Ways to Get the Best Out of Your Student

It’s common knowledge that home tuition benefits the student receiving it. As these students are the future, the adults helping them grow such as their parents, teachers, and tutors all work together to help make the road for them easier and with more chances of success. As tutors, the goal is to help them discover ways how they can motivate themselves to do well in their studies, grow and develop useful habits, and help them see their potential.

Tutors have several techniques to get the best work out of their students. No task should be half-baked for them to achieve their maximum potential. Think of it as an example of the butterfly effect, every task they do would build up and affect them in the future. However, with so many techniques and strategies around, how would tutors know which would get the right results? After all, some strategies are bound to work in one circumstance but not in another. If you’re a tutor and you want to help your student get the most opportunity to grow and get the best work from them, here are some questions relating to those useful strategies.

1. What is your standard for “quality”?

More often, standards can be subjective. This means that standards for one can’t be the same for another. However, with the student’s case, standards for their work can be graded according to different criteria. With this, it can be understood that students have to familiarize themselves with the different criteria involved in different kinds of work.

Now, this doesn’t mean that the student should always rely on the standards given to them to speak for the quality of their work. In such cases where the tutors want to help the child produce their best work, the student should learn how to set their own set of criteria specifically for themselves. As such, tutors should be there to help them with making their criteria. Applying “good quality” to their work doesn’t work like magic without guidance. They need to learn how to do it before they can do it themselves. Tutors can also help their students set their methods and guidelines in order to achieve the standard the student has set for themselves. The tutor can also add some examples on how to apply their criteria to their work and offer assistance when needed.

2. What is the purpose?

When a student does work for the sake of doing work, there may be instances where they limit their work and produce something short of what they can proud of. If the student doesn’t understand the purpose of the task, they may interpret the purpose whichever way they can and as a result, may be unable to complete their task. It also helps if the tutor asks them why they chose to do a specific method to complete the task.

By helping them understand the purpose of their work, they can achieve the best output for their task. Explain to them also the importance of the task and emphasize that they can finish their tasks no matter the difficulty. Again, offer assistance when needed but also encourage them to work on their tasks according to their chosen method and standard of quality.

3. Why not start small?

Huge tasks can be daunting when tackled head-on. They can be overwhelming as well for the student and has all the potential to build up stress and result in burnout. It helps the student to understand how the task works and fit them together. When the student is given a large task, teach them how to break up the tasks into smaller tasks. Make sure they get the idea behind doing smaller tasks first and how it helps them complete the larger, more daunting task without getting overwhelmed. As such, breaking down the task or idea can also help the students pace themselves as well as apply their learning to the smaller task in order to fulfill the bigger task.

4. Do you revisit old works?

One good thing about collecting assignments and previous work from the student during tuition sessions is that it allows the tutor to compile the works and see how well the student has improved. By looking at the past work of the student, tutors can see which part they have managed to develop, which they are still developing in, and which they continue to struggle in. As such, previous works also allow the student to see how well they did and which part they can still improve in.

Students and tutors can take a look at the student’s previous work and identify the areas they have improved in and how they can complete a task with various other methods that still give the best results. As a practice, the tutor can even ask the student to redo their previous work using a different method to see if they can give better work than the ones they have already done. This gives the student a chance to explore the different methods and find the best one that works for the student. The student may also be inspired by learning other methods or finding new ways to get better results.

5. How do you give feedback?

Tutors should remember that they are dealing with children and mostly, that means that they may be sensitive to certain comments. This is why tutors shouldn’t always comment on their student’s actions as it may cause them to take it the wrong way and even lose interest thinking that they are not good enough or that they failed.

How the tutor gives their feedback is just as important as the feedback itself. Make sure that the time giving feedback is sufficient but is also not dragging. A longer time in giving feedback may cause the student to think they have done something wrong as it can border to a lecture. It also helps if the tutor approaches the feedback in a manner that doesn’t intimidate the student or make them uncomfortable. Remember that feedback is given for them to learn from, not to put them down.

Tutors should also make sure that the feedback they’ll give will help with the student’s learning style. They can also give students examples of how they can improve their methods on certain tasks or something that they might have missed. Don’t immediately react when the student has made mistakes especially just after the task is completed. Instead, take the time to review the work and examine what better ways can be used to complete the task in lieu of immediately giving the feedback. As such, since feedbacks should be useful, tutors can also help the student on how to apply feedback given to them to their work and use it for the better.

6. What are the student’s opinions about the task/work?

When students are completing a task, there are many thoughts running through their minds. It also helps for students to sort out their thoughts and opinions about the task given to them. When they are doing their task, ask them about their opinions and feelings. What do they think about the task or topic? What do they like about the topic? Do they have inhibitions about the topic? Do they think the topic is important? Why is it important? What do they think they’re going to feel after completing the topic?

By being aware of what they are thinking or feeling about the topic or task, they are gearing towards ways and methods that they can use to get better results. Strategies can be used according to what the student already knows, what they need to work on, and the best approach to learn and master the new material. Aside from this, this also goes back to the #2 question which is asking what is their purpose for doing this task.

7. What are the distractions that are keeping them?

Distractions, especially when students are doing certain tasks, can be one of the causes why students couldn’t give their very best. Some students lack the motivation to get to work while others finish their work in a hurry because they want to watch TV or play.

Getting the students’ attention can be hard work but keeping them focused on their work is beneficial for them. Tutors should be able to help to keep their attention on the task at hand whether by means of using videos, music, or letting the student experience the topic firsthand. Be sure that the activity to keep them focused is also aligned with the task they are trying to complete.

8. Do you provide encouragement?

Positive reinforcements give students the satisfaction that their work is seen and appreciated. When the student does well, recognize their hard work. Use this opportunity to help them understand that they can continue doing well and even better. As such, when they are struggling, tutors can also use that same moment to remind them of their hard work. Looking back at their achievements boosts the student’s motivation and self-esteem and can help build their confidence.

Conclusion

All tutors want their students to give the best work they can. However, that is easier said than done. There are many struggles the student and tutor may encounter along the journey of reaching the student’s goals. However, when the tutor aims to get the best work from students, they should also know that students need help to produce them. And what better help they can get than that of their home tutors? With the questions we’ve posed above, we hope that tutors can formulate their own strategies to help their students do well.

Carelle

Carelle

Carelle is a teacher who has been through the ups and downs of the teacher and learner life. She wishes for every learner to gain educational satisfaction that will help embody the people they want to be in the future.

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