The Tutoring Process

Some see tutoring as simply a way to get through assignments and get good grades in school. I view it instead as an opportunity to enhance knowledge of a subject by receiving individualized, personalized attention from an expert on the material. I am not here to do your homework for you, but instead to give you the tools you need to succeed in your current pursuits and future endeavors. My style is based on finding holes in knowledge and filling them in, as well as applying concepts to problems beyond straightforward homework exercises to ensure you know them inside and out. To do that, I generally follow these procedures with students:

Step 1: Review Classwork

I always start here in order to find areas of difficulty. These may be conceptual errors, reoccurring mistakes, or weaknesses due to incomplete understanding of prerequisite material.

Step 2: Reteach Material

It is impossible to build atop a weak foundation, so even if the test is tomorrow yet the problem is rooted three chapters ago, I find it critical to go fix these areas first before looking at the current course material.

Step 3: Guided Practice

Rather than “do ten of this type of problem,” I’ll guide students through one or two examples of each major problem type to make sure they understand how to approach it and have an example they can reference while working independently.

Step 4: Solo Practice

Typically, I’ll have the student attempt three to five problems, then we’ll assess understanding and correct any errors. By the time a student has completed this step, they should be able to handle anything assigned on their classwork.

Step 5: Expansion of Horizons

This can take several forms, from looking ahead and seeing how what students have reviewed will be utilized in future types of questions, to tackling a real-world example of an application of the concept.