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What is a tutorial?
Small group tutorial sessions are held twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays, during the AVID elective class. During tutorials, the AVID elective class is divided into several tutorial groups. Under the direction and supervision of the AVID elective teacher, an AVID-trained tutor facilitates the discussion and work at each group. Tutorials...
* Create deeper understanding of concepts covered in core content class
* Develop skills necessary to become self-directed learners.
* It's not just homework help.
* Tutors do not give the answers. They facilitate the group's learning process.
* Tutors don't teach the answers. They ask more questions. This is called the Socratic method.
Step 1: Complete the Tutorial Request form.
The Tutorial Request Form (TRF) asks students to identify a question from one of their content area classes that they would like to get help answering. This could come from assigned homework, Cornell notes that they were confusing, a missed or upcoming test question, or an assignment that they are having trouble completing. After identifying the question, students will outline their critical thinking, and then identify the point of confusion where they are stuck and cannot move forward. The tutorial group will help them move from this point of confusion to the correct answer.
The TRF if often one of the biggest challenges of the AVID elective. Students must truly think over all the learning they've done that week and find an area in which they really do need to get help. If students are saying they have no questions, 99% of the time they haven't spent time thinking about what they've learned, tests they've had, or even material that they just need to review for the week. This is true critical thinking at its best, it is not meant to be easy, and it forces students to think deeply about their learning. That's why it works!
Parents! This is where you come in. Each Monday night, students are expected to complete a Tutorial Request Form (TRF). This form is challenging at first! In fact, beginning AVID students will start with a simplified version of this form. This form needs to be fully completed when the student walks into class on Tuesday. NO LATE CREDIT is given on these forms. Watch the video or click on the forms at the bottom of this page for additional help with each part of the form. Students will learn how to do this in class, but can always use these tools for a refresher.
Note: Does your student tell you they don't have any questions? Check their grades in Pinnacle! Any class with a score below 3 indicates they need to be filling out TRF forms on content for that class!
Step 2: Student Presentation
Once students arrive to class with TRFs complete and are divided into groups, one student from each group will present their point of confusion and critical thinking to their group by giving a 30 second speech and recording their thinking on the board. To the right, you can see the student's point of confusion, the critical thinking she's done, and the answer she found after the students in her group asked her questions to help her find it. The only steps she has left are to write the steps she took to find the answer and give her 30 second wrap up speech.
This process repeats until all students have presented and found the answer to their questions. The process ends with Step 3 when each student completing a reflection.
Helpful Resources
This video walks through the steps of fill out a TRF.
This is a high school example of a tutorial, but it breaks down each step very clearly. The process if exactly the same for middle school, with a little more teacher and tutor support as students learn the process and become better at asking questions.
new_trf AVID blank(4).pdfForget to grab a TRF? Feel free to download and print copies of this document or simply copy it onto a sheet of notebook paper.
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