What are the Top 7 Mistakes Students Make with their Tutor?

Does your child maximise their tutoring experience?

Do you view individual attention and expert tuition as a privilege and an important asset for any student?

Are there elements you can do as a parent that will enhance the investment for you and your child?

May I invite you to reflect on these questions for a moment? This privilege and investment is required by so many students yet accessed by too few, unfortunately often to their detriment.

The tutoring investment needs to be valued and maximised by both student and parent. Tutoring is not just for children who have a concern in any of their subjects but also the capable student. Students whom are gifted or have a particular talent gain much from tutoring, even if their marks are high.

There are many benefits innately attached with being tutored: your child, the student, has the chance to learn to value many things – an improvement in learning, the tutor with their investment in professional experience and time, your financial investment as their parents and to make an extra effort themselves to create their own future. The last one listed may be one of the most significant.

The following are key mistakes students make that dilute their experience of being tutored and what to do about them. These impede the opportunity to engage fully and gain the most from their professional learning companion, their tutor. 

1.      Not being settled or prepared – in other words, the student is not sufficiently settled to focus, think clearly without distraction, and/or devote full attention throughout the lesson.

• Distractions – it is imperative a student has a quiet, dedicated space to work with their tutor, either face-to-face or online. Television in the background or other noise is not supportive for learning. It is valuable if the whole family values the time spent with the tutor and understands the need for a distraction free environment keeping noise to a minimum.
•  Privacy – a tutoring session will be far more valuable and effective if the student is able to work with respect and privacy within the family setting. Any child cannot think or interact freely with their tutor if they feel they have to perform in front of an audience, another family member. It makes the job of the tutor far more difficult and they can’t achieve the result intended in a setting where the student is being observed.
• Activity just prior to the lesson - this should be a time to stimulate the body yet quiet the mind. Some activity in the yard, preferably outside followed by some quiet time to read and settle before the session is desirable. Online games, social media, YouTube etc for entertainment or socialising is counterproductive and not conducive to a student being tutor-ready. A great deal of research shows these affect the ability to concentrate and focus, as well as articulate answers and lay down memory.
• Hydration - a student needs to have water beside them through the lesson to stay well hydrated. Avoiding sugar is important, especially those drinks loaded with caffeine and sugar like soda or high energy drinks.
• Healthy snack - it is also helpful for them to have eaten some protein beforehand, either some nuts or perhaps a chicken sandwich - something substantial to sustain them without encouraging a bounce in energy.
• Online platform ready and tested (if tutoring online) – ensure all technology is ready at least 5 mins before the session so the student is ready to take the call at the appointed time, without delay. Charge computers and have the tutoring platform open, ready.

2.     Not asking questions - during the session. Being passive in the session is not supportive of learning. A skilled tutor will be guiding learning by discerning which questions will be just right for that student and the way they are thinking.

If a student is reluctant to engage fully and feel free to ask questions, and maybe lots of them, then they are missing a key ingredient of the process.

Overlooking, glossing over or not identifying what is not understood means that the success of the session is diluted. This might just be the meaning of a word in a question, or a concept not yet experienced, or a turn of phrase that is unfamiliar to the student. There is no disgrace in asking for elements to be explained or repeated and time spent on that. Encourage your child to ask questions when they arise.

3.   Expecting the tutor to do all the work – having a tutoring session means it is the student who is required to work hard and participate, as well as the tutor.

Important note for parents and students: While the tutor may be in the driving seat for some of the session, the student needs to take the wheel, frequently, and actively avoid slipping into being a ‘passenger’ in the back seat just being told about the road ahead.

A wise person one said,

You have to go to the learning, the learning doesn’t come to you.

While it may appear that simply having a tutor will make all the difference, it is the student who also must apply active effort for true learning to occur and long lasting effects to be attained.

4.     Arrive without a question or a direction - or something the student would like to discuss or work on –academic or personal. Students of all ages can be taught they have the chance to ask the tutor what is important for them to understand.

In the course of any week, a student will come across something they do not understand or may wish to talk about. That can mean anything from a problem in mathematics to a concept in a Shakespearean play to being bullied at school. All are worthy of discussion if any of these are of concern to the student and affecting progress or concentration.

5.      Not revising work from the previous week – it is valuable to review the previous session/s prior to working with the tutor. Often valuable time is spent simply reteaching work already taught because it has not been revised or read prior to the lesson. Previous work often forms the basis of work to be followed.

A sound routine: students should set aside 10 mins or so, the day after the session, the day before, or the morning of working with the tutor. This will help to determine understanding and if questions arise or revision is to occur, the student is then ready to ask.

6.      Choice of activity immediately after the session – the brain needs time to rest and reflect on what has just occurred in the learning event.

It must be tempting for a student to want to relax after an hour of focus with entertainment such as an online game, scrolling social media or videos on YouTube or similar. As appealing as this may be, it is not conducive to the consolidation of material learnt or for the brain to absorb learning if it is fragmented with rapid images and games that are paced well beyond the real-life world.

Helping with dinner preparations, or playing a game outside, taking the dog for a walk or quiet reading will let the brain rest and take the time to absorb learnings.

7.      Feeling embarrassed about having a tutor – every accomplished and successful individual the world over has had a mentor, coach or teacher who has advanced their endeavours. Take any athlete, top business person, singer or actor - they each practice every single day to maintain and improve their performance with research, study, practice and working with their coaches or mentors or teachers.

It is distinctly a privilege and special opportunity to be receiving individual attention in any learning capacity.

One of the reasons why I invite my students to address me as ‘Coach Jill’ is because I am much more than just a tutor. I take an active interest in all spheres of their life both at school, at home, on the sporting field, on a dance floor and beyond, in every field of that child’s interests. Developing character and the ability to relate, identify and encourage talents is just as important as any academic content.

I encourage all parents to instill pride in their child for participating in tutoring – it is not a mark of incapability or failure, but instead a badge of honour, privileged opportunity and, if utilised well, an advantage for life.

Here is a checklist for your child’s preparation (you may like to make a copy for their reference each week).

My Preparation Checklist for my Tutoring Session:

1.    I prepare by selecting –

• A quiet space to work with water beside me
• To eat a healthy snack
• To turn off all unnecessary devices, like mobile phones, and I’ve alerted my family I’m about to take my session
• To have some physical activity, even if that is walking around my block and I’ve settled myself with some quiet reading
• That my online platform is already set up 5 mins ahead of time to take the call from my tutor

2.       I’ve prepared at least one question to ask my tutor through the lesson. I’ve written it out and have my relevant books with me for reference.

3.       I know this is an important time to spend in dedicated work just for me, so I am ready to work hard, ask lots of questions and make special effort with my learning companion. My tutor is here to guide and direct me and I realise that I am the one who has to do most of the work.

4.       I have revised the work we did last week the day after the session, and also yesterday in preparation. This has given me the chance to develop retention with repetition of my work and I am now better prepared to do new or extension work.

5.       I have chosen to help my parents with the dinner and talk to them about my new learnings or my day at school. I choose to relax quietly with a book of my choice to unwind a little, rest my brain and reflect on my learnings in the tutoring session.

6.       I take the time to give my parents and other family members a hug to let them know I appreciate the effort they are making in their investment of my future.

7.       I congratulate myself and take pride in my own efforts to make the most of the opportunity with my chosen tutor. I share a couple of my learnings with my family.

As a seasoned tutor, and learning specialist, Jill Sweatman has observed many factors that lead to a student's success. Feel free to reach out to discuss your child's learning and how to accelerate their progress with a patient, insightful and skilled tutoring experience.

With the aid of technology, expert tutoring can be enjoyed anywhere in the world.

For more articles visit www.jillsweatman.com