How Do I Give Feedback after a Lesson?

There are many ways to give feedback after a tutoring session, but here are some proven effective methods:

1)      Create a list of learning goals prior to beginning any tutoring session.  Usually 3 goals are sufficient.  We'll discuss the specifics of learning goals in a later post.  After the lesson, simply jot down a quick note next to each learning goal as to whether or not said learning goal was addressed.

2)      Use the short list of ­Homework Assignments provided by you for students with whom you are providing enrichment lessons.  If you are, for example, working with a 4th grade student to improve her writing, then her homework may have included studying several vocabulary terms, expanding a mindmap, and creating an introduction paragraph for an essay.  After the lesson, simply jot down a quick note next to each homework assignment explaining how you worked on each, and then add in the list of next week's assignment.

3)      Jot down a paragraph that focuses on the primary aspects you studied together.  For example, “In today’s lesson, Johnny and I focused primarily on his project for World History.  Johnny had to complete reading sections 14.2-14.5 of his textbook for this assignment prior to our lesson, and he showed me that he had taken good notes on both the reading and vocabulary.  Using these notes, Johnny and I reviewed the assignments instructions, created an outline, and determined how to divide up the tasks Johnny will need to complete on a daily basis in order to finish his project.  I was pleased to see that Johnny showed great improvement in his ability to organize his time! I will follow-up with Johnny on his project during our next lesson on Friday.”

4)      For an adult student, a lesson may simply note the topic on which you worked (e.g. an essay, reviewed notes on a particular chapter of chemistry, or learned how to use MS Word’s page layout tools).  You may also want to follow-up with a couple of resources for the adult learner, such as a relevant article or YouTube video that will supplement the learning gained during your lesson, better helping them cement their new knowledge.

5)      Providing feedback after a lesson cancelled at the last-minute presents a different challenge.  Aside from the fact that no lesson took place, you then have to determine whether it is the best decision to bill for the missed lesson.  Should you decide to bill for a cancelled lesson, you may want to include a note as to why you have decided to charge for the lesson.  For example, “I received a text from Janie at 3:00 PM regarding our 6:30 PM tutoring lesson.  I'm sorry to hear that she is not feeling well.  I look forward to seeing Janie in our next lesson at 6:30 PM on Tuesday!” Beneath your positive note, you may want to include your lesson pricing policies to avoid confusion.

The commonality between each lesson record is that it is positive, particularly so for those notes which are intended for parents where a child has not completed a task or attended a lesson.  If a child does not meet your expectations during the lesson, then it is important to address that with the student.  You do not want your student to learn that you are relaying every little aspect of your lesson and reasons as to why you are displeased with the student to the parent, as you will quickly lose the trust your student has for you, which will ultimately diminish the positive results that your student will achieve through tutoring.

How Do I Deal with a Helicopter Parent?

 

Image courtesy of WikiWorld.

Written reports of your lessons to parents are your primary means of communication with parents, or at least they should be your primary means of communication.  Every now and again you’ll come across a helicopter-to-beat-all-helicopters, a parent who wants not only to sit in on your lessons, but also to communicate with you on a daily basis about your student’s progress.  In such severe circumstances, it is incumbent upon the tutor (you!) to teach the helicopter how, where, and why to park the aircraft.  No one wants to work beneath a raucous rotator.

Repeat after me: “I’m available to you, Dear Parent, but I am not on tap!”

Parents and students alike must respect your boundaries, but it is still incumbent upon you to set those boundaries.

Maintaining good, consistent, records of lessons will help greatly ameliorate the many concerns of the over-concerned parents by providing critical regular updates and feedback, allowing you the time and breathing space in which to better achieve at your true job, tutoring.

It is important to keep in mind that an overly involved parent truly has the best interests of her (not letting dads off the hook here, but I prefer to work with one pronoun!) child at heart, but perhaps she is unaware of the detrimental effects her behavior has on her child.  For one, if she hovers (lame pun, I know) in the room while you are tutoring, she may believe that she can offer helpful assistance if needed; however, the child of a helicopter who is already struggling in a subject will better benefit from having the opportunity to engage with a tutor who won't consistently try to solve his problems for him.  Helicopter children are used to having mom and dad step in to make decisions and problem solve in every instance, which denies the child the opportunity to learn from his mistakes and develop his own creative problem solving skills.  You, the tutor, have the opportunity to serve as an advocate for this poor little helicopter baby by making sure that the parent observes the space necessary for their student to grow independently as a learner.

Sometimes it can be challenging to distinguish between a helicopter and parent who simply is unsure of whether or not she is expected to play a role in the tutoring lesson.  In the case of the latter, ask directly (and immediately if possible) if the child (or siblings) has ever worked with a tutor before; if not, then help the parent out by explaining that she does not have to sit in on lessons.  Most likely, she'll be relieved to have some time to herself!  When I've tutored at libraries, most moms and dads have loved the opportunity to peruse the books.  One couple used to bring their younger daughter to the library while I was tutoring their son, using the time to introduce their baby girl to the children's section of the library; she's a great reader now! 

An easy way that I set boundaries up-front is to say to both parent and student in the first session, "Let's all take a look at the materials you've brought, discuss any concerns that you have, and then (looking directly at the student), Sally, you and I will let mom go and [look at the books/ grab a coffee/ take a little break--whichever is appropriate!] while we work together.  This will help me make a better assessment of your learning style and we can get a better sense of what our lessons will be like together.  Then, we'll bring mom back, and discuss our ideas for moving forward with a learning plan."  This method works for both helicopters and parents unfamiliar with tutoring. 

Kiddos aren't dumb; they'll instantly recognize that you dismissed mom or dad to focus directly on them, and in most cases, this is enough to transform you immediately into student-confidante-extraordinaire.  If you can make a student believe that you work for their best interest--not mom or dads--then they will open up to you about school concerns, classes in which they are struggling, and questions they may have much more quickly.  By showing the student that you care about what he has to say about how he's doing in school and why he thinks his parents have sent him to tutoring, you will help develop a more trusting relationship, which in turn, will help you get him on the right track to making improvements faster.

How to Deal with Tutoring Sessions Cancelled at the Last Minute

What do I do when a student cancels a tutoring session at the last minute? 

 

Skeptical.... Image courtesy of MemeGenerator

I have a friend who encourages students to call and cancel at the last-minute.  His students attend elite colleges--though not necessarily their classes—boast strong grades, and yet seek to accomplish as insubstantial an amount of homework as possible, meaning that they are rarely interested in partaking of the pricy tutoring for which their parents pay.  My friend values unexpected free time more than income though, seeing the freed-up time as an opportunity for him to continue writing his novel, and so he encourages the students to call and cancel by offering to not even charge the students for the lessons if they would just call and cancel.  They don’t care about cancellations or cancellation fees; they just don’t show up.

Another friend tutored in an exceptionally high net-worth area where parents regularly called 5 minutes prior to the start of lessons to say that their child was enjoying her play date so much that they couldn’t bear to break her apart from her new friend by having her attend tutoring that day; other parents just couldn’t seem to be bothered to drive their child to tutoring some days, despite the $85 per hour fee they paid in advance.

Another student regularly cancelled between 30 and 60 minutes prior to lessons because of illness.  Perhaps he did suffer regular bouts of stomach flu, virus, and other such ailments, but typically these ailments occur throughout the day, meaning that the student should have ample time to provide the tutor with plenty of notice of cancellation.

When several such events occur over the course of a couple of days, or even a week, it’s challenging to not take the cancellations personally:  Is it me? Do they not want to see me? Do they not like my tutoring style anymore?

Alternatively, many tutors just assume that their clients are self-centered and inconsiderate, not considering the expectations or time constraints of the busy tutor.

Generally, neither assumption is fully accurate.  It’s likely your clients are busy, and it’s likely that they do indeed have something else they need to, or want to accomplish that day rather than meeting with you for your scheduled lesson.  These things happen.  Having a set policy that provides you with a clear response for each tutoring cancellation scenario will help save you from endless hand-wringing over whether to charge for a lesson that Sally simply forgot about, leaving you standing waiting outside of her house for 30 minutes waiting for her to answer the door or her phone.  It’s a sad picture; don’t let it happen to you. 

Best Ways to Invoice Tutoring Clients

Why just send an invoice to tutoring clients when you can use the opportunity of reporting your tutoring hours to build a stronger relationship with them instead?
 

This is how I envision spending non-tutoring hours, but having my own tutoring business means I get to do the admin work, too. Goal: Expedite the boring business processes!

 

Tutoring is all about building relationships with your students and parents (okay, it's about tutoring, too, but bear with me for a moment).

Changing your mindset regarding payment for lessons can positively affect your relationship with your client, too. 

For payment, many tutors simply invoice parents at the end of week or on a monthly basis.  Though many payment platforms, such as PayPal, QuickBooks, Quicken, and Microsoft Excel can make professional and even elegant-looking invoices, sending just an invoice means that you are missing out on one of the best opportunities for developing a strong tutor-client relationship: Positioning yourself as an invaluable resource to the parent or student. 

Instead of simply reporting tutoring hours to your tutoring client, it is better to think of invoicing as recording lessons. 

Yes, I know that the last thing that you want to do after a busy day of scheduling lessons, planning lessons, driving to students, tutoring, possibly driving to more students, and then driving home (not to mention pesky errands like grocery shopping, cleaning, and the like) is to sit down in front of a computer (again!) to write up a nice little note about how your lesson went.  Writing that nice little note, however, is crucial to developing and maintaining your relationship with your client. 

Think about it:  Would you rather receive a bill from your daughter’s tutor saying that you worked with Susie from 3:00 – 4:30 PM, or a note after each lesson that says what you and Susie covered, how Susie is doing in her studies, what areas Susie is finding challenging, what Susie needs to work on at home, and how you are planning to follow-up with Susie on her work?  The parent hired you as a solution to Susie’s challenges, so show how you are that solution.  Remember, the parent is not (or should not) sitting in on your lessons, so notes from you are the only tangible signs of progress between report cards.

Creating a record of your lesson in the form of a memo to the parent—or student if the student is paying for the lesson—serves the purpose both of redirecting the parent or client from the conception of you, the tutor, as simply another service akin to one’s gardener or cleaning crew.  Instead, your note keeps the client’s attention on your role as an integral part of a student’s development.  Not only does the tutor facilitate the student’s academic development, but also the tutor is an essential part of keeping parents abreast of the student’s progression, too.  Often, by the time a tutor is required, the relationship between parent and student has digressed (assuming there was a strong relationship in the first place), leaving you in the position of the student’s confidante regarding issues at school, problems with classmates or teachers, and impending grade concerns, all of which are items to relate to a parent.

 

This reporting does not mean that you are a spy for the parents; no one likes a rat.  Leave that kind of work to the government… 

Sitting down to write notes at the end of the day can still seem daunting, though, particularly if you’ve worked with 4 or 5 students. 

In further blogs we’ll look at some simple 5-minute templates for you to follow when recording lessons.  These should help you improve your relationship with your clients, and help your earn their repeat business and, hopefully, referrals!

What Does a Tutor Do?

Here's what happens to essay writing when super-duper-everyone-is-special-and-don't-hurt-any-student's-feelings takes over the classroom. Tutors, please fix! Image courtesy of Tutor Memes.

 

Well, if you're like a good friend of mine (who shall remain unnamed), then you spend half of your day sleeping, several hours cognizant enough to berate his adolescent tutoring students for their disinterest in the fine arts offered at their expensive prep school, and the remaining hours writing literature that will one day end up on the library shelves of such an institution.  As for the logistics of how you choose to spend your day, well that's entirely up to you, Dear Tutor.  Here's a general idea of what you should be doing while tutoring:

• Help students navigate their coursework from the week to figure out what homework they have to complete.
• Help students prioritize homework and projects into urgent and important lists.
• Help students to figure out how to complete said homework--don't complete the work for them, as that kind of work represents an entirely different (though lucrative) part of the education industry.
• Teach students study skills.
• Help students with organizational and time management skills.  This service is often referred to academic coaching.
• When fortunate enough to receive the opportunity, tutors provide enrichment lessons, working with students purely for the purpose of enlightening their young minds; the focus is on education for the sake of knowledge, and not for the sake of test scores and grades.  (Cue: Visual of yourself as Socrates lambasting Plato--"The unexamined life is not worth living!")  Seriously, though, enrichment tutoring offers tutors the opportunity to truly plan individualized lessons and discuss complex ideas one-on-one with students; it's fun, I promise.
• Provide students with the constructive feedback they actually need in order to help them succeed.  Case-in-point: See the essay edits!

Tutoring Makes You Smarter!

A tutor's biggest fear! Ever heard the expression that the only way to truly know if you understand a concept is to try and teach it to someone else?  Tutoring provides an unparalleled opportunity for you to ensure mastery of a subject before entering either the worlds of teaching or graduate level conference presentations.  For those with experience in the two latter areas, tutoring can help ensure your retention of concepts and materials with which you are not currently working, such as Geometry tutoring for the Algebra teacher or American History tutoring for the European History graduate student.  Students will challenge your knowledge by asking for clarification, further information, and questions that may help you reveal your biases or even misunderstandings of the material. 

But don’t worry!  Not every lesson will involve your student picking apart your brain to glean every possible minute detail of an ethical theory on Utilitarianism that perhaps you should have paid a little more attention to during Philosophy 101 (not that I'm speaking from experience, of course...).  If you’re tutoring in the same few subjects, chances are that the students will ask pretty similar questions throughout the course of your lessons.  If you do choose to tutor for professional and personal development, you’ll quickly find that it is vital for you to seek out students in a wide variety of subject areas to help you (or compel you!) to improve your breadth of teaching (and save you from a slow death by boredom).

Aside from one bad idea of a semester where bored myself silly tutoring only high school American History courses, when tutoring, I try to find students of all ages, elementary through adult learners, who span a wide range of my tutoring areas: reading comprehension, writing development, and test preparation.  In a typical semester (as the tutoring year is generally divided into winter/ spring, summer, and fall/winter), I will usually have ESL, Gifted, Advanced Placement, elementary, middle, high school, college, SAT, GRE, and ESE students, all of whom enrich my experience as a tutor, helping me tutor a wider array of students with increasingly challenging needs. 

I don’t, however, recommend starting with such a wide variety for your first semester of tutoring.  Select several subjects with which you are most comfortable—perhaps pre-Algebra, kindergarten sight words and early reading, high school level Biology, English 101, or middle school general subjects for homework help—and build upon those subjects.

 Don’t feel pressured to accept subjects that you do not yet feel comfortable tutoring.  As I tutor SAT Critical Reading and Writing, I regularly receive requests to tutor SAT Math, a subject I would prefer to not teach (and really shouldn't teach...). I simply offer to provide tutoring services for the verbal sections, but recommend the parent find a math tutor to complement my service.

I hope those tips help boost your confidence to help to accept new students and new subjects!

~Karina