ight tutor can be even more important than the actual decision to commit to regular math tutoring in general. The wrong tutor can turn a child off to the idea of getting helped outside of school moving forward. Every student is different. There is never a one-size-fits-all option. Just like students react and respond to their teachers differently, a tutor’s expertise and personality must be taken into consideration when choosing the right match. Sometimes the process of finding the perfect tutor for your child can be daunting. However, when you find the perfect fit, it will pay dividends, both in your child’s performance and the reduction of your stress.
Consider these steps to make choosing the right tutor a breeze:
–Identify Goals: Sitting down and looking at your child’s areas of concerns and shortcoming is where the tutoring process should start. Without clearly identified goals, it can be very difficult to maximize the benefits that one-on-one tutoring offers. Is the tutoring subject-specific? Do you need a holistic tutoring approach that incorporates organizational and study skills? Is this a one-time or sporadic need, or does your child need consistent help?
All of these factors and questions will help guide your choice in a tutor as well as inform a potential tutor of your expectations and goals.
-Communicate with Your Child: Getting a child in a receptive headspace to begin tutoring is half the battle. An open and eager student will allow a tutor to bring out their best. The best way to get a student ready for any extra help is open dialogue. This obviously changes in style given the age of your child, but the concept remains the same. By framing any supplemental help in a way that shows the student that this is a tool to help relieve their frustrations and maximize their potential, we can set the stage for optimal tutoring conditions.
Dialog should include questions like “Do you know how you have been getting frustrated with your Geometry homework?” or “Would you like to be doing a little better in science?” Getting your child to a place where they view their weekly tutoring as another tool in their belt to do their best is when they’ll embrace getting help and begin to progress.
-Seek Advice: Ask friends and family as well as teachers and guidance counsellors for their experiences with tutoring. Firsthand information from people you trust or people in the know will make you feel more comfortable. Online reviews and testimonials are another great starting point. Social media can also be a tool for research. According to Pew, 79% of parents on social media find it helpful for seeking advice.
-Do Your Homework: Once you have identified a few tutoring options, ask questions about their experience working in the subjects you’re looking for assistance with. Ask them if they have had students with similar needs to your own. This is also a great chance to have a conversation with the prospective tutor. This is an awesome opportunity to experience how they communicate. Communication skills and attitude are nearly as important as conceptual mastery in a tutor. No matter how impressive their credentials, degrees and experience, if their communication skills are lacking or don’t match well with your child, the results will not be optimal. This is a potential reason to look into an actual tutoring service that matches personalities and teaching styles as well as needs.
-Commit to a Schedule: Once you have decided on the best tutoring option for you. Try to commit to a regular schedule. It can be enticing to try an a la carte method to tutoring where you attempt to pick and choose when your child is struggling or only receive help before tests. This is difficult to truly time right and can often lead to playing catch up after falling behind. Getting into a regular tutoring rhythm will create comfort with the process for your child and allow the tutor to gain more and more knowledge about how your student learns and how they can best tailor their skills to help them.
Even committing to a regular homework schedule can go a long way as far as becoming a more responsible and well-equipped student.
-Discuss Goals: Identifying and discussing goals with your tutor keeps everyone on the same page and holds all parties accountable. The more easily identifiable a target is, the better chance everyone has of succeeding. Including a teacher or guidance counsellor in the conversation can also be very beneficial.-
: The most important part of the process is examining and recalibrating as you go. This can mean changes in duration or frequency of sessions or making the move to another tutor that may be a better fit. This is another potential reason to choose a tutoring service with multiple instructors under one umbrella. The added flexibility of being able to adjust on the fly can be the difference between success and failure.