Learning Center

College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA) Certification

Basic Tutoring Do’s: (Level I CRLA #4)

Be a Good listener

• Listen to the problem as described by the student. Don’t assume that you know what the learner’s problem is
• Ask questions (problem, professor, level, chapter, and specific skill)
• Restate the learner’s points
• Show with body language and verbal indications that you are listening to the student describe his area of misunderstanding

Be Patient

• Work at a pace that suits your learner. Check current understanding before moving forward to new information. A head nod on the part of the learner does not indicate understanding. Ask the student to demonstrate his understanding in some way.

Be Sensitive to your learner and his/her situation

• Sometimes learners have issues that go beyond the problem they can’t work or the paper that need correcting. You don’t have to try to be a lay psychologist, but do be sensitive that something else may be going on with the student such as illness, car problems, previous failure that creates a self-esteem issue, financial problems, home problems, etc. Your job is to make the student comfortable and relaxed enough to open his/her mind to learning. Don’t just judge what you can see; much more is under the surface. Also age and personality issues are always a part of a student’s make up.
• Each professor will have his/her own teaching style and class requirements. Tutors must keep their opinions of professors and their styles from influencing or interfering with their mission of helping students. If at all possible, the tutor should explain the problem to fit the teacher’s style.

Have Confidence in your learner’s ability

• Believe in your student’s ability to learn within his or her innate ability.

Respect your learner

• Students come from many diverse cultures and age groups with different learning styles, aptitudes and needs. Be aware that people are different and the same approach from you might not work with each student. Treat each person with respect. “Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.”
  

Incorporate flexibility

• Consciously use different techniques with different people. Have more than one way to explain the elasticity of the market, fractions, biology equation, comma splices, or French verbs. Have different resources available:
• Examples:
• handouts
• videos
• audiotapes
• computer tutorials
• reference texts.
  

Be friendly and sympathetic

• Greet, smile, offer help, offer sympathy, and be genuinely interested. Your tone of voice is extremely important.

Help your learner see the relevancy of the material in his/her own life

• If you know of an experience that is relevant, then use it as an example

Help learner set short term achievable goals

• Can you learn the whole book, or write the whole term paper in one afternoon? Help student to set achievable goals.

Have realistic expectation of your learner

• Recognize that people are different.

Be creative in the techniques

• See coordinator for special techniques
  

Expect to gain from your experience as a tutor as well as to give guidance, direction, support, encouragement and instruction.

• Accept the challenge of becoming a CRLA certified Regular, Advanced, or Master tutor.

Review all the links on the following web page.

Self Study: Review all Basic Do’s listed above. Copy/paste/complete/ and print your in-depth answers to the following questions and turn your paper into your supervisor for review and discussion, and/or participate in a supervisor directed workshop.

CRLA I Topic 4

1. Describe three things you will do that will communicate to your students that you are serious about the tutoring process and the tutoring relationship. Give examples
2. How will you work successfully with students who possess characteristics and behaviors you do not like?
3. How will you feel if one of your students does poorly in the course for which you are tutoring him or her?
4. How will you approach tutoring someone whom you assess is woefully under prepared or unable to do college work.
5. How will you manage tutoring a student who either is your friend or becomes a friend through the course of tutoring?
6. What does it mean to "have a plan" for a tutoring session, but “be flexible?"
7. What is an emotionally safe learning environment and why is it important for a tutor to provide students with one?