Tips for Tutors

Tips for tutors

1. Be yourself.

2. Be positive, patient, relaxed, and enthusiastic.

3. Be sensitive to the individual needs of each tutee.

4. Be understanding about life circumstances that directly and indirectly affect tutoring sessions.

5. Be ready to re-teach/review if necessary; answer questions as if it’s the first time the tutee has asked them.

6. Ask your tutee how they prefer to handle “miscues;” avoid red pens.

7. Begin with what the tutee already knows and build from there.

8. Build lessons around the tutee’s interests or based on what the tutee already knows.

9. Build a rapport by asking questions that show an interest in what the tutee knows, where the tutee has been, and what the tutee can do.

10. Listen to and work towards the literacy goals of your tutee.

11. Share your experience and knowledge; acknowledge and celebrate the tutee’s skills and knowledge.

12. Treat the tutee respectfully as an adult and equal who has experienced a full life despite the ongoing challenges of low literacy.