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Tutor Handbook

Fall 2013By Jennifer Simonson

Willow Tutorial Center Tutor Handbook – Fall 2013 – 2

Table of ContentsStatement of PurposeTutorial Center Purpose & OverviewTutorial Center Mission StatementTutorial Center Objectives

Tutor Job Description & ResponsibilitiesEnglish TutorMath TutorVolunteer TutorTutor Agreement

Policies & ProceduresAbsencesPayrollOpening ProcedureClosing ProcedureConfidentiality

Tutoring StrategiesIntroductionBeginning and Ending the TutorialTutoring, not TeachingTesting for UnderstandingStudents’ Learning StylesLearning DisabilitiesPitfalls to Avoid

AppendicesTutor Availability FormTutor Evaluation Form


Willow Tutorial Center Mission Statement

The mission of the Tutorial Center is to provide affordable tutorial services from peer tutors to a diverse population of students who seek assistance with completing their assignments, developing effective study skills, and identifying and achieving college expectations so that they improve their success in college and are equipped for lifelong learning.


Willow Tutorial Center Objectives

To provide students with alternative learning strategies to successfully complete course objectives.

To provide strategies and time management direction to students, which can be applied to their subject.

To provide students with opportunities to practice basic reading, writing, mathematic and study skills under supervision.

To provide students with helpful feedback on their application of learning strategies to basic skills tasks.

To provide students with outside peer support in their college classes.


Willow Tutorial Center Purpose & Overview

The Willow Tutorial Center serves students who need assistance with English and math in courses across the curriculum. Many students arrive in college without the skills necessary to succeed. Consequently, talented students are falling away or working below the level of excellence.

Some students are hampered because academic English is a foreign language into which they must transition

Some are fighting disabilities

Others are hampered by earlier failures in their education or by their own lack of attention to the choices and skills required for effective writing and problem-solving

Others merely need to build confidence in their own abilities


And still others need guidance about the way college expectations differ from high school expectations – academic language and academic tactics are alien to these students

However, there is another group of students the center will be serving: good writers and problem-solvers who want to become better. Although this is a program based on serving basic skills writers and math students, it is not a program that only focuses on remedial aspects. Nor does it focus only on students engaged in English or math classes: the Tutorial Center will work across the curriculum in terms of helping students and in terms of coordinating with faculty in different departments.


Tutor Job Descriptions and Responsibilities

I. English Tutor Job Description and Responsibilities

a. Administrative Responsibilities:

i. According to state law, all student employees must be enrolled in no less than 12

units to be eligible to work.

ii. Enroll in English 72 (if you have not already completed the course). Fulfill all the

requirements of the course. This is a condition of your employment as a tutor.

iii. Participate in a pre-semester orientation and training workshop.

iv. Provide the coordinator with your preferred work schedule when requested prior to

the beginning of each semester. If you are unable to do so because of last minute

changes to your class schedule, inform the coordinator as soon as possible about

when you will have your schedule prepared. Tutoring hours are assigned on a first-

come first-served basis.

v. Collect and save one writing sample from each of your students early in the

semester and one close to finals. These are required for evaluation purposes.

vi. Take attendance.

vii. Request your students to fill out evaluations of yourself and the Tutorial Center at

specified times.

viii. Sign an accurate timesheet in a timely manner.

ix. Volunteer to assist the coordinator with organizational and clerical work when you

are not working with students.

x. Seek out the coordinator or a returning tutor for any questions you may have.

b. Primary Responsibilities with Students:

i. Arrive at the Tutorial Center promptly for your sessions or arrange for a substitute in

advance. If you are late to your session, it will be adjusted on your timesheet.

Excessive lateness will impair your chances of being hired next semester and may

result in immediate termination.

ii. Ending sessions early will result in the same penalties.

iii. Meet with a maximum of five students for each hour of tutoring.


iv. Talk with students and read their writing in order to diagnose their writing strengths

and weaknesses and to understand their attitudes towards writing, classes,

teachers, and tutors.

v. Work with students either one-on-one or in a peer group, or use mixtures of both,

in order to give students an audience for their writing.

vi. Explain the stages of the writing process, conventions of essay organization and

format, theories of writing, and rules of composition and English usage as needed.

vii. Refer students to writing resources when necessary.

viii. Have students spend a significant amount of time writing during sessions.

ix. Explain any comments by instructors that students do not understand in a non-

biased manner.

x. Introduce students to various forms of exploratory writing, and write with them.

II. Math Tutor Job Description and Responsibilities




ii. Provide the coordinator with your preferred work schedule when requested prior to



when you will have your schedule prepared. Tutoring hours are assigned on a first-

come first-served basis.

iii. Sign an accurate timesheet in a timely manner.

iv. Seek out the coordinator or a returning tutor for any questions you may have.


i. Arrive at the Tutorial Center promptly for your sessions or arrange for a substitute in

advance. If you are late to your session, it will be adjusted on your timesheet.

Excessive lateness will impair your chances of being hired next semester and may

result in immediate termination.

ii. Talk with students about their math assignments in order to diagnose their

problem-solving strengths and weaknesses and to understand their attitudes

towards math, classes, teachers, and tutors.


iii. Work with students either one-on-one or in a peer group.

iv. Explain the stages of different problem-solving processes, conventions for solving

problems, and rules of problem solving as needed.

v. Refer students to math resources when necessary.

vi. Have students spend a significant amount of time practicing problem solving during

sessions.

III. Volunteer Tutor Job Description and Responsibilities




ii. Provide the coordinator with your preferred work schedule when requested prior to



when you will have your schedule prepared.

iii. Work with the Volunteer Tutor Coordinator to create a learning plan which serves as

the basis for assessment and counseling.

iv. Seek out the coordinator or a returning tutor for any questions you may have.


i. Arrive at the Tutorial Center promptly for your sessions or arrange a schedule

change in advance.

ii. Provide students with alternative learning strategies to successfully complete their

course objectives.

iii. Provide strategies and time management direction to students, which can be

applied to their subject.

iv. Provide students with opportunities to practice basic reading, writing, mathematic

and study skills under supervision.

v. Provide students with helpful feedback on their application of learning strategies to

basic skills tasks.

vi. Provide students with outside peer support in their college classes.


Willow Tutorial Center Tutor Agreement

1. I will attend and actively participate in any required training or Tutorial Center meetings. Writing tutors only: I will enroll in and actively participate in English 72. I understand that I must maintain a “C” or better as a condition of my employment as a tutor. If I’ve already taken English 72, I will participate in online discussions and activities.

2. I will log tutees in and out of Tutor Trac.

3. I understand that I am a facilitator and responsible for keeping tutees on task with writing or math and skill development.

4. If my scheduled tutees do not show at their assigned time, I will notify the coordinator for alternate Tutorial Center work. When a tutee is a no-show, I will e-mail him or her a reminder.

5. I will maintain accurate files, including daily records of tutees’ attendance and activities.

6. I will arrive to work on time and begin my tutoring sessions on time. I will call in if I am going to be late.

7. I will not end sessions early.

8. While I am on the clock, I will not do personal activities, including working on homework, checking my e-mail or social networking accounts, surfing the Internet, making or taking phone calls, texting, etc. If I do, I understand that my timesheet will be adjusted accordingly.

9. While I am on the clock, if I am not working with students, I will check with the coordinator to see if he or she has something for me to do; only with the coordinator’s permission will I log out of TutorTrac and work on homework.

10. When I know I will miss work, I will arrange for a sub to cover for me, and I will notify the coordinator of my replacement.

11. I will put forth an honest effort to grow as a tutor and instill good tutoring practices in my sessions.

I understand that any breach of this agreement will impair my chances of being hired next semester and may result in immediate termination.

Tutor’s Signature: ____________________ Coordinator’s Signature:____________________Date: ______________________________ Date: ___________________________________


POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

Absences

In the event that you will be absent from work, it is important that you notify the coordinator and, if possible, find someone to cover your shift. The students who have appointments with you or who will walk-in during your shift are counting on having a tutor to help them. When you do not come to work, it inconveniences everyone—your fellow tutors, the coordinator, and the students. Please plan accordingly.

Planned Absences:

o If possible, avoid missing work for non-emergencies, like going out of town, making appointments, or studying for an exam; schedule these activities for times that you are not scheduled to work.

o In the event that you need to be absent, then you are responsible for finding someone to cover your shift. If you do not get your entire shift covered, then you are expected to show up for work.

o Tutors’ schedules and contact information are available in the Tutorial Center.

o Please notify the coordinator in advance with the day and time you will be absent and the name(s) of the tutor (or tutors) who will be covering your shift.

Unplanned Absences:

o In the case of emergencies, like illness, death in the family, or unforeseen familial obligations, please contact other tutors to cover your shift.

o Notify the coordinator as soon as possible about your absence and the tutors you have contacted, so that he or she can plan for the day. If the Tutorial Center is open, call the coordinator at 325-5248. If the Tutorial Center is closed, leave a message on the coordinator’s voicemail and send the coordinator an e-mail.


Payroll

Each pay period covers the last few weeks of one month and the first few weeks of the next month, such as April 19-May 14. Checks are available in the administrative offices on the tenth of every month. (You may also request your checks be deposited directly into your bank account; it takes a couple of months to put this procedure in place.) For the pay period covering April 19-May 14, checks would be available on June 10.

Tutors are responsible for filling out their timesheets accurately and submitting them to the coordinator in a timely manner. You may request a TutorTrac printout of your hours from the coordinator.

Remember that you cannot work or report hours during times you are scheduled to be in class, even if that class has been canceled or let out early. Tutors may not work more than 19 hours a week, according to district policy.

Opening and Closing Procedures

If you are scheduled at either the opening or closing of the Tutorial Center, help the coordinator by opening SARS Trac in the morning or logging out students at the end of the day, straightening up tables and chairs, taking out or putting away resources, and so forth.

Professionalism

The Tutorial Center is a relaxed working environment and is a welcoming place for students. As such, it is easy to forget that as a tutor, you are also a professional. Remember to maintain professionalism in your behavior and interactions with students and co-workers.

Be friendly with students, but remember that you are not in the Tutorial Center to be students’ friends. You should not give out your personal contact information to students, including your e-mail address, Facebook page, or phone number. Doing so gives students the impression that you are available to help them outside of Tutorial Center hours. Being friends with students may also blur the boundaries of how much help you should give students; they may think that you should give them answers to math problems or edit their essays for them. It’s best to maintain professional boundaries to protect your privacy and your students’ learning.

Professionalism also includes how you interact with students and fellow tutors. Refrain from gossiping with tutors or students in the Tutorial Center about instructors, other students, or one another. If you have a conflict with a student or a tutor, please contact the coordinator; he or she can give you advice or intervene to solve disputes or disagreements.


Overall, keep in mind that students see you as a model of a successful student. When you are given permission by the coordinator, demonstrate the habits of a successful student by studying, discussing your coursework with others, and taking an active role in your own learning.

Confidentiality

At the college level, there are strict rules regarding student confidentiality. While working with students, you may learn sensitive information about their grades, ability levels, and attitudes towards instructors, staff, and other students. You are required to keep this knowledge confidential. Sharing a student’s personal information is a breach of ethics and may hinder your chances of being hired for the next semester or may result in immediately termination.

If you would like advice about how to better help a student or how to resolve a problem with a student, talk to the coordinator or your fellow tutors during appropriate times and in appropriate places. Ask the coordinator to talk with you privately, or discuss potential problems or tutoring strategies during Tutorial Center meetings.

Free Time

There will be times during the semester when the Tutorial Center is less busy than other times. When you do not have students to work with, please notify the coordinator and ask for an assignment. The coordinator may have you perform organizational or clerical work, such as organizing tutee files, entering data in SARS Trac, updating handouts, or creating advertisements for the Tutorial Center.

If the coordinator does not have assignment for you to do, then you may ask for permission to log out and work on your homework. Because your homework is not part of your job as a tutor, you will not be paid for time you spend studying or working on your own assignments. When you log out during your scheduled work time to do homework, remain in the Tutorial Center so that you are available to help students or the coordinator. If a student comes in or the coordinator needs your help, you should put your homework away, log in, and fulfill your responsibilities with students and the center.


TUTORING STRATEGIES

Introduction

Being a tutor is both fun and rewarding. Because of your help, many students will learn how to succeed on their assignments and will experience success in their classes. In many ways, you have a great advantage over students’ instructors—you are students’ peer and not their teacher. You might be thinking, “Wait—how is that an advantage?” Sure, unlike instructors, you haven’t spent eons in school studying your subject, but you can offer students an alternative form of instruction and can help them develop studying and learning strategies that will serve them throughout their college careers. Plus, students may be more likely to listen to your advice, since you are going to college too, and you can relate to their experiences.

As a peer tutor, students don’t expect you to know everything. You don’t have to be perfect or be a know-it-all. Students can feel comfortable coming to you with questions because you’re more approachable than some instructors, and they may feel that you have a better understanding of their perspectives, because you’re also a student. In fact, sometimes students learn more when you don’t have all the answers. When you help a student figure out a problem or learn APA format, you’re showing them how to go about learning something, and teaching students the process of independent learning or problem-solving is just as important as teaching them algebraic formulas or the components of a thesis statement.

Because students learn from you regardless of whether or not you have all the answers, feel free to call on other tutors or talk to the coordinator if you don’t know something. The Tutorial Center is a collaborative work environment, which means that your supervisor and co-workers work together so that everyone achieves success. Don’t be afraid to talk to other tutors or hand over a student if the material (or the student) is too difficult for you.

The students who visit the Tutorial Center come for a variety of reasons and with a variety of needs. As you spend more time tutoring, you’ll develop a sensitivity for identifying students’ needs and learning styles, as well as strategies for how to best respond to students. The sections below are meant as an introduction to tutoring strategies and are not meant to be hard and fast rules. Keep in mind the principles discussed in these sections and adapt them to your tutoring style and personality.

Overall, our goal is help students learn not just one assignment, but to help them become better students and learners in general. We want students’ experiences in the Tutorial Center to be positive ones that promote their learning and success in college and beyond.


Beginning the Tutorial

When students visit the Tutorial Center, it is important to help them feel comfortable. Many students may feel embarrassed to visit the Tutorial Center because of social stigmas about receiving tutoring. Some students feel that they’re dumb if they need tutoring, while others may know the value of receiving help. The more you can help a student feel comfortable and safe in the Tutorial Center, the better the chances of having a successful tutorial. The best way to help students feel at ease is to be polite, friendly, and interested in what they’re learning.

An example of what not to do

COORDINATOR: Hi, Julie. This is Steve, one of our math tutors. He can help you.

TUTOR: Sit over there [points at a table]. I’ll get to you in a few minutes.

JULIE: Okay.

TUTOR: [10 minutes later] So, what math class are you in?

JULIE: Math 101. I’m really confused about this problem here.

TUTOR: Math 101, huh? I took that in high school. It’s so easy.

JULIE: [Looking a little embarrassed] Oh, well, I’m not sure how to do this “FOIL” thing.

TUTOR: It’s like this... [Steve takes her homework from her and writes the question on the white board. He quickly writes out the steps to solve the problem, and then hands her back the book.] See?

JULIE: Umm… [She still looks confused.]

TUTOR: Hey dude! [talking to another student] Yeah, I’ll be right there. [To Julie]: So, you got it? [Walks away. Julie holds her pencil about the math homework and then writes down the problem from the board.]

In the above scenario, the tutor, Steve, made a few mistakes that left Julie feeling embarrassed and confused. He may not have intended for his comments and instruction to offend her, but those few mistakes undermine Julie’s confidence and her learning in the tutorial.

When Steve meets Julie, he tells her what to do and then walks away. He doesn’t bother to properly introduce himself or ask her about what she’s working on. By walking away, he indicates to Julie that he has something more pressing to do. At this point, Julie may feel a bit lost. She has come to the Tutorial Center, briefly met a tutor, and then she’s left on her own.


When the tutor does return, he brushes off her apparent lack of comprehension of the course material by commenting that it’s easy and he took it in high school. For Steve, the class probably was easy, but it’s not for Julie and it’s not for many other students. That kind of off-handed comment can make the student even more self-conscious about needing to seek out help with an assignment. Julie might decide not to visit the Tutorial Center again, because her interaction with Steve only confirms the social stigmas about tutoring.

Furthermore, Steve does the problem on a white board by himself. He writes the steps of the problem without explaining what he is doing, and he doesn’t involve Julie in the process of solving the problem. Finally, Steve leaves again to talk to another student. Julie still does not understand how to solve the problem and is likely more confused and embarrassed than before she visited the Tutorial Center.

An example of what to do

COORDINATOR: Hi, Cody. This is Jane, one of our writing tutors. She can talk to you about your essay.

TUTOR: Hi, Cody. Nice to meet you. Want to sit over there? We can move if it gets too noisy. [They sit down.] So, what class are you in?

CODY: English 125. I have Ms. Sanwo. She’s pretty cool.

TUTOR: Yeah, she works here sometimes. She’s a good teacher. I had her a couple of semester ago. What assignment are you working on?

CODY: I’m working on this essay, it’s supposed to be an argument, but my classmates said they weren’t sure which side I took. Like, I thought it was obvious, but I guess not.

TUTOR: It’s okay. That happens to me, too. I get so stuck in my head that I think it makes sense, then someone tells me that they have no idea what I’m talking about.

CODY: Totally. I’ve been working on this essay forever, like all week. That’s probably what happened.

TUTOR: No biggie. Let’s read your essay together, and then maybe we can figure out what you might change.


In this scenario, the tutor makes some effort to help her student feel at ease. She suggests a place to sit instead of ordering the student where to go, she says they can move if that place doesn’t work out, and she asks the student questions to draw him out.

When the student shares his confusion about the potential shortfalls in his essay, the tutor doesn’t berate him. She shares about similar experiences. By relating to the student’s problem, the tutor can help the student feel comfortable talking with her and might think about his difficulty differently—instead of thinking there is something wrong with him for not making the connection in his writing, he can realize that even an experienced writer, like his tutor, has those difficulties.

Also note the tutor’s language: she is fairly informal in her tone. She says “okay” and “no biggie,” just like she might do in conversations with her friends outside the Tutorial Center, and the tutor responds with slang as well, using “totally” and “like.” However, the tutor does not engage other students in conversations and her focus is on the student with whom she is working, so that while her tone is informal, she shows the student respect.

Ending the Tutorial

How you conclude the tutorial is often as important as how you begin it, because that is the moment that will be freshest in a student’s mind when he or she leaves the Tutorial Center. When you wrap up a tutorial, you have an opportunity to help students feel confident about and reinforce what they’ve learned and to help them set goals for themselves or for the next tutorial.

An example of what not to do

STUDENT: I think I’ve got it. I’ll just take this essay home and fix it.

TUTOR: Yeah, don’t forget to fix those comma errors—you have tons of them.

STUDENT: Oh, okay. Maybe I’ll look at that after I fix my thesis. Ummm…where can I find out about commas?

TUTOR: That kind of stuff is online. You’ll figure it out. See ya! [as he’s walking away]

STUDENT: Yeah, bye.

In the above scenario, the tutor makes a couple of mistakes and misses out on reinforcing some of the ideas that he has gone over with the student during the tutorial. First of all, the tutor allows the student to think of the changes she’s going to make to her essay in terms of errors—she’s going to “fix” the essay—and he adds, “don’t forget to fix those comma errors.” The emphasis in the final moments is still


on the inadequacies in the student’s essay and not on the progress she has made during the tutorial and the potential improvement to her essay.

The tutor makes a big error when he mentions comma mistakes at the end of the tutorial. Because the student asks him about where to find more information about commas, we can infer that they did not go over punctuation during the tutorial. The tutor sends the student away with fear that she’s making repeated mistakes without providing her with a way to learn about and change those mistakes. The tutor’s vague reference to online sources does not provide the student with enough information to pursue learning about comma usage on her own, and likely she will not address the comma errors during her revision and will feel anxiety about the errors.

The tutor misses out on an opportunity to build the student’s confidence and help her see how she will keep learning from their sessions. With a quick dismissal—“See ya!”—the tutor leaves the student for whatever reason, and the student may feel as if the tutor were trying to get rid of her. The tutor misses out on reinforcing what the student learned during the tutorial and loses an opportunity to let her know that she has continued support as she learns new concepts, like proper comma usage.

An example of what to do

TUTOR: So, does that make sense?

STUDENT: Yeah—so I’m going to divide this number by this number and then multiply the answer by 100, and then I’ll get the percentage, right?

TUTOR: Exactly! I think you’ve got it. Do you have any more questions?

STUDENT: Nope. I’m going to work on this at home. Can I come back if I get stuck?

TUTOR: Absolutely. You’ve got the basics about how to find percentages down cold. If you have any other questions, just stop by. Before you know it, you’ll be able to do math in your sleep, no sweat.

STUDENT: [Laughs] Thanks. See you next time.

TUTOR: Yeah, next time. Good luck on your homework!

The end of the math tutorial described above is a much more positive ending than the previous English tutorial. The math tutor checks again to make sure that the student understands the concept they’ve discussed, how to find percentages, and the student repeats back what he learned. The tutor makes a point to encourage the student by reaffirming his understanding of the material, yet she welcomes the student to return the Tutorial Center if he needs further help. By doing this, the student can gain


confidence and feel supported in his coursework. The tutor also emphasizes that even though the student has grasped one concept, there will be more work to do in the future, but that that shouldn’t discourage the student from progressing in his abilities throughout the semester. The tutor leaves the student with a friendly farewell.


Tutoring, not Teaching

How is tutoring different from teaching? This is a common question from new tutors, who may assume that they are mini-professors, expected to step in and explain concepts that students don’t understand. However, most tutoring theories challenge this assumption. The tutor’s role is to help a student not only understand a particular concept, but also to help the student learn to learn.

Tutoring students so that they learn to learn looks differently in different subjects. Writing tutors work with students so that students learn to plan for writing an assignment, to critically analyze drafts of their essays, to question what they’ve written so that they can improve it. Math tutors work with students so that students learn to break down problems into steps, to look at problems from different angles, to try to different solutions until they find the right one.

In a lot of ways, tutoring is a difficult job. It would be much easier for writing tutors to tell students what to write in their thesis statements and to edit students’ essays for them or for math tutors to tell students what steps they skipped in a problem and to tell them the exact steps to take. But if tutors simplify their jobs, telling students what to do or say, then students miss out on more significant understanding and comprehension of course material.

Using tutoring strategies like asking questions, providing students with examples, or modeling how to approach problems takes more time than simply telling students what to do, but these strategies lead to greater comprehension on students’ part, helping students learn to learn on their own.

Effective Questions

Effective questions are valuable tools for tutors. By asking students questions, you can learn about them and guide them to solve problems or make revisions on their own. For example, at the beginning of a session, you can ask students about their classes, what they like about their subject, what they don’t like about their subject, and why they want help from a tutor. In asking these kinds of questions, you can learn about students’ backgrounds and attitudes towards their subjects, which will help you to adapt your tutoring strategies to students’ needs.

Asking questions can also help you to guide students to access what they already know about their subjects and help them apply that knowledge to their assignments. There are two types of questions you can use: open-ended questions and leading questions.

Open-ended questions

Open-ended questions are questions that do not have predetermined answers. An open-ended question helps the tutor learn about the student’s understanding or the student’s need. When a tutor talks with a


student at the beginning of the session, he or she will ask open-ended questions to find out what the student is working on or what the student needs help with.

Open-ended questions can also be a way for tutors to help students explain their ideas. When a writing tutor asks a student, “What are you writing about?” or “What do you think about that?” the tutor does not know the answer to the question and is genuinely depending on the student to provide an answer. In answering the tutor, the student must formulate his or her ideas and process what he or she is thinking.

Leading questions

Leading questions are questions that guide a student to answer in a particular way; sometimes leading questions have right and wrong answers. If a math tutor asks a student, “What is the next step?” for a problem, he or she is prompting the student to come up with the information on his or her own, even though the tutor already knows what the next step should be. In this way, the math tutor allows the student to work out the problem without telling him or her what to do. By prompting the student, the tutor lets the student know that there is a next step, but the tutor lets the student come up with the answer. In fact, the tutor may allow the student to explore the potential outcomes to taking different steps in the problem. At the end, if they arrive at a nonsensical answer, the tutor can take the student back and look at where the problem broke down.

In both cases, what makes these types of questions effective? Asking questions works when the tutor is drawing on the student’s previous knowledge. If the student does not have previous knowledge, then asking the student questions is likely to frustrate him or her. As a tutor, it is important to assess what students know, so that if the student can answer questions, the tutor can use that tutoring strategy, and if the student cannot answer questions, the tutor can change his or her strategy to better meet the student’s needs.

Examples

Using examples to show students a concept or explain an idea can help tutors to teach students without overstepping the boundaries of their authority, like doing the problem for students or giving students the answer. The types of examples used in each subject will be different, but the overall strategy is the same—to provide students with a guided explanation of an idea.

In math, tutors are confronted with a challenge—do I demonstrate for students how to do the problems in their homework, or do I come up with different problems for students to practice? Math tutors do not want to simply do students’ homework problems for them, because students more likely than not will copy do the problems without fully comprehending the methods for solving the problems on their own. While math tutors can help students with their homework problems by prompting students with questions, like in the above strategy, math tutors can also come up with alternative problems for


students to solve. A math tutor might come up with an example of an algebra problem that mimics the problems in the student’s homework. The math tutor can guide the student through the problem, and then the student can have a better understanding of the problem-solving process and apply that process to his or her homework problems.

In writing, tutors have a similar challenge—how do I show students how to revise their essays without explaining exactly what I think students should do? Writing tutors do not want to simply tell students, “Change this sentence, put this in your thesis, delete that paragraph” etc, because students more likely than not will make changes to their essays without understanding why they’re making them. While writing tutors can ask students questions to get students to reflect on the writing decisions they’ve made, like in the above strategy, they can also provide students with examples of sentences, thesis statements, organizational strategies and so forth. A writing tutor can give examples of effective and ineffective thesis statements, and then he or she can discuss with students what makes a thesis statement effective. By using the example, students can have a better understanding of the concept and the tutor will not have had to tell students how to revise the thesis statements in their essays.

Modeling

Another helpful strategy tutors can use is modeling. Sometimes, students will learn best when they can see how they might go about solving a problem or writing an essay. By modeling what steps to take, the tutor can show the student what to do without crossing the boundaries of authority, like doing the problem for the student or telling the student what to write.

In a math session, the math tutor might do a sample problem on the white board, going through the problem both on the board and talking through it out loud. By verbalizing the different thoughts that the math tutor has when he or she solves a problem, the math tutor can give the student insight into what questions he or she might ask him or herself when he or she approaches a problem and what steps he or she takes. The students then apply the process-oriented knowledge to their own problems and coursework. The understanding that the student will get from this type of modeling will be more applicable to long-term learning.

In a writing session, the writing tutor may come up with his or her own example of an argumentative essay in order to provide students with an understanding of that essay type. The tutor can then model for the student what steps he or she would take in order to plan to write the essay, research he or she would need to find, the considerations the essay would take, the things that would go into the thesis, etc. Just like in the math tutorial, the tutor can verbalize the thoughts that he or she has when he or she plans to write an argumentative essay, and then the student can gain an understanding of what the process will look like for his or her essay.

In either type of tutorial, students will gain a fuller understanding of how to approach learning situations and will have gained knowledge of strategies that they can use to respond to different learning


situations. By learning these strategies, the student is equipped to handle more difficult assignments in other college courses and beyond.

Pitfalls to Avoid

In reading about strategies to use with students, you may also have started thinking about what strategies or practices to avoid. Here are pitfalls to avoid in tutoring:

Doing the work for students

Because the Tutorial Center’s purpose is to help students learn and develop the habits of successful students and learners, it is essential that tutors avoid doing students’ work for them. If a writing tutor proofreads an essay for a student or rewrites a student’s thesis statement, then the tutor takes away an opportunity for the student to learn. In this case, the student is gaining an unfair advantage in his or her classes because the tutor has done the work, and the student is not learning how to do the work on his or her own and will struggle once he or she does not have access to the tutor.

Predicting grades or questioning grades

Tutors should never attempt to predict students’ grades for assignments or question grades that students have received. As a tutor, you are not familiar with each instructor’s grading criteria and cannot accurately predict a student’s grade. In addition, if you inaccurately predict a student’s grade or question a grade the student received, you are undermining the instructor and creating conflict between the instructor and the Tutorial Center staff. If a student asks you about a grade he or she received, refer him or her to the instructor for further clarification.

Disparaging instructors or other tutors

On occasion, you may have negative opinions of students’ instructors or other tutors’ advice. Please remember that when you criticize instructors or tutors, you undermine those individuals and you undermine the Tutorial Center. Keep your criticisms to yourself.

If there is an ethical issue with either an instructor or a tutor, please inform the coordinator and let him or her handle the problem.

Discussing confidential information

Do not discuss confidential information regarding a student with anyone else. Not only does sharing confidential information break privacy laws, it also breaks the trust that students have in the Tutorial Center and its staff.


If you are having a problem with a student, please discuss it with the Tutorial Center Coordinator in private. The coordinator can help you solve problems or give you advice.


Testing for Understanding

Students who visit the Tutorial Center regularly do so because they have experienced the value of meeting with a tutor to go over concepts from their courses. During a tutorial, tutors use different strategies to explain concepts to students, to help students access what they know about the concepts, and to give students the tools to understand and apply the concepts on their own. Now, is the difficult part—how do tutors know when students acquire this knowledge? How do they know that students truly understand concepts and can apply them? Tutors must test students’ understanding, so that they can be confident that the student is prepared to move forward in his or her learning.

Testing for understanding ensures tutors that students have learned from their sessions together. A math tutor wants to know that a student understands basic algebraic formulas, because much of what students do in math depends on the foundations of what students learn in algebra courses. Yet a math tutor can only do so much to test students’ knowledge—he or she isn’t going to give out an actual exam for students to complete and hand in—so he or she has to come up with different ways to test students’ understanding.

There are a few good strategies to test for understanding without asking the student to do additional coursework. One of the best ways to gauge whether or not a student comprehends or can apply a concept is to have him or her teach the concept to a classmate. As you may have learned from your tutoring experiences, having to explain something to someone else requires you to have a thorough knowledge of it yourself. As an English tutor, you develop a sophisticated understanding of rhetorical strategies involved in introductions and thesis statements because you frequently teach others about these ideas. As a math tutor, you know the Pythagorean theorem like the back of your hand because you’ve taught trigonometry students to use it to solve for right triangles. If the student can teach you or a classmate about a concept (and do so accurately), then he or she has it down.

Perhaps you think that the student has a superficial understanding of the concept, because while he or she can explain it well, he or she has difficult applying it. The English student knows the importance and strategy behind a thesis statement, but struggles to write an effective one. The math student knows the steps for solving the Pythagorean theorem, but jumbles the variables when solving word problems. In addition to having the student teach the concept, you can have the student verbalize his or her thought process as he or she attempts the problem (whether English or math) and help identify where the student seems to be getting confused. Once you’ve identified the student’s confusion, you can help him or her recognize the part of the concept that he or she needs to review and practice further.


Students’ Learning Styles

Psychology and education research have investigated the various ways that students learn and have identified particular learning styles that students favor. You might have heard someone say, “I’m a visual learner. That’s why I like to use the cluster method of prewriting.” While learning styles are not hard, fast rules—i.e., not only way people can learn—they are indicators of people’s learning strengths and/or preferences.

It can be useful to know your own learning style preferences and to help the students you tutor become aware of their preferences. An awareness of your learning style preference can help you adapt your approach to difficult assignments, concepts, or tasks in order to make them more manageable. Even though we do not always have the luxury of adapting assignments or instruction to our learning style preferences (sometimes you have to use verbal skills, like in essay writing or visual skills, like in art), you can help students identify their learning style preferences as well as help them learn to use other styles.

There are two common breakdowns of learning styles. The first divides learning styles into three basic categories: visual, auditory, and tactile/kinesthetic. The second breakdown adds four more detailed categories (derived from the seven multiple intelligences): verbal, logical, social, and solitary. Both versions of learning styles are outlined below, along with ideas for appealing to student’s learning style preferences.

Three Basic Learning Styles:

Visual (aka spatial)—People who are visual learners learn through seeing. Visual learners prefer to have visual cues to help them learn, including diagrams, charts, illustrations, videos, PowerPoint presentations, and handouts. Students who prefer the visual learning style will benefit from seeing math problems solved on the white board or mapping ideas for an essay on a piece of paper. Visual learners also like taking extensive notes, so that they can read them later.

Auditory (aka auditory-musical)—People who are auditory learners learning through listening. Auditory learners prefer to listen to ideas, such as listening to lectures, discussion groups, or talking through ideas. Students who prefer the auditory learning style will benefit from having concepts explained to them verbally and talking through ideas either one-on-one with the tutor or in a small group. Auditory learners may also like to record lectures or discussions with a tape recorder, so that they can listen to them later.

Tactile/Kinesthetic—People who are tactile/kinesthetic learners learn through moving, doing, and touching. Tactile/kinesthetic learners prefer a hands-on approach to learning, including performing experiments, acting out ideas, or manipulating objects. Students who prefer the tactile/kinesthetic learning style will benefit from cutting up their essays and physically


rearranging the parts or … Tactile/kinesthetic learners may also like to move around while they’re learning, so that they can associate new concepts with movement.

Additional Learning Styles:

Verbal (aka linguistic)—People who are verbal learners learn through words, both spoken and written. Verbal learners prefer a linguistic approach to learning, including reading, talking, and writing about concepts. Students who prefer the verbal learning style will benefit from talking through or writing out steps to math problems and will enjoy prewriting activities like freewriting.

Logical (aka mathematical)—People who are logical learners learn through logical and mathematical reasoning. Logical learners prefer to find patterns, follow rules and/or procedures, and scientific reasoning. Students who prefer the logical learning style will benefit from using outlines for essays or diagrams for grammar and will enjoy experimenting with strategies to solve mathematical problems.

Social (aka interpersonal)—People who are social learners learn through interacting with others. Social learners prefer to learn in groups, in class, or one-on-one with an instructor or tutor. Students who prefer social learning will benefit from solving problems, discussing concepts, or reading their writing with their classmates and will enjoy the collaborative environment of the Tutorial Center.

Solitary (aka intrapersonal)—People who are solitary learners learn through working out ideas on their own. Solitary learners prefer to retreat to somewhere quiet and reflect, even if it takes them longer to solve a problem or work through a difficult concept, and to check in with the tutor or instructor after they’ve had time to learn on their own.

Learning Disabilities

California community colleges provide access to higher education that many students may not have otherwise had. Some students are underprepared for college expectations because of their previous educational experiences, and others are underprepared because they are hampered by learning disabilities. Students who have learning disabilities are not less intelligent than those without disabilities; they process information or handle social situations differently because of the way their brains function.

Tutoring students with learning disabilities can be challenging, because the traditional strategies you use when tutoring all students may not work. Below is a list of areas in which students who have disabilities might have a deficiency. Particular disabilities may lead students to have one or more deficiencies on the list.

Recommended strategies in the sections below are general, in order to allow you to apply them to your subject matter and to students’ needs. Remember as you read that the strategies may help more than just students with learning disabilities. The concept of universal design (borrowed from architecture) states that accommodations made to help people with disabilities are likely to also help those without disabilities. For example, one recommended strategy is to help students connect new concepts or knowledge to concepts or knowledge that they already have learned. While this strategy is recommended to help students with memory problems, the strategy can help all students make sense of new material.

Oral Language

Oral language involves both expressive and receptive language skills. Students with oral language deficits may have difficulty with both cognitive and achievement tests and may have trouble following directions or understanding compound and complex sentences. Some students with language impairments will request to have directions repeated, while others may not be self-monitoring enough to recognize their lack of comprehension.

In a classroom setting, the teacher may notice that the student may use vague pronoun referents, immature or nonspecific vocabulary, or have poor sentence structure. He or she may not contribute much to discussions and may respond in short, simple sentences. In some instances, a student will appear disorganized when relating a story or report events in an erroneous sequence. When asked a question, a student may demonstrate some knowledge of the topic but not be referentially specific enough to communicate an appropriate response. Or, in other cases, a student may not be able to determine when enough has been said.


Strategies to use: Demonstrate or model what you want the student to do, talking through the task while

performing it. Have the student talk through the task while doing it. Encourage the student to use gestures if he or she cannot think of the necessary words for

expression. Provide plenty of opportunities for verbal responses. Provide as much time as necessary for a student to respond to questions. Use expansion and elaboration to show a student how to produce a more complex sentence.

Paraphrase the student’s sentence and add a little more detail or context to the idea.

Short-Term Memory

Short-term memory involves the ability to recall and use information within a short period of time. Students with poor short-term memory often experience difficulty in following oral directions. In a classroom setting, the teacher may notice that the student asks for repetitions of information or has difficulty understanding initial directions. In regard to academic performance, the primary impact of a deficiency in short-term memory was upon acquisition of fluent word identification. The deficit may also influence spelling skill, as there may be difficulty maintaining words in short-term memory long enough to encode the complete phonemic string.

Strategies to use: Use short, simple sentences when speaking to the student. Be sure to keep verbal instructions at

the student’s vocabulary level. Present one instruction at a time. Ask the student to paraphrase instructions or to repeat the directions to you before beginning

an assignment. Repeat directions as many times as necessary. Write specific directions and assignments or problems on the white board for the student to

copy. Provide the student with directions on index cards. Check frequently to ensure that the student understands the task. Use visual aids combined with verbal instruction whenever possible.

Visual-Spatial Thinking

Visual-spatial thinking is the ability to perceive, analyze, synthesize, and think with visual patterns, including the ability to store and recall visual representations. This broad thinking ability includes a number of specific, narrow, visual or spatial abilities, including the ability to manipulate objects or patterns mentally, the ability to identify visual representations that appear in obscure or vague circumstances, and visual memory.


Strategies to use: Ensure that the student clears his or her desk completely before beginning any task. He or she

should remove all extraneous materials from the desk. Attempt to reduce visual clutter from the area of the classroom in which he works.

As far as possible, explain new skills and concepts to the student orally. Recognize that drawings, diagrams, and charts may overwhelm and confuse the student. Reduce

the number of visual displays and instead provide clear verbal descriptions. The student is likely to experience extreme difficulty in copying material from chalkboards or

textbooks and completing tasks that involve aligning information, such as writing basic math problems. Provide the student with a copy of notes from the board, s well as textbooks that he or she can write in.

Teach the student to use verbal mediation when he or she copies material from the white board or the textbook. Have him or her say each letter, word, or phrase as he or she copies it from the board or book to paper.

Have the student cover up portions of the textbook page in order to isolate the material that he or she is copying or studying.

Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness is the understanding that language is made up of individual sounds (phonemes) which are put together to form the words we write and speak. This is a fundamental precursor to reading. Children who have difficulty with phonological awareness will often be unable to recognize or isolate the individual sounds in a word, recognize similarities between words (as in rhyming words), or be able to identify the number of sounds in a word. These deficits can affect all areas of language including reading, writing, and understanding of spoken language.

Strategies to use: Provide instruction in small groups whenever possible. Adjust the amount of time and instruction based upon the student’s needs. When teaching new vocabulary, reinforce specific words by using them in phonemic awareness

activities. Use words from a story that has just been read or words related to an instructional unit.

To promote phonological awareness, use literature that plays with language sounds. Read texts that emphasize rhyming patterns, alliteration, and the manipulation of phonemes.

Make sure the student knows the difference between letter sounds and letter names.

Cognitive Fluency

Cognitive fluency measures the ease and speed by which an individual performs cognitive tasks. It includes the fluency of retrieval from stored knowledge, the speed of forming simple concepts and the


speed of direct recall of simple vocabulary. A weakness in this area may affect academic performance in all three areas—reading, mathematics, and written language.

For example, the child may be able to analyze and synthesize speech sounds to decode new words or to encode words as in spelling; however, the speed with which he or she is able to perform such tasks may be adversely affected.

Strategies to use: Break assignments into smaller parts. Have the student read with a classmate, friend, or family member. As the student’s lack of automaticity may interfere with higher-order reading skills, be sure to

provide him or her with necessary support. If possible, provide taped books, peer readers, extended time, and modified instructional materials.

Working Memory Deficit

Cognitive psychologists refer to that part of memory that we are consciously aware of as working memory. Working memory has a limited capacity (about 7 items) and we can only hold information in working memory for a brief period of time (about 10 seconds) without conscious rehearsal. Working memory can be thought of as being analogous to RAM memory on a computer. We have lots of memory storage capacity in our cognitive system but the vast majority of that is in the form of permanent memory (analogous to hard disk storage on a computer). Some individuals have either low capacity or low duration. These individuals are referred to as having a working memory deficit.

Working Memory and Reading Comprehension: Slow and/or inaccurate word reading performance can greatly inhibit reading comprehension performance because a part of the human cognitive system called working memory.

When we engage in reading or listening comprehension, we have to get a meaningful unit of speech or text into working memory in order to interpret it. The problem with slow and inaccurate word reading is that working memory can only hold information for about 10 seconds and then it decays. If you are slow at reading words, by the time you get the last word of a meaningful text segment in working memory, the first words may have decayed. This means that you have to go back and reread the text segment from the beginning, making reading slow and laborious, and making reading comprehension very difficult.

Listening comprehension and working memory are impaired in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder irrespective of language impairment.


Strategies to use: Have the student make lists. Creating a virtual image of each item in the list helps people to

recall faster. By doing such associations, the student can actually improve his or her working memory.

Help the student realize the connections between items of a list; these connections will help the student remember the order of the elements.

Have the student write down the notions that must be memorized and then have them delete each notion one by one, as soon as they are stored in the memory. Writing the information is particularly effective in students that have memory problems.

Play games that require mental processing with the student. For example, one game involves putting some playing cards faced down and making pairs. The cards are revealed one at a time, observed for a few seconds, and put back. It is recommended to use 24 cards in 12 pairs, for a real memory challenging game.

Storytelling is also one of the games that improve working memory. Students must observe the notions and create a story that contains all the items.

Long-Term Retrieval

Long-term retrieval involves the ability to store and retrieve symbol names over a period of time, holding the information in memory while attending to new information. A student with a weakness in this area may have difficulty with paired-associate tasks, such as learning the names of letters of the alphabet or memorizing the times tables.

Strategies to use: Sequence materials from simple to more complex. Provide intensive review, repetition, and overlearning at each step. Introduce only as many facts, words, etc. as the student is able to learn in a session. Provide frequent opportunities for practice and review. Integrate acquired knowledge with new knowledge whenever possible. Provide the student with mnemonic aids or strategies for retention, such as the use of verbal

mediation or rehearsal (saying the information to be remembered while looking at it). Provide multisensory learning. Involve visual, kinesthetic, vocal, and auditory channels when

appropriate. For example, have the student repeat step-by-step directions while he or she performs the task.

Provide the student with a list of steps that will organize behavior and, subsequently, facilitate recall.


Fluid Reasoning

Fluid reasoning is required for both reading comprehension and math problem solving. Students with a deficit in this area are likely to have difficulty developing concepts, organizing and classifying ideas, sequence steps in a problem logically, or succeeding with tasks that require multiple associations.

Strategies for students who have difficulties formulating concepts must relate tasks to information that the student already knows. In order to comprehend concepts and rules, the student must organize the new information into his or her existing knowledge about the world. The classroom tasks must be matched to the student’s reasoning level.

Strategies to use: Attempt to teach concepts in a concrete manner. Use concrete cues in all directions, telling the

student exactly what to do at each step. Limit the amount of material presented at one time. Have the student verbalize what he or she has learned. Have the student teach a concept to other students. Provide ample opportunities for repetition and review. Provide the student with a list of procedures to follow when working with tasks that involve

problem solving. Teach problem-solving techniques in the contexts in which they are most likely to be applied.

Auditory Processing

Auditory processing involves the ability to segment, analyze, and synthesize speech sounds. This type of processing deficit is often present in students who have spelling difficulties, as spelling requires phonemic segmentation (the ability to attend to the detailed sequences of sounds in words).

Also, students with poor phonemic awareness are slow to develop word identification skill in reading. In addition to affecting the acquisition of reading decoding and spelling skill, severe auditory processing deficits may cause difficulty in interpreting lectures, understanding oral directions, and perceiving speech under distracting conditions.

Strategies to use: Provide visual outlines and graphic organizers for tasks involving listening. Give clear, direct instructions for all tasks, limited in length and complexity. Allow extra time for reading and writing activities. Provide assistance with note taking.


Comprehension-Knowledge

Comprehension-knowledge involves the ability to apply previously learned information to new material. Students with a deficit in this area are likely to have reduced vocabularies and limited background knowledge.

Strategies to use: Provide direct cues to signify important information, such as informing students that certain

points are important. Use techniques that will help the student relate new knowledge to his or her existing

knowledge. Incorporate students’ interests and knowledge into instructional activities. Provide activities designed to improve listening skill. Assess prior knowledge before introducing new topics, concepts.


APPENDICES

Tutor Availability Form

Name: __________________________

E-mail address:________________________________

Phone number: ________________________________

Number of hours requested: _______

(Remember that you cannot work more than 19 hours a week.)

Please mark your availability with an X in the spaces below. Provide at least five hours more of availability than the numbers of hours you have requested. For example, if you’d like to work ten hours a week, please provide at least fifteen hours of availability. Effort will be made to accommodate your request based your availability and budget constraints. (Note that the hours listed are not necessarily the center’s hours of operation. The exact hours the center will be open have yet to be determined.)

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday9:009:30

10:0010:3011:0011:3012:0012:301:001:302:002:303:003:304:004:305:005:30


Tutor Evaluation Form

English 72 Tutor Evalution

Tutor Name: Date/Time of Observation:

Disagree Agree1 2 3 4 5 NA

The tutor was prepared and arrived on time.

The tutor worked with the group to establish goals for the session.

The tutor encouraged collaboration between group members by involving all group members.The tutor balanced the needs and skill levels for the group members.

The tutor was willing to adapt the session in response to tutees’ individual learning styles and needs.The tutor kept the group on task.

The tutor demonstrated respect for the tutees by showing respect for their work.The tutor communicated effectively by listening carefully, asking questions, and encouraging feedback.The tutor was knowledgeable about the subject or acknowledged his/her own limits and made referrals when necessary.The tutor is professional by demonstrating respect for the faculty and the course being studied.The tutor encouraged tutees to prepare for the next tutorial.

The tutor attended to the tutees by remaining involved and participating in the group activities.

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