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Tutoring Guidelines

Tutoring Guidelines. Dr. R. Forrest University of Houston, Department of Physics. Basic Tutoring Guidelines. Your job is to help students understand physics and learn how to solve physics problems for themselves.

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Tutoring Guidelines

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  1. Tutoring Guidelines Dr. R. Forrest University of Houston, Department of Physics

  2. Basic Tutoring Guidelines • Your job is to help students understand physics and learn how to solve physics problems for themselves. • The role of the tutor is not to give tutees answers, but to help the tutees learn to find answers. Tutors, of course, do answer some questions directly, but in doing so, they model appropriate thinking and language for the particular subject. • http://www.viterbo.edu/uploadedFiles/services/learncenter/TutorTrainingManual.pdf, accessed 8/29/2013

  3. Basic Tutoring Guidelines • Remember that as a tutor you are an additional resource to help students succeed. Your time and efforts are valuable. You are important. Respect yourself. • Remember that tutoring is a responsibility. Your tutee’s time and efforts are valuable as well. Respect your tutee. • When tutees repeatedly ask simple questions, remember that the only stupid question is the one that was not asked. • Patience. Patience. Patience. • If you do not know the answer, ask another tutor, lab director, supervisor, or instructor; remember that the only stupid question is the one that was not asked. http://frank.mtsu.edu/%7Esmcdanie/ACA_3000F/TutorTrainingHandbook.htm#Basic%20Tutoring%20Guidelines, accessed 8/2012.

  4. Basic Tutoring Guidelines • A tutor does not replace an instructor, nor does a tutoring session replace missed class time. • Your lifestyle choices and value systems may not agree with your tutee’s. Be sensitive to these differences and make sure that you do not impose your lifestyle choices and value systems on your tutee. Respect diversity.

  5. Tutoring Do’s • Be Punctual: The tutor should be on time and ready to begin • Be Honest: Don’t hesitate to say that you do not know about a particular concept. Trying to bluff your way through will only hurt the student and your reputation in the long run. • Show Enthusiasm: If the tutor does not display a love for the subject they are tutoring, how can they expect the student to enjoy it? Come to the lab with a positive attitude that will rub off on the students. • Be Prepared: Make sure you are familiar with the textbooks and the computer software that is available to students. This may take some time while you are not on the clock. http://frank.mtsu.edu/%7Esmcdanie/ACA_3000F/TutorTrainingHandbook.htm#Basic%20Tutoring%20Guidelines, accessed 8/2012.

  6. Tutoring Do’s • Listen: The tutor should develop good listening skills so that they will better understand students’ misconceptions and errors. Don’t interrupt them. • Ask Good Questions: The tutor should ask the student questions in order to evaluate a students understanding (more later). • The student should do most of the talking! • The student should be doing the writing! • Encourage independence: You do not want the student to rely on you at all times. Let them know that they must put forth an effort to benefit from tutoring. Show them where in the book to find answers. • Have Good personal hygiene: If you smoke, you may want to use a breath mint. Use deodorant.

  7. Tutoring Do’s • Be Mobile: Walk around. You should move quietly about the room at least 4 times during a 1 hour lab session. This helps the students get easier access to the tutor. • Maintain confidentiality: Any personal information such as medical conditions, handicaps, test sores should be between only you and the student. • Introduce yourself and wear a name tag. • Provide encouragement: ”Well done!” • Do allow for periods of silence, “think time”. Don’t feel like you have to interrupt a moment of silence by talking. Allow the student time to think and reflect. Use this time to think about the problem yourself!

  8. Tutoring Do Not’s • Do not think of yourself as the dispenser of all truth and knowledge. Try to relate to your tutees as equals. • Do not judge someone's ability or intellect based on appearance or age. • Do not use the tutoring lab as your personal dating service. This could do more than just hurt the students' grades; it could jeopardize your future. • Do not let one student monopolize all of your time. Remember that you are trying to enable students to be independent thinkers. This can't be done if they use you as a crutch the entire time.

  9. Tutoring Do Not’s • Do not introduce fancy ways you learned in your upper level classes to help the students solve their problems. Stick as close as you can to the way the instructor did it. • Do not just sit in the chair staring out the window or at a computer when there are students in the lab. This discourages students from asking you questions. • Do not do the students' assignments for them. Help them with the key concepts, help them to do it themselves. • The student should be doing the writing. • Anger and harassment have no place in the tutoring environment.

  10. Do Ask & Lead, Don’t Answer & Lecture

  11. Ask Good Questions • First, you need to find out what the student already knows. • Second, instead of telling the student how to do the problem, try to lead them to find the answer themselves. This won’t always work, but it is your goal. • For both of these, you need to ask good, probing questions. • It was once said that what you have been obliged to discover by yourself leaves a path in your mind which you can use again when the need arises. http://www.viterbo.edu/uploadedFiles/services/learncenter/TutorTrainingManual.pdf, accessed 8/29/2013

  12. Tutoring Strategy • Sometimes a student has a specific question or problem. • “I got parts A and B of this problem right, but I don’t know how to solve the equations in part C.” • If you believe the student understands the basic physics concepts, you can just help them with their specific issue. • Sometimes a student is confused and their question or problem is vague. • “I don’t understand how to do this problem.” • You need to determine what concepts they understand, and lead them through the rest with good questions.

  13. Physics Problem Solving Interview Questions • Understand the Problem • What kind of problem is this? • Can you restate the problem? • What are you solving for? • Describe the Physics • Draw a diagram for the problem. • What physical quantities have you been given, i.e. are known? • What is the physical quantity you are solving for? • Write these down, giving each a variable name.(Use variable names that make sense, such as mb for the mass of a ball.) • Can you write down equations that relate these quantities?

  14. Physics Problem Solving Interview Questions • Plan a Solution • How can you use these equations to determine the target quantity? • Are all of the units consistent? • Execute the Plan • Can you explain your solution to me? • How did you find this quantity? • What is your final answer?

  15. Physics Problem Solving Interview Questions • Evaluate your Solution • Does your result answer the original question? • Is your result complete? • Does it make physical sense? • Do the units make sense? • Could someone else find your final result on your page, and understand what you did? = 42

  16. Now go be great tutors! The End

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