and *poof* it all made sense.

The Bad - Without blaming any one particular class…even though I should. There have been some tutoring sessions this semester where I have had to literally teach the course material, and this was not the students’ faults. While there wasn’t anything particularly hard about showing someone the correct formulas to use and explaining the concepts, it was frustrating to not be able to tell the student to go and ask the prof questions. It was all just a really sad situation.

The Ugly - There was one particular client this semester who came in the day before a test and wanted me to teach him all the course material. That was SO not going to happen, but I did point out the main concepts that would probably be on the test. But wait, it gets better! After pulling out the syllabus and looking at a few things, I asked him where this one particular book (which I knew his class was using) was, and he told me that wasn’t a book that was required for the class. Then he had the gall to ask me if I was sure what I was talking about…seriously. When his hour was up he asked if I could help him longer, but by that time I was so irritated I just handed him the paper and left.

For attitude, approachability, and processing time on the rubric, I would give myself a 4. It was important to me from day one to be the kind of tutor students felt comfortable coming to and willing to ask any question or practice speaking in front of me because I know that learning a foreign language can be an embarrassing experience. I wanted the students to feel that I was not there to mock or make fun of their mistakes and allow them time to go through what they were doing. I did try to keep our time organized so that we wouldn’t spend too much time on minor issues, but I think I did well at giving them breathing space.

For Encourages/Supports, I give myself a three because I think I could have said “good job” or “that’s right” more times. A lot of times, after an appointment, I felt like I should have been more cheerful and star giving to the student. I also give myself a three for Fostering Independence because I think some students began to over rely on me, but others came to me only sporadically and they improved throughout the semester. This could be based more on an individual student’s willingness though, than my own efforts.

I think I can give myself a four on active Learning, scaffolding, modeling and verifying knowledge because we worked through examples together, I asked them questions to explain how they are to certain decisions, we went through examples. The sessions involved working through grammar concepts and identifying parts of sentences to explain structures and verb tenses. We almost always used the textbook or I would pull our the verb tense book from TJ’s library. I also taught students some of the tools available in Microsoft word. To some students who spoke spanish, I explained the grammar concepts in spanish because they were more relatable than english verb tenses. Although, my spanish is not very good, but it came to good use.

However, for attendance I give myself a two really for no other reason than my schedule was hectic and I tend to daydream or I get distracted and I forget what time of day it is. I was late several times and missed several appointments. I occasionally had to cancel due to scheduling conflicts. I complained about this on another blog : (

Overall, I had a great time tutoring. I realized how many components there are in a session after looking at this evaluation. It reinforces concepts we went over during tutor training at the beginning.

I’ve enjoyed tutoring this semester a great deal and would like to return eventually to tutor again. I’ve learned a lot about myself from this experience and I’ll share some of it here based on the SSC Tutor Assessment Rubric.

Approachability: I need to make better eye contact, not just with tutees, but in life. I used to be a lot worse about this but I still have room for improvement. Making good eye contact I believe is key to clear communication. I established a good rapport with my tutees, but at times I may have been a little too relaxed and joked around a little too much during tutoring sessions, but that was fun anyways.

Processing Time: This is what I need to work on most if I return to tutoring. I know I could have given students more time to figure material out on their own, but I was so anxious to explain I may have jumped the gun on their thinking process.

Learning skills: I really feel this was my strong point. I’m pretty good at providing useful memory tricks that are necessary in Biology and make learning a little more fun. My song for lipids, “Three fatty acids and a glyrerol!” seemed to be quite a hit. I also taught more effective highlighting and margin note-taking to make looking over reading a lot more productive.

Attitude: In general, I had a positive attitude about tutoring itself, but I know I did not have a positive attitude about all of the material being covered. Considering I kind of have my feet out the exit door for my Major in Biology, it was difficult to act like I still held a significant amount on interest on some of the less fascinating topics covered in General Biology. Hopefully if I tutor again, I’ll be tutoring something I really love, so I won’t have to act.

My greatest frustration with clients is that some of them come in completely unprepared and expect to learn the entire course in an hour appointment. While it’s frustrating for me to have to answer the demands of such clients, at the same time, I don’t want to write them off as lazy or unmotivated or slacking or anything negative, because part of me believes that maybe the client just can’t follow the teacher, or has trouble learning by himself or herself. So I’m not completely sure how to deal with this situation, because as it is, it’s stressful being the tutor and being depended on for all the right answers, and its doubly stressful trying to condense course-long material into an hour. At the same time, I’m not willing to give up completely on those clients, just in case they’re not actually lazy but just have trouble learning. I’m still working on developing an approach to this issue; unfortunately, it seems like I have a disproportionate number of these clients.

Tutor Cycle Steps:

I like the structure of the Master Tutor’s 12 steps, but it’s often hard to structure appointments as some students come in unprepared and I end up explaining 8 different things at different points during the session and not maintaining a clear focus through the session. So I feel that the steps don’t accommodate for tangents and side tracks that build on previous information, and makes it seem that deviating from a single focus is a bad thing. However, I find that, depending on the situation, exploring tangents and making sure that all different related topics are clearly understood, is beneficial in seeing the big picture for courses such as Politics. For instance, say a student just had a problem with understanding the realist perspective in International Relations, if the tutor and client were to go off on a tangent on, for instance war and power, and the historical basis of realism, and alternative perspectives to realism, I think that would be more beneficial to the student in understanding the role of realism as a whole, in the international arena, as opposed to just providing facts on the one perspective.

Step 4- Identify Thought Processes of Student: I think it’s pretty obvious that it’s hard to get inside the student’s head and figure out their thought processes. However, I find that it helps to ask the client to explain their thought process, and how they arrived at a particular conclusion. It also helps to work through some things, so to have a joint thought process, to figure out where it is that the client gets stuck.

Step 5- Set an Agenda:This is kind of what I was talking about earlier. I love the idea of being entirely focused and organized; however, even if the student has one particular concern, it’s really easy to uncover other areas that they don’t completely understand and be tempted to clarify those areas of confusion as well. I think it depends on a cost-benefit analysis of the individual situation and determining whether the client would most benefit from a clearly defined, specific agenda, or just an exploration of a core topic and related topics to achieve a better view of the big picture. Still, I try to implement this stem and set an agenda, even if I don’t always stick to it.

Step 6- Address the Task: This aspect is intrinsic in tutoring–as the focus of the tutoring session is established and the client asks his or her questions, I plan my approach to the problem. Basically, as soon as we’ve established what we want to cover, I go through that information systematically, asking the client questions or working through problems to make sure they’re following. The only problem I run into occasionally is the client has no background information on the topic, so I end up lecturing, and in these situations, in order to make sure the client is learning something, I ask them to implement the information somehow, for instance, by asking them to flow chart the information the whiteboard.

Steps 7 & 8- Have the Client Summarize the Content and Process: I think this step is interesting because it not only serves to the client by allowing them to cement their learning by reiterating the information they have gained, but also is a way for tutors to gauge their success in that particular appointment. I ask clients to summarize information at the end of the session, and listening to them, I realize any shortcomings I may have as a tutor, for instance I realize that maybe I should stay more focused, or maybe I ought to incorporate more application of information and not just lecture, into future sessions.

I really think that online tutorials are not the way to go for tutor training, largely because tutoring is a hands-on activity, and reading or performing an online tutorial isn’t going to really add anything to the experience. I’m not sure if that makes sense, but what I mean is, tutoring is face-to-face, so the only thing that would really improve tutoring ability would be to have a lot of experience, or to perform exercises that are more hands-on. For instance, tutor training, instead of discussion, at length, and not very interestingly, the techniques of proper listening in an online tutorial, it would be more fun and probably more beneficial to perform an exercise on selective listening, and how you say one thing but clients hear another. Also, it would be beneficial to have a tutor training exercise, where, instead of going through a tedious online presentation on different learning styles, we actually take the same information, split into groups, and present it in completely different learning styles. Personally, I know that, while I’m aware that different people learn better with different learning styles, I usually stick to my comfort zone of read-write, mostly because it comes naturally. I don’t think to structure the information in any other way because I don’t have any practice structuring it differently. If more tutor training workshops were established where I actually had to practice the different learning styles, it may actually come more easily to me when I’m actually tutoring and make a difference in the learning of the client. Overall, while the smartthinking tutorials gave some great information, I’m not entirely sure any of that information stuck with me, or will come to my aid when I’m actually tutoring.

Looking back on two semesters of tutoring, I’ve decided to respond to the original prompt posted by Susie on what my reasons for tutoring are. This post comes at a particularly interesting time because I was debating returning next semester. The appeal of tutoring is not in the money, nor in the prestige (every one wants to be Starbucks barista, but not really a tutor), but in the satisfaction I get from helping someone else understand something. I know it sounds cheesy, but truly, that lightbulb moment is the reason I tutor. It also doesn’t hurt that I’m getting some real-life experience in working with people, thereby developing my own interpersonal skills. I remember the first day I tutored–I was nervous, jittery and most likely didn’t get a lot of information across. With time, I’ve become more confident, I know my material better, and I’ve improved my communication skills. I’ve learned to listen, to be patient, to explain things in different ways so people with different learning styles can grasp information better and have improved in working with someone to achieve a common goal. Overall, looking back, I can’t think of a reason not to tutor.

OK. Here we go with the final blog post–the self evaluation. I’ll try to be as relativist as possible in this and truly try to critique my weaknesses and identify my strengths. I will select my top two strengths and my top two weaknesses and go from there. Also, I will numerically rate the rest of my tutoring abilities.

Top 2 Strengths:

1. Approachability (4): I feel that this is my most dominant strength and it carries over into the rest of my abilities as a tutor. This strengths stems from the fact that the International Business majors are all very aware of one another, and they seem to be in contact more than most other majors–we have a strong unifying bond. I approach others very readily and they do the same to me; there is always a continual flow of dialog between INB majors, usually revolving around the different courses. I also truly enjoy all the courses I’ve taken and the ones that I tutor, so I always approach other students and talk with them about it. Likewise, I’m a pretty amicable guy and people don’t see any trouble coming up to me and talking with me when they need help. This also means that, much of the time, the help I give to clients isn’t during actual appointments, but in the library. I’d like to point out that I NEVER violate the Honor Code when I do this. The advice and help I give is always general, explanatory and in references to their course materials–that is, I never give specific “do this, this is the right answer” advice. I have also written a total of three e-mails to each segment of the INB 300 course (one with an attached study guide I made for the final exam–got the professor’s approval first). I have also written two total e-mails to the accounting course over the year. I have been very cordial in these e-mails and recommended that students make appointments with me–to some success. Many times, people have no reservations about contacting me through other methods than the TJs appointments; it is common that clients will contact me through facebook, my cellphone, or in-person before actually making an appointment.
2. Active Learning (4): Whenever I am in a session or helping someone grapple with a major course concept, the process I use is much like setting the stage. That’s the most difficult part in many of these instances–there’s so much information floating around that they aren’t completely comfortable with, yet, that they are overwhelmed. What I can do is help them organize it (usually with a diagram or flow chart) and they’ll be able to more clearly see what the real nature of the problem or concept is. I usually never help beyond this point because it is just a matter of making the connection between the varying parts. It is up to them to find the final answer. I think the fact that I am more comfortable with the course concepts means that I can usually stay one-step-ahead of the client (in a good way) and that means that the process is active because I am always having them relate what they’re currently doing to the next step, process or idea. It’s never a stagnant–I do this, I get this answer, memorization–rather, it’s a continual process that takes a string of connect the dot type situations. I’m good at it, and that’s why I’m a good tutor, in this sense.

Top 2 Weaknesses:

1. Give Praise (1.5): I don’t think this is really a necessary part of being a tutor, though someone who can do this effectively will be a better tutor than someone who cannot. I think it’s a little superfluous to give excessive praise and the real reward is self-praise for understanding a concept that will hopefully help them get an A in the class–which should be everyone’s goal. That’s not to say that I’m an —hole, but there’s usually not time to give praise in the middle of a fast paced learning session. Usually, at the end of a good session, I’ll reassure a client by saying, “you’re gonna nail this if you keep working on understanding (x).” I think that’s better than saying, “oh, you’re such a good learner, hip-hip-hooray.” But who knows, maybe I could incorporate a little of Pavlov’s theory into tutoring and give them a dog-biscuit every time that they make an important link in concepts or get an answer right.
2. Scaffolding (.5): I don’t really even know what this means. It could mean something kind of like “support” or a way to start the learning? I figure that scaffolding is for architecture majors, and since Rollins doesn’t have any of those…to my limited knowledge…it can’t be that important. However, the idea of lending support is important–which fosters the learning environment. I don’t know if that would be considered one of my strengths either–maybe even a weakness. I’m a pretty straight forward tutor in helping someone get a concept, though I do find I contextualize A LOT whenever I’m doing my version of a mini-lecture. I think that’s kind of like scaffolding, which supports the main idea of what we’re talking about. YES!

TJ’s has definitely been a good, positive learning experience for me, and I look forward to my return next semester…tal vez como ensenador de espanol, tambien…vamos a ver.

Attendance: 3

Attitude: 3

Foster Independence: 3.5

Allow for Processing Time: 2.5

Verifying Knowledge: 3

Modeling: 4

Learning Skills:3.5

Best of luck to everyone getting ready for summer. May it be prosperous and educational.

Love,

Buck Snyder

Attendance: I would give myself a 3, because I am never late, but I needed to reschedule.

Attitude: I deserve definitely a 4. I have always a positive attitude and always demonstrate interest in the material. Moreover, I am always emphasizing the importance of the subject and why we all need it.

Approachability: Here, I would give me a 3 again. After all we are all humans and sometimes I had students, where it was not possible to stay relaxed.

I definitely foster independence. I always encourage students to make mistakes, because that is the only way we really learn. It is so important to risk being wrong. Many times we experience that students already know the material, but are too shy to answer. Often they would be right.

I only praise student when I think they deserve it. I don’t make the mistake and praise them for things they did not accomplish. If I would do that, they will be so confident and hence not able to criticize themselves. I think that is also a cultural matter. In the US many people say to fast “good job”, even though it wasn’t. I think that is soooo wrong. I do certainly support them and say that they should risk trying, because trying is always the first step.

Ok, processing time would be a 3. I occasionally interrupt students in their thoughts when I feel that they are not getting anywhere. This is just intuition and sometimes it helps, when I just interrupt and give them another hint.

Active learning: 4.

Verifying Knowledge: 4

Modeling: 4

Learning Skills: 4

Scaffolding: 4

Attitude: I would probably give myself a 4 in the category of “attitude” because I am always love discussing sociology with other students, especially non-majors (who do not get much exposure to this academic discipline). In addition, I feel as though I am energetic, enthusiastic, and passionate when tutoring in each and every session.

Processing Time: I will give myself a 2 in the category of “processing time” as often I will tend to talk too much and do too much explaining, not letting the student have ample time to process his/her thoughts. I definitely need to improve in this area, as being able to formulate one’s own thought is critical for sociology students. For, if I am doing most of the talking the students have no opportunity to to fully develop their own ideas.

Fostering Independence: I will give myself a 3 in the category “fostering independence”. While I feel as though I create a very relaxed and informal environment where the student feels comfortable to take risks, I sometimes find my self dictating the direction of the session a bit too much. I feel as though there is a fine line between structuring and dictating a session, and that I need a little more practice on ensuring that I can provide structure without being over controlling.

Encourages/ Supports: I would give myself a two on encouragement. I remember when coming into this position, many students had complained about the previous sociology tutor who would tell the students that their work was good, but they (the students) would ultimately end up with poor grades. Being afraid of falsely leading on students like this, I think I have become a bit to hard on the students, as I want to be as honest as possible when assessing their work. However, at the same time I need to learn when to be complementary and how to make my criticisms more constructive.

The Good: Some of the things that make a tutoring session really good are when the students are actively participating and appear to be really dedicated to the session. Another indicator of a good session is when after wrestling with a concept or theme, a light bulb goes on in their head, as they finally come grasp its understanding. However, the thing that makes a tutoring session the most successful is when the student comes in prepared, both with reading the material and knowing what exactly they need help with (however, I understand that this is not always possible).

The Bad/Ugly: One of the worst things that I had to experience was when a student would continue to check her cell phone throughout the session and even at one time answer it. Another “Bad/Ugly” is when it is apparent that the student wants you to do all of the work for them, and essentially write their paper or provide them with a summary of the material. However, the worst is when the student is completely unprepared and has not been reading the assigned material for the class. This makes the session almost impossible, as I cannot serve as their own personal textbook.

Step 4:  The hard part about this step is attempting to see what the student knows and how he/she is thinking without putting them “on the spot”.  However, to identify the thought process of the student I try to engage in a informal conversation about the material, asking him/her what they have learned, what they think are the most salient themes/concepts and why.

Step 5:  When setting an specific agenda, I ask what they are having the most trouble with and what they would like to focus on the most.  A certain text? A concept? Understanding an assignment? Brain storming for a paper? Going over a draft of a paper?.  However, I often notice that they don’t know what they don’t understand.  In turn, sometimes we have to go over the basics before we can even dive into a specific assignment; for without a solid foundation/grasp of the sociological perspective, completing these assignments or studying for tests is quite hard.  In addition, when deciding upon the specific agenda I often try to think about certain preferences a professor may have or a certain subject/concept that I know the professor thinks its vital to study (or address in a paper).

Step 6: When it comes time to address the task, I often ask the student to take out all of the relevant material and their class notes.  Frequently I will model connecting two different themes within separate texts (a task often required in sociology) and then have them make a connection with two other themes.  After they attempt to make a connection, I try to provide positive reinforcement and point out what their strengths of that particular connection were, while simultaneously providing some constructive criticism.  Another task I often work on with students is establishing an solid outline, so that students can present their knowledge of the material in a systematic manner.  I will usually assist with the brainstorming of possible topics to address (and in what order), providing some examples for them to go off of.

Step 7 & 8: When summarizing the content of our session I typically review the notes that have been taken on the official TJ’s tutoring form in addition to the notes that students often take within the session.  We will spend around 5-7 minutes discussing the major issues addressed in the session.  During this time I try to have them do the majority of the talking, explaining, and summarizing so I can be sure that they understand the material we went over.