25th July 2011 9:00
By Blue Tutors
A recent article published by the GateHouse News Service has interviewed two tutors regarding how a parent can decide when their child might benefit from a private tutor, and how to go about finding the perfect tutor. Both a third grade teacher and an executive at a tutoring agency give their advice to parents unsure about what path to take.
Julie Devine teaches 6-7 year olds in a school, and sees the summer as an ideal time to help students understand and revise work they’ve done in the previous year. She says “typically I’ll recommend it for the summer. A tutor can be really helpful when kids need practice over the summer to retain concepts for going into the next year.” She adds that hiring a tutor can relieve academic stress built up between a student and their parent: “Sometimes you just need a more objective party to help.”
Dr. Sandi Avaz is a director at the National Tutoring Association, and she says that one of the problems with private tuition is that there’s a perception that it’s only for struggling students, and she thinks that many able students would benefit from a home tutor, but don’t get that help.
Dr. Avaz also feels that tutors need to identify what she calls a student’s learning preference: why a student wants to learn something, relating individual periods of learning to an overall aim and organising a student’s learning. Avaz also puts forming a personal connection with the student under this heading. Dr. Avaz is a little unclear about why these skills are part of a student’s learning preference, and appears to have just stated the skills she believes are important for a tutor to have. Of course, she’s right that contextualising and organising a student’s learning is helpful when tutoring.