THE 5 P’s
- Prepare – Preparing before the child arrives helps you to focus your attention fully on the child once the tutoring session begins. The child will know if you are not prepared – this sends a message that they are not important to you or worth time and effort. Always over-prepare – it is much better to have too much than not enough!
- Pause – Give the child a chance to think of the answer, just because they don’t know the answer right away doesn’t mean that they can’t come up with it if given the chance. But don’t wait forever, you just want to give them enough time to try and get the answer – kids are smart and if you always give the answer right away they won’t try.
- Prompt – Don’t give the students the answer, guide them toward the answer. There is a saying “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for life.” It doesn’t say give them a fishing pole and wish them luck, it says teach. Teaching means giving them the tools they need and showing them how to use these tools to succeed. Just like pausing though, don’t over do it, if they can’t get it through prompting, move on – otherwise the student will become frustrated and not have a positive learning experience.
- Praise – Be sincere, be specific. False praise is transparent and worse than none at all. Praising builds the child’s confidence and self esteem.
- Probe – Ask questions. Make sure they got the right answer for the right reason. If they got the wrong answer it is important to understand why. They might understand the concept and just made a mistake, or they might not understand at all, but guessed right. It is important to know how and why they arrived at the answers they did. It is a way to check for student comprehension.
TYPES OF LEARNERS
Different students learn in different ways. It is important to identify the way your students learn, and then design instruction towards their learning style. When teaching many students you will have students who all learn differently. Therefore, it is your responsibility to integrate instruction designed for all learning types. Provide students with visuals, while explaining the concept and then give the students an opportunity to explore the concept hands-on.
- Auditory– this student learns best by hearing - 20-30 % of population. Benefit most from traditional teaching techniques. Regulating voice tone, inflection, and body language will help all students maintain interest and attention. Auditory learners succeed when directions are read aloud, speeches are required, or information is presented and requested verbally.
- Visual– this student learns best by seeing - 40 % of population. Benefit from diagrams, charts, pictures, films, and written directions. These students will value to-do lists, assignment logs, and written notes.
- Kinesthetic– this student learns best by touching – majority of students. Most successful when totally engaged with the learning activity. They acquire information fastest when participating in a science lab, drama presentation, skit, field trip, dance, or other active activity.