To ensure you are getting the full benefits of online tutoring, the goals of the tutoring sessions need to be clear, for example, are they focusing on exam preparation or getting over a tricky part of the syllabus that the student may be struggling with? We have another blog outlining how to choose a tutor, which can help with this. But what about ensuring that the sessions themselves are as productive as they can be, and how can you prepare for each tutoring session?
Prepare your questions
These can come from both parents and students and can focus on outputs and achievements. Setting out these initially can be extremely helpful so that further down the line you can check progress against milestones. Students may also be able to highlight for themselves things they are struggling with, either from previous sessions or from their day-to-day schoolwork whether that is in maths, english or science etc. or more specifically a particular topic within a subject.
Keeping a list of these and bringing them to the tutoring session (or sending them to the tutor ahead of time), can be helpful, ensuring the session is as productive as possible and maximizing the benefits of online tutoring sessions.
Course materials and reading list
Make sure that you have the correct reading lists and all course books and website links to hand so that they can be easily accessed if required. It is also a good idea to make sure that these are passed on to the tutor ahead of time, but new suggested reading materials can be added during the course.
Work outside of the sessions
It can be very useful to have a tutor-specific ‘homework’, and you can ask the tutor to set this. It doesn’t need to be too onerous to have an impact and can often just retrace the focus of the tutoring session. This is a great way to ensure that new ideas ‘stick’, and also wastes less time in the next session going over the same areas.
Be focused and engaged
It is vital that students are able to get the most out of their tutoring sessions, so physical and mental preparation for this is key. Make sure that the student has had a snack and something to drink, prior to each session. Where possible, ensure that there is a break before the session, to ensure that the student is focused. For example, an hour of relaxation time after school and before a tutoring session can be really helpful.
Recording the lesson
This is a simple, and effective way to ensure that you develop a resource library for students to go back to as required. This can be especially useful when preparing for exams at a later date. There are plenty of options to record online nowadays, with dedicated classroom options also available. My Qualified Tutor would be glad to help you with these if required, so please just contact us if you have any questions about this.
Remember that a tutor is not a substitute for a teacher
It is vitally important to remember that a tutor should be supplementing the work provided at school, or by a student’s teacher. If possible, it can be helpful to connect the two, so that the tutor can get a better understanding of how they can help support the longer-term learning outcomes.
We hope that helps you to understand How To Get The Most Out Of Your Tutor & Your Tutoring Sessions. Whether it’s regular tutoring or a brief meeting just to touch base and go over things, there are plenty of ways to make the most of your sessions. There are so many tutoring tips and strategies that you can adapt to get the most out of your time with your tutor. Adapting these strategies will ensure that you have productive tutoring sessions.
