Whether you’re a veteran tutor or tutoring for the first time, chances are you’re looking for some ideas on how to connect with your student during your tutoring sessions.
There’s no shortage of suggestions, innovations, and new ways to reach your student. Here are some basic tips, with information on how to find more.
Use the program’s resources. Cluster is at heart a program that stresses literacy, starting with intense work with kids K-3 in its Ready Readers program. Its Structured Reading Project has materials for students of all ages, no matter the reading level. Reading Coach Susan Creighton is a certified reading specialist who will work with any student-tutor pair seeking help and ideas, as well as oversee reading level evaluations. There’s a library with a wealth of books, grade-specific reading matter, flash cards, and other materials. Just ask the helpful tutoring librarian on duty on both Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Get to know your student each week. Even if the two of you have worked together for years, your student is in a new grade with a new teacher. Ask questions about how school has changed. Maybe they’ve made new friends, or an old friend has moved. Share what life was like when you were in that grade. More tips are available here.
When reading, have your student predict what’s going to happen. In reading any materials, whether it be fiction or a textbook, find out what your student knows already and what he or she thinks is going to happen in the story. This is called “guided reading” and will help students become skilled readers. Predictions can be made before, during, and after a story is read. (What do you think will happen? Did the story turn out the way you thought it would?) In reading a textbook, students can assess how much they know about a topic at the beginning and what they’ve learned after reading. Make it a game; explain to students that making predictions is like being a detective. Your tutoring packet contains a handout explaining more about guided reading. More tips also are available here.
Use free online math, grammar, and reading worksheets. Susan Creighton can supply tutors with some worksheets. But a quick web search will give you free online sets of math problems, grammar usage exercises, vocabulary builders, or practice sheets in whatever subject area your student might be having trouble with, all sorted by grade level.
Don’t forget about Khan Academy. Khan Academy was started in 2006 as a nonprofit educational resource to be “a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.” It spans across all grade levels, from basic beginner’s math through calculus. Short videos explain concepts clearly, and there are plenty of practice problems at all levels. All you need is a laptop or a tablet and you’re off. Best of all, it’s fun and reaches kids effectively. You can connect to Khan Academy here.
See what other programs have to offer. Dan Bassill is a longtime leader in the Chicago tutoring and mentoring community whose website, the Tutor Mentor Institute, has been publishing articles about tutoring for more than 20 years. You can read some of his tips and his free newsletter here.
These suggestions are just the proverbial tip of the iceberg when it comes to tutoring. Thanks to all new and returning tutors for your dedication. Our retention rate for returning tutors this fall is 80 percent — a new high for Cluster.
Good luck — we know you’ll have a great year!