Become a Tutor: Building Relationships
When you want to be a tutor, there is much more to it than just having knowledge in your field of specialty.
A good tutor knows how to build a relationship with her student. This is an important step, as the student must learn to trust you and learn to feel comfortable around you. (For ease in writing, I will refer to the tutor as "her".)
Learn How to Listen
The first step in building a relationship with your student is learning how to listen. Often, your student will want to talk to you about things that at first don't seem related to the material. (For ease in writing, I will refer to the student as "him".) It is important that you allow the student to open up to you, and find a balance between conversation and tutoring. It is true that you are being paid--most of the time by the hour--to tutor the student in a particular subject. However, you will find that your tutoring will go much better and your student will be more receptive, if you allow for some discussion of other topics.
Most of my students have been high school age. I discovered that if I listened and tried to relate to their humorous anecdotes about what happened in school that day, or laughed at their jokes, they were much more at ease in asking me questions about the subject matter. A few minutes of conversation at the beginning of each tutoring session can be very beneficial in relaxing both the student and yourself. I would suggest this be limited to about 4 or 5 minutes. If they seem quite talkative, then make a suggestion like, "Well, we better get to work." This suggests that you are enjoying the conversation as much as they are, but you both have work to do.
Next in the Series on Building a Relationship...
Learn What to Ask
How to Become a Tutor: Sharpening the Saw
How to Become a Tutor: Sharpening the Saw
Whether you want to be a tutor, or be a better tutor than you already are, you must learn to sharpen the saw. Sharpening the saw is a figure of speech, and what it means literally is that you can cut more wood, faster and with less effort if you take the time to sharpen the saw once in a while.
How this relates to your tutoring business is that it is a good idea to refresh your memory and your skills periodically. Preferably before the tutoring sessions begin.
In preparation to be a tutor, do a little bit of research. For example, I started tutoring high school chemistry after having been out of University for couple of years. To prepare myself, I obtained a copy of the high school chemistry textbook and perused it to refresh my memory.
How to obtain textbooks: There are several things you can try in order to be able to borrow a textbook for the class you will be tutoring. First of all, find out about the curriculum requirements for that class. Search on your state or province's school district site. Find out the books they require for that class. You can also phone your local school and ask about which books that class requires. If it's a high school class, often you can pay a deposit and borrow the book over the summer, when the school is not using it. After summer, return the book to get back most or all of the deposit. This process works extremely well for me.
If you are teaching a college or university class, try to obtain the textbook through a used book sale.
Sometimes your local public library can be a source of good information.
Sharpening the saw does not need to take a lot of time and effort, and will give you a boost in confidence.
Whether you want to be a tutor, or be a better tutor than you already are, you must learn to sharpen the saw. Sharpening the saw is a figure of speech, and what it means literally is that you can cut more wood, faster and with less effort if you take the time to sharpen the saw once in a while.
How this relates to your tutoring business is that it is a good idea to refresh your memory and your skills periodically. Preferably before the tutoring sessions begin.
In preparation to be a tutor, do a little bit of research. For example, I started tutoring high school chemistry after having been out of University for couple of years. To prepare myself, I obtained a copy of the high school chemistry textbook and perused it to refresh my memory.
How to obtain textbooks: There are several things you can try in order to be able to borrow a textbook for the class you will be tutoring. First of all, find out about the curriculum requirements for that class. Search on your state or province's school district site. Find out the books they require for that class. You can also phone your local school and ask about which books that class requires. If it's a high school class, often you can pay a deposit and borrow the book over the summer, when the school is not using it. After summer, return the book to get back most or all of the deposit. This process works extremely well for me.
If you are teaching a college or university class, try to obtain the textbook through a used book sale.
Sometimes your local public library can be a source of good information.
Sharpening the saw does not need to take a lot of time and effort, and will give you a boost in confidence.
How to Become a Tutor, or Why be a tutor?
How to Become a Tutor, or Why Become a Tutor?
If you have been thinking that you want to be a tutor, have you really asked yourself why be a tutor? Seriously, as compared to a teacher or something else? Is it because you want to be in education, do you have a passion for it?
First of all, it is very satisfying to watch your student learn and grow while you teach, instruct and demonstrate. You and your student will end up learning and growing together. You will become amazed at the relationships you can build through tutoring. I tutored many high school students who would confide in me and then remark how surprised they were to be telling me that, when they wouldn't dream of telling their own parents!
Secondly, being your own boss and running your own tutoring business offers you flexibility and income tax breaks as well. Check into your area and find out what local or federal laws are for home based businesses. It may be to your advantage to obtain a business license; you may find out you can claim a whole slug of tutor-related expenses against your income, and that's always nice. You can decide when, where, and how much tutoring you want to do each week. Sometimes you may want to be flexible towards the students as well, if they are requesting more tutoring time close to exams.
Thirdly, being a tutor generally pays very well. If you can, scout around your area and see what other tutors are charging. You may be able to find out by looking in the phone directory, calling schools or tutoring services, etc. I have found that a good tutor in Canada or the U.S. can easily make $25+ per hour. If you are highly specialized and live in a big city with a University, you can possibly make $40+ per hour. You may want to give a price break to your first students in order to build up some references, but never sell yourself short.
If you have been thinking that you want to be a tutor, have you really asked yourself why be a tutor? Seriously, as compared to a teacher or something else? Is it because you want to be in education, do you have a passion for it?
First of all, it is very satisfying to watch your student learn and grow while you teach, instruct and demonstrate. You and your student will end up learning and growing together. You will become amazed at the relationships you can build through tutoring. I tutored many high school students who would confide in me and then remark how surprised they were to be telling me that, when they wouldn't dream of telling their own parents!
Secondly, being your own boss and running your own tutoring business offers you flexibility and income tax breaks as well. Check into your area and find out what local or federal laws are for home based businesses. It may be to your advantage to obtain a business license; you may find out you can claim a whole slug of tutor-related expenses against your income, and that's always nice. You can decide when, where, and how much tutoring you want to do each week. Sometimes you may want to be flexible towards the students as well, if they are requesting more tutoring time close to exams.
Thirdly, being a tutor generally pays very well. If you can, scout around your area and see what other tutors are charging. You may be able to find out by looking in the phone directory, calling schools or tutoring services, etc. I have found that a good tutor in Canada or the U.S. can easily make $25+ per hour. If you are highly specialized and live in a big city with a University, you can possibly make $40+ per hour. You may want to give a price break to your first students in order to build up some references, but never sell yourself short.
How to Become a Tutor: Getting Started!
How to Become a Tutor: Getting Started!
Welcome to my blog. You must be thinking you want to be a tutor. Great! Here you can use my personal experiences in 25 years of tutoring to launch and maintain your very own personal tutoring business.
Tutoring is a business that you don't need certification for (make sure you check the requirements in your country), you decide the hours you want to work, work location, age range of your clients, how you will get paid, and how much you will get paid.
To become a tutor you do need a skills set. Some of these skills you may already have and some you can work on getting starting today.
Don't worry, you don't necessarily need to be a brain in math to be a good tutor. Tutoring covers many subjects and math is only one of them.
Word of mouth is going to become one of your best forms of advertising for your business. There are also other ways to advertise your business, such as ads in the local paper, ads on bulletin boards at schools or universities, and by putting your name on a tutor list available at many schools, especially high school. Just phone some local schools and inquire. Many parents will ask at the school office about where to look for a tutor, so they will often carry a list of tutor's names to pass on.
Welcome to my blog. You must be thinking you want to be a tutor. Great! Here you can use my personal experiences in 25 years of tutoring to launch and maintain your very own personal tutoring business.
Tutoring is a business that you don't need certification for (make sure you check the requirements in your country), you decide the hours you want to work, work location, age range of your clients, how you will get paid, and how much you will get paid.
To become a tutor you do need a skills set. Some of these skills you may already have and some you can work on getting starting today.
Don't worry, you don't necessarily need to be a brain in math to be a good tutor. Tutoring covers many subjects and math is only one of them.
Word of mouth is going to become one of your best forms of advertising for your business. There are also other ways to advertise your business, such as ads in the local paper, ads on bulletin boards at schools or universities, and by putting your name on a tutor list available at many schools, especially high school. Just phone some local schools and inquire. Many parents will ask at the school office about where to look for a tutor, so they will often carry a list of tutor's names to pass on.
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