Expectations of a Tutor

By: Estefan Guzman

Table of ContentsExpectations of a Tutor..........................................................................................................1

Table of Contents...........................................................................................................................3

Introduction:..............................................................................................................................7Chapter 1....................................................................................................................................9

Chapter 1..................................................................................................................................11

Reasons Why They Should Be Volunteering................................................................................13

To help students succeed:........................................................................................................13

Ways to get removed from the program:.................................................................................13

Not to socialize for fun:............................................................................................................13

Do They Meet The Requirements?..............................................................................................14

A and B grade average:.............................................................................................................14

Social skills:...............................................................................................................................14

The subjects they need to be familiar with:..............................................................................15

Commitment You Are Making.....................................................................................................15

Schedule Flexibility:..................................................................................................................15

What is a tutor?........................................................................................................................16

How I should come prepared?..................................................................................................16

Material that might be needed.............................................................................................16

Come well rested..................................................................................................................16

Open-mind and ready for anything.......................................................................................16

Phones..................................................................................................................................16

Chapter 2..................................................................................................................................19

Chapter 2..................................................................................................................................21

Tutoring the Student....................................................................................................................23

What you CAN do:....................................................................................................................23

What you CAN'T do:.................................................................................................................24

Chapter 3..................................................................................................................................27

Chapter 3..................................................................................................................................29

What You Should Do If You Don't Know How To Answer A Question?......................................31

Who you should seek help from:..............................................................................................31

What you should say:...............................................................................................................31

How to Handle a Misbehaving Kid...............................................................................................32

Foul Language:..........................................................................................................................32

Inappropriate Behavior:............................................................................................................32

Who you will be Tutoring.....................................................................................................33

Background on 13-14 year olds................................................................................................33

Index:............................................................................................................................................35

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Introduction

Introduction:This manual "Expectations of a Tutor" will help anyone wanting to get involved in NHS's tutoring program on becoming a better tutor. Many of you wanting to be a tutor think that it's not hard and it doesn't take much to be a tutor but really there is so much more to know about what tutors should do in certain situations and properly tutoring a student when they need help in a subject. This should answer any questions you might have when in certain situations.

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Reasons Why They Should Be VolunteeringTo help students succeed:High School students that are in the NHS program should be volunteering because the student is willing to help other younger students with homework or classwork that they may be struggling in. The student should be willing to want to work with a middle school student one-on-one and be able to help them and teach the student new studying and learning skills they can use in the future.

Ways to get removed from the program: If at any time should the student do something that affects the child’s learning, they will be removed from the program. This may include any of the following:

• Negative/false information; if you happen to not be sure of a piece of information, ask someone for help, don't just assume.

• Curse words against the student

• Physical aggression against the student; this should not be a problem unless you have anger issues in which this program should not be for you.

• Not come on the days you are supposed to or skip too many assigned days

If you need to miss a day you are assigned, e-mail the person in charge

Not to socialize for fun:When students commit to this program they have to remember that this won't be the time to socialize with other tutors or even the students they will be tutoring. The student may have other friends in the tutoring program and it may be difficult at times to pay attention and stay focused, but they are going to have to remind one another that socializing can be saved for later and that what's important is making sure that the student is getting the help they need.

Do They Meet The Requirements?A and B grade average:To be able to join the NHS tutoring program, you need to meet the requirements to be able to stay in the program. Grades are a big and important factor. Your grade point average needs to be in the A range and B range.

Or

Social skills: Social skills are very important in a tutor because you are going to constantly be working with other students younger than you and students your age. If you cannot work well with other students or get along with others, that is going to be a problem when you're trying to help the other student. The following social skills are very important and include:

• Communication skillso Being able to communicate and talk back to the student without hesitationo Be able to ask them questions on what they are doing, which will prove they

know what they are doing

• Listening skillso Listen closely to any questions the student might haveo Listen to any comments or questions they might ask while solving a

problem or reading through a story.

• Problem solving skillso This mainly relates to math, but be able to have an open mind about solving

problems in other ways

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o Don't just assume there is 1 way to solve a problem, look for other ways if 1 way doesn't work

o Look for patterns in problems

• Non-verbal skillso Make sure to always have a smile or friendly look on your faceo Don't make faces that could offend them (you shouldn't at all)o Act excited too. Don't look like you're falling asleep because this

won't motivate them to want to learno Don't come in like you just got out of bed

• Decision-making skillso Be confident when answering any questions they might have.o Don’t seem hesitant when giving them information, because they will think

twice about it and give up.

The subjects they need to be familiar with:When willing to be a tutor, it's because you are very familiar with a certain subject that you are willing to teach or help others in that area. The subjects that you will need to be familiar with are already subjects that you have gone through in middle school as well. They include:

• Math• Reading/English/Writing• Science• Social Studies• Foreign Languages

Commitment You Are MakingWhen thinking about being a tutor, you have to think about the commitment you will be making for this program and that it'll take 100% effort.

Schedule Flexibility:There will be some weeks where there won't be as many kids as others so that could change up the number of volunteers needed. Tutoring times are not going to be daily but will be a couple

times a week, depending on the number of students that will need tutoring, which should remain the same every week.

What is a tutor?A tutor is defined to be a person who assists another person in a certain subject and provides extra help and learning.

How I should come prepared?Material that might be needed

o It will be really helpful bringing a small notebook and pen/pencil o Bringing a small calculator would help as well.

Come well restedThis may sound like you are going to take a test or go to school, but coming in tired won't help when you are trying to work with kids that are either as tired as you or full of energy.

Open-mind and ready for anythingRemember that these are younger kids so they have a different view and you just need to be flexible with them,

Be ready for anything, you can come in and maybe only 1 kid showed up so there could be a chance for you to leave early and you might not have expected it. But just like that could happen, there could also be more kids than expected so there could be a chance that you could stay just a few minutes after helping them finish an assignment.

PhonesThis is a very important rule and request. Don't have your phones out and be on them while the kids are there. Why have the phones put away?

1. You aren't here to play on your phone, you are here to help them learn.2. It's disrespectful 3. It shows that you are not fully focused and mentally there.4. If you are not fully paying attention, most likely they will not fully pay attention as

well. 5. They might hold back any questions they might have because you aren't paying

attention.

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6. Easier for them to rush and say they understood everything, while they could be lying and you wouldn't know because you weren't paying attention so they didn't even get help.

If you need to check the time, that's okay, or if you are expecting an important phone call that's definitely okay, just step outside of the room.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

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Tutoring the StudentWhen you're tutoring the student you need to make sure you know what you can and can't do. Different things can apply for different subjects.

What you CAN do:• Math:

o You can say phrases like "no" or "are you sure about that", if you see that they made a mistake in a problem they are working on, if they ask you.

o As they are solving a problem, you can work that same problem in your notebook and see if y'all get the same answer.

o Ask her to repeat back the steps she used to solve the problem.o You can guide them verbally, step by step

• Reading/English/Writing:

o Define a word that he/she may not knowo Any writing assignment, you can read over it and look for

grammar errors and punctuation marks.

• Science:

o Check over their homework and see if they have any incorrect answerso Vocab is a big part of science, so if they really don't know the meaning of a word

then you can give them hints, and if they still don't know, you can tell them.

• Social Studies:o You can tell them if they have a date or event wrong.o Look over any homework and tell them they have something wrong.o Give them smalls hints if they are struggling to remember any dates, important

people, or events.

• Foreign Languages:o You can help them with pronunciationo Tell them they have misspelled something or if a sentence is wrong.

o Give them hints on what a word means and if they still don't know then tell them

What you CAN'T do:• Math:

o You can't solve a problem for themo Do not solve the problem as you are telling them the steps, they won't grasp the

steps without them doing worko Do not stop them in the middle of working out a problem to tell them they're

doing it wrong. Let them finish and then ask them why they solved the problem the way they did.

o Do not tell them their way of solving a problem is wrong if you have a different way of solving that problem.

o Do not show them a different strategy if it is going to confuse them.

• Reading/English/Writing:o Do not fix their sentences without them trying to correct any misspelled words

or check for grammar errors in sentences. o Do not write any assignments for them.o Do not give them the meanings of words unless they really have no idea what

that word means.

• Science:o Do not give them the meaning of terms without them trying to

figure it out or look it up in their notes or books. o Do not give them direct results or answers to any experiments or questions that

you may remember or have done before.

• Social Studies:o Do not tell them directly what geographical terms mean without them trying

first.

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o Do not tell them the location of geographical places without them trying or looking in their notes.

• Foreign Languages:o Do not correct their sentences for them, if they forgot an accent on a letter

that's okay just tell them it's important to not forget.o Do not do/write any of their assignments.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

What You Should Do If You Don't Know How To Answer A Question?Who you should seek help from:There will be times when you may not know how to solve a question for the answer and that's okay. You don't need to panic and think that you are going to be removed from the program. If this happens frequently, you may be questioned and considered being removed from the program. If this happens here's what you should do:

• Ask another tutor for help and see if they may know how to solve it or know what the question is asking.

• If no other tutor knows anything about the question, you may ask if the teacher for that class is available in the building and go ask her about the question.

• You should NOT ignore the question unless there is no other tutor that can help with the question. In this case, put a star on it and the student can then ask their teacher tomorrow.

What you should say:If coming across a problem that you are either not familiar with or don't know how to solve, these are some tips you can follow to help you:

1. Re-read and look over the question/problem.2. Nicely say that you aren't quite sure how to answer/solve the problem/question.3. Put a star next to the question/problem.4. Move on to finish the rest of the assignment.5. Come back that question/problem and then seek another tutor for help.

How to Handle a Misbehaving KidFoul Language:If the student says something that is disrespectful to you or another student, that is not okay and should not be ignored. They are at a stage where they are going to learn and hear a lot of new words that are not good words. Here's what you should do:

1. Politely tell them that what they said was not okay.2. Tell them to apologize to whoever they said the mean word(s) too.3. Tell them that they should never say that again, or you will tell a teacher.

If the same student continues to say foul language then telling an administrator is the next step. You should not have to tell them more than 2.

Inappropriate Behavior:Just like foul language may be easy to repeat, so is behavior. If the student performs some inappropriate behavior, here are some steps on what you should do:

1. Tell them what they did was not okay and is not okay. 2. To apologize and never do that again.

If they continue to do it after you told them to stop, then go and tell an administrator or teacher. You should not have to tell them more than 2 times.

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Who you will be tutoringBackground on 13-14 year oldsStudents at this age can be a little difficult to deal with especially because they are in their teen years. You might make new friends or you may not, just remember that they are younger than you and you will need patience.

Students at this age think they know everything They will get frustrated if they can’t get the right answer They will give up easily They are very talkative and will get off topic often Tend to repeat everything they hear, so be careful what you say

Index:Foul, 4, 32help, 3, 4, 7, 13, 14, 15,

16, 17, 24, 31Phones, 3, 17Reasons Why They

Should Be Volunteering, 3, 13

removed, 3, 13, 31Requirements, 3, 14subjects, 3, 15, 23tutor, 3, 7, 14, 15, 16,

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