5th August 2010 9:00
By Blue Tutors
At a recent Blue Tutors assessment there was an applicant who planned a lesson exceptionally well, but was ultimately unsuccessful. It’s an interesting situation because we’re trying very hard to dispel the myth that tutoring is much like classroom teaching, and we definitely don’t want tutors to behave as they would, or even as they could in a classroom.
It appears as though some tutors expect that they can prepare a handout, ask their student to read it, and then give the student some questions. Of course, there are aspects of this lesson which would be great; there’s certainly a clear lesson goal, and the tutor is able to allow the student to tackle the problem. However, it’s a lesson which doesn’t in any way display the tutor’s tutoring skill, only their skill in preparing a lesson.
This situation often manifests itself because the tutor lacks the confidence to rely on their own ability, but no tutor can control a lesson to such an extent that the tutor won’t be required to use any tutoring skill during that lesson.
Now, this isn’t a criticism of those tutors who plan extensively. We would never discourage a tutor from doing as much as they can to prepare for a lesson, but it shouldn’t be a substitute for genuine tuition. Some lessons where a tutor says virtually nothing can be great, but you can’t plan so that’s the case.