How to Structure a Tutoring Session

Tutoring is a thing these days. Wondering how to structure a tutoring session to facilitate the best results for the student is a good question and one we’ll answer below. What each tutor should know is that the session should flow naturally from the introduction, through to the middle of the lesson, to the end of the session.

Tutoring is about trust. A vulnerable person from far away shores is trusting us to teach him to recognize, speak, and operate daily in a tongue foreign to him. To earn his trust, we need to show him that we have the knowledge to help him. To that end, here is how to structure a tutoring session.

How To Begin The Session

The tutor will need to know the student’s proficiency in the subject matter (let’s use learning English as the basis for this tutorial) up to this point. To get him warmed up to the tutoring session, the tutor should begin with what the student recognizes. This can take the form of:

Flashcards
Sight word games like Bingo
Transparencies on an overhead projector
Smartphone and tablet apps

Since the tutoring session will be no more than 30 minutes to an hour, the warm-up part of the tutoring session will last only about ten minutes.

The second ten minutes of the session’s beginning, according to this private tutoring lesson plan template will include work the student prepared before the tutoring session. The tutor will need to know if the student is truly understanding what you’re teaching. Giving it back to you in the form of homework is a significant marker of this understanding.

Tips And Tricks For Beginning A Tutoring Session

Tutoring is a one-on-one activity. Making it fun is the sovereign rule of tutors seeking tutoring tips for elementary students. Relaxed students take in more information than tense students. The tutor is earning the student’s trust by engaging him in fun and learning at the same time:

1. Discuss, role-play, or play a game to learn the student’s proficiency in the language as well as what he’s learned from his homework.
2. Pause. Often, what has been heard in class is gone with the wind of the sheer volume of words spoken. When a tutor pauses for a couple of minutes, it allows the student to make more focused notes, ask questions and write down the answers, in addition to taking in what might have been lost without a pause.
3. Classroom education has always been about the student as a sponge waiting to soak up the teachers’ knowledge. They apparently have none of their own. As a tutor, you use your student’s experience and knowledge to help him learn to speak English. You won’t expect your student to just spit it back out to you and then move on.

The Middle Of The Session Or The Lesson

This part of how to structure a tutoring session described in our private tutoring lesson plan template will last about 30 to 40 minutes. It will consist of speaking the points of the lesson, having the student repeat it along with you, having the student repeat it alone, and then gauging how well he did.

In this section of how to structure a tutoring session, strategy is king. The tutor will ensure the student writes something as well as speaks it. The tutor will ask the student pertinent questions, and then you will force the student to use what he’s learned in order to answer them.

The tutor will at all times praise the student’s progress, making it about the lesson and not the student. Students experiencing inadequacy don’t learn much. So the tutor who engages the student in teaching you what he’s learning is ensuring the student is empowered and confident.

Tips For The Lesson Portion Of The Session

Ending the learning portion of how to structure a tutoring session should recap what the student has learned so far. A few tutoring tips for elementary students include:

Patience

Tutoring begins with you, the tutor. Your pupil will be nervous and feel challenged. By showing patience and compassion, your student will feel nurtured, which fosters a better spirit of learning.

Goals

Your student wants to learn English. He might not be able to articulate what exactly he wants to learn or what troubles he has learned. The tutor will have a plan laid out ahead of time to address these things along with the lesson plan. The tutor will work with the student as he gains proficiency in the language regarding his hopes, goals, and his troubles with the lessons.

Listen

When your student sees a tutor full of positivity, excitement for teaching, and taking time out to listen to him, his self-esteem is boosted. He will be more enthused to learn. As you listen to your pupil, write on a chart or some kind of record his progress. As he sees this in each session, he’ll recognize just how much you want him to succeed.

Fun

Not only elementary school children are used to fun things to do. Adults appreciate fun learning tactics as well. Perhaps the most important tutoring tip for elementary students is to make their sessions fun. Fun produces laughter, which produces endorphins in the brain. Who wouldn’t want to learn when laughing and fun are part of the lesson? Now, that’s how to structure a tutoring session!

Take A Break

Five to ten minutes for a bathroom break, getting a drink or a snack (depending on the time of day or evening,) or simply stretching the body gives the mind a chance to not only rest but to recap what was learned in the tutoring session. This is one of the tutoring tips for elementary students necessary for the student not to be overwhelmed by the burden of learning.

How To End A Tutoring Session

Also one of the most important facets of how to structure a tutoring session is how to end it. Your student will impart the impact of the session on his goals. He will ask for any explanation of things that confused him or that weren’t quite clear. The tutor will praise the student for these things as well as his progress thus far.

The tutor and student will agree on the lesson plan for the next session, ensuring that the student writes this down in his notes or his planner. This wrap-up will take five to ten minutes.

How To Manage The Financial Aspect Of Tutoring

While many tutors are volunteers, more tutors charge for their services or work for schools that pay them for their services. However, factors involved in charging for tutoring services will be important to both.

Subject

Since we’re using learning English as the basis of this tutorial, the need for such a subject must be clearly defined. The need for bilingual tutoring is apparent from the records of schools with Spanish, Middle Eastern, and children of other areas like Asia, for example. Rates are usually higher in these instances.

Education

Next, the tutor will need some education in the subject matter. A college student or graduate with at most a Master’s degree in languages is highly sought and can charge healthy rates.

Experience

Teaching experience backed up by a teaching certificate allows the tutor to charge higher rates. These certificates indicate that the tutor is up to date on teaching methods and best practices in your field of study. Furthermore, it indicates that you have the necessary knowledge and experience of small children and how to properly support them.

Location

Rural areas tend not to have many children of other nationalities in schools. These children gravitate towards the cities in which their parents or other family members work. The neighborhoods these schools serve are as many and varied as the families living and working in them.

Many schools are in the inner portions of large, sprawling cities. Tutors working in these types of communities might not charge as much as the tutors serving schools in suburbia or uptown neighborhoods, for example.

How To Figure Out Tutoring Rates

With the above having been said, it’s time to figure out what to charge for your tutoring services. Thoroughly research tutor rates in your city as a basis for comparison. Figure a base rate as you’ve researched for your city. Add a dollar or two for your education, experience, and subject matter.

As an example, Baltimore tutors charge between $25 and $65 per hour with a median charge of $50 per hour. Baltimore tutors specialize in elementary and middle school homework help, reading, and math. They also help with high school writing.

Use A Tutoring Rate Calculator

Online calculators are popular for everything from car insurance rates to mortgage rates. Yes, there’s one for tutoring rates, too. It consists of entering the tutor rate (TR) as the amount charged per hour. The next figure is the expertise level (EL) of the tutor. It’s based on the $25 per hour the tutor will charge.

For tutoring rates per hour elementary, the tutor has a teaching certificate. She will begin with a $35 base rate. The child will require two two-hour sessions per week in the chosen subject. The calculator will read like this: $35 times four hours per week equals $140 per week. One hundred forty dollars per week for four weeks equals $560 per month. This is based on an online calculator.

How Much Should I Charge For Tutoring Elementary Students?

Using Baltimore as an example, research shows that college students charge around $20 to $25 for tutoring elementary school children. Classroom volunteers with two years’ experience charge $10 to $15 per hour to tutor elementary school kids. Student teachers with eight years’ experience under their belts charge $15 to $30 an hour to tutor children.

You can see from this that tutors without formal certificates or degrees can make a living tutoring our children. It goes without saying that those with degrees make more money to the tune of $20 to $30 per hour. Research your city to find out what tutors make per hour.

How Much To Charge For Tutoring Primary School Students

“Elementary” school covers a lot of territories. In some states, primary school consists of kindergarten through first and second grades. The elementary school then takes over from third grade up to sixth, when middle school follows.

This means that tutoring primary school children will involve the basics and beginnings of education from sensory to physical education, language arts, math, history, and personal development.

The tutor helping primary school kids will concentrate the most on math and reading skills. For this, the tutor generally charges much less than she would charge, say, an elementary school pupil. Again using Baltimore as an example, certified teachers charge between $35 and $60 per hour to tutor kindergarten and primary school children in math and reading.

Final Thoughts

How to structure a tutoring session is all about the student. He’s trusting you to teach him what he needs to know about learning English. Your patience, compassion, and enthusiasm for teaching him will give him the confidence he needs to continue learning.

You’ll make a plan. You’ll explain this plan to the student so you’re on the same page, so to speak. You’ll use several learning methods to help the student recognize words and phrases. The student will interact with you before, during, and after the lesson in order for you to gauge his progress.

How you charge for your tutoring services is dependent on your knowledge of the subject matter, your education and experience, the age of the child, and the learning level or grade of the child. Tutoring sessions usually last an hour twice a week. You can make a good living tutoring children as well as feeling the euphoria that comes with watching your pupil succeed.