Qualities of a Good Tutor

Being a good tutor requires you to have some basic qualities.

Good Listener: You have to be able to listen to what your student is telling you. Don’t interrupt when they have questions, rather you need to listen to see exactly what their questions are about. Being able to listen to what the student is trying to tell will make you able to help them out better. Being a good listener will allow you to be a much better tutor.

Patience: Don’t rush a student to come up with an answer as they won’t be able to take in everything they are supposed to be learning. Don’t get annoyed when you have to go over something again and again and again. It is your job as a tutor to make sure they understand the material so patience is something that you must have.

Reliability: You have to be able to have time in your schedule to help your students out. Don’t commit to being a tutor if you are going to flake out on them. It is also important that the student is able to rely on you to answer their questions as well as to help them figure out any issues they may have with the material. Your student relies a lot on you as a tutor, so you better make sure you are able to be there for them.

Enthusiasm: Students are going to learn a lot more from an enthusiastic tutor then one that doesn’t show any real joy or passion for what they are doing. By being enthusiastic you are showing your tutoring student that learning can be fun and engaging. Enthusiasm helps make a tutoring session less boring so that the student is more apt to want to learn the material you are trying to teach him or her.

Honesty: You can’t simply tell your tutoring students the answers or do their work for them as this is incredibly dishonest. For one, you are not helping the student learn anything about the material. They are going to be just as confused as when they came to you for help. And two, you are putting a bad name out there for tutoring programs. No one is going to want to hire a tutor if they feel that no learning is going to be done. The best thing to do is to honestly teach the student the material.

Desire to help others: You need to have a want to help others do better. If you come in to a tutoring session with the attitude that you don’t care and are just there for the extra cash, the student will pick up on that. You need to go into the situation with a desire to make your tutoring student understand whatever material you are given to teach them. This desire will transfer from you to your student and they will be more apt to try to learn the material.

Knowledge: You need to be qualified to be a tutor. If you don’t know the material that the student needs to learn then you are not a good candidate to be their tutor. If you have no knowledge of what the student needs to learn than you will be more of a hindrance then a help. Make sure you only tutor in areas that you are knowledgeable in.

Care: You need to care about the student you are teaching. Get to know them on a more personal basis by asking them questions such as, “Do you have any weekend plans?” or “What kind of hobbies do you have?” By asking questions you will gain a better understanding of the student you are working with and you will show the student you care about them. The simple act of showing you care will allow the student to have more trust in you and make them more comfortable around you. If you genuinely care about your tutoring students it will make each tutoring session easier and more comfortable for bothe you and your student.