Tutoring is more than doing your homework.

Ted and I recently worked with a former student.  When she was in third grade she needed help with reading. She and I worked together and her reading came up. She now makes A's and B's and does well in school.  She has a strong family support system.  I was at her aunt's house and happened to ask about her grades.  She was struggling in Math.  We set up a tutoring session and Ted and I worked for two and a half hours with her.  This is too long but she was close to having an F.  We took breaks on the balance boards when she became tired.  When she took the test she made an A on it.  One happy student and tutor.

 I encouraged her to share the information with her friends at school. I also told her she needed to come back as there was something she still needed to work on but I was not sure what it was.  She agreed to come the next week.

The next week she called and said she did not need to come as she understood the week's lesson and did not have any homework. I was tired and she was tired so I agreed to have her come the next week.  The next week she again did not have homework and did not come.  I talked to her Dad and explained she needed to come and let me check her fractions.  I thought she had a problem with fractions but had not had time to find out the last time she came.  She agreed to come.

The day she was supposed to come she called and asked if she needed to come as she did not have any homework.  I insisted she come.  I think she thought she was going to have to work for another two and a half hours.  She was pleased her grade was a 79.  I told her that 79 was not a good grade for her.  She said it was a lot better than a 62.  I agreed it was that I was proud of her for bringing up her grade, but 79 was still not a good grade for her.

As I started checking her fraction knowledge, she understood most of the fractions.  I was pleased with her knowledge.  When we started the multiply and divide parts, we found the problem.  She was only multiplying the top numbers of the fractions and also did not know how to divide.

She told me she thought she was just making a mistake when she missed these kinds of problems on the test.  There were usually only 2 or 3 of them on the test and her grade was still acceptable to her when she missed them.  Once she understood multiplying and dividing, we were finished with tutoring.  Tutoring only took 45 minutes this time.  Her happy smile lit up the room that we were finished.

A few days later, when I saw her, she was jumping up and down with excitement.  Her grade is now a B  She is no longer grounded and has her cell phone back.  One reason tutoring this child is so important to me is because she loves to share what she knows with others.  She will help the others in her class who are struggling.  She is a natural teacher regardless of if she decides to go into the teaching field as an adult or not.