Dear Janet, Thea, Alsace, and other colleagues,
Even the best prepared tutor trainer cannot pre-plan for each course and
provide
a previously trained tutor ready to perform. Consider an industrial arts,
pottery, or
a drama class for example. Should tutors be trained and prepared even
though few
ever seek assistance?
You can view these comments as an advertisement or 20+ years of
professional
experience, but years ago, Martha Maxwell commented that it would be
wonderful to
select a tutor off-hand (i.e. referred by professor) for a special need if
only we could train
him or her quickly to tutor effectively without doing the student's work
or creating a disservice.
Later I asked her to review the first draft of Dr. Ross MacDonald's book,
The Master Tutor: A
Guidebook for More Effective Tutoring. When she completed her review she
told me I could
quote her forever for the comment she would want people to know about
Ross's book, namely,
"A tutor would be 100% better off on Monday morning if he or she got a copy
of The Master
Tutor on Friday night."
Presently 417 institutions internationally are part of our International
Authorized User's
List for having adopted The Master Tutor as their tutor training text. A
similar list is
available at our web site for those institutions that have adopted the
pre/post assessment,
The TESAT (Tutor Evaluation and Self Assessment Tool) to validate tutors'
use of the
12 Step Tutor Cycle.
While the rapid increase in the need for tutoring will certainly hasten the
need for policies
and, no doubt, eventual hourly charges for specialized tutoring, isn't it
wonderful that a
person can be hired to be a tutor, be pre-tested, read a self-directed
training guidebook
over the weekend, and later be post tested to validate that what happens
in tutoring is what
we all expected would happen regardless if it involved tutoring with
machines, clay,
or verse/articulation/enunciation and body language.
The point here is tutors can learn to be trained to be effective
independently, provided
they know the outcome will be validated by a pre and post assessment.
I hope this proves valuable for the future preparation of all tutors
internationally. They can
learn if we provide them with the right resources, almost any time they and
WE wish.
If I can assist further, kindly let me know.
Collegially,
Peter W. Stevens
President-The Cambridge Stratford
Study Skills Institute
8560 Main Street
Williamsville, NY 14221
(800) 466-2232
_www.cambridgestratford.com_ (http://www.cambridgestratford.com/)
[log in to unmask]
In a message dated 4/12/2012 4:27:56 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
We are also almost identical to Janet's response. (Thanks for doing the
typing,
Janet:)
The only thing I would add is that I won't hire one tutor for one student
for
one class. We serve over 500 students per semester in appointment based
tutoring, so that form of hiring would quickly make the program almost
unmanageable. This doesn't mean I won't look -- but I look for people who
can
also tutor other classes, or speak with the course professor to get a feel
for
whether we can anticipate further requests for that class. And, because the
search/interview/training process takes so long, if it's past the midway
point
in the semester, I typically don't hire. In my experience, tutors who are
hired
through those "quick-fix" tutor searches don't tend to stay on staff beyond
that semester. It's also hard for me to replicate the group training
exercises
that we do at the big training at the beginning of the year. I used to feel
guilty about that, but recently I've come to the realization that tutoring
represents only one hour out of 6-10 hours/week that the student should be
spending with the material -- so it can't be the magic bullet. If I can't
fill
the request, I will direct the student to other resources like academic
coaching or drop-in help sessions (if appropriate), but there are times
(maybe
2-3 per semester) that we just can't fill a request.
Thea
Thea Brophy
Academic Counselor/Tutor Coordinator
Office of Academic Services
Calvin College
1845 Knollcrest Circle SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49546
Phone: 616.526.6077
Fax: 616.526.7066
www.calvin.edu/academic/services/
>>> Joy Deleon <[log in to unmask]> 4/12/2012 4:15 PM >>>
We are almost identical to Janet's response. Joy
On Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 5:30 PM, Janet Pinkham <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> We advertise that we provide peer tutoring in *most* 100- and 200-level
> courses, as well as select upper-level courses. Although students may
> request a peer tutor at any point through the 12th week of the semester
> (our semesters are 16 weeks long), early requests are encouraged as
> available tutoring slots are limited. Requests are filled on a
first-come,
> first-served basis. If a student comes to the ASC seeking tutoring after
> the 12th week, we offer to meet with him/her individually to discuss
study
> skills, test-preparation and time management strategies. We also urge
the
> student to meet with his/her professor during office hours to discuss
> course content, etc. If tutoring is requested in a course for which we
do
> not have a tutor on staff, we invite the student to complete an
application
> for tutoring services and tell him/her that we will be in touch when
*and**
> **if* we are able to successfully recruit and hire a tutor.
>
> Best wishes!
>
> Janet Pinkham
> Director, Academic Support Center
> Hope College
> PO Box 9000
> Holland, MI 49422-9000
>
> Tel. (616) 395-7830
> Fax (616) 395-7617
> Email [log in to unmask]
>
> On Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 5:25 PM, Alsace Toure <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > Good afternoon.
> >
> > Do any of you have a policy regarding courses that you do or do not
> > provide tutoring? And also do you have an end date that students can
> > request a tutor for a subject you do not have a tutor? We have a
student
> > that has come with less than one week left, and it takes about two
weeks
> to
> > hire and train a tutor. Any information you can provide regarding your
> > policies would be helpful.
> >
> > Sincerely,
> >
> > Alsace Touré, Director
> > The Learning Center & Disability Services
> > Baldwin-Wallace College
> > Room 207, Ritter Library
> > 275 Eastland Road
> > Berea, OH 44017-2088
> > Direct: 440.826.5936
> > Office: 440.826.2147
> > Fax: 440.826.3832
> > Email: [log in to unmask]
> >
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> > information that is privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure
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this
> > message or its contents. If you have received this communication in
> error,
> > please notify me immediately by return e-mail and delete the original
> > message from your e-mail system. Thank you.
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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>
>
> --
> Janet Pinkham
> Director, Academic Support Center
> Hope College
> PO Box 9000
> Holland, MI 49422-9000
>
> Tel. (616) 395-7830
> FAX (616) 395-7617
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Joy
Joy de Leon
Assistant Dean of Students
Director, Learning Enrichment and Disability Services
Beloit College
700 College Street
Beloit, WI 53511
(608) 363-2572 (office)
(608) 363-7059 (fax)
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