Effective Home Tutor Series: 1
This is one very interesting and important article of my starting series – Effective Home Tutor. I start this series with this article. But why so? I am asking this question to myself all the time along as I wrote this. I never got a very perfect answer though, but one thing was continuously present in my mind. That is, if an effective home tutor cannot be effective with the parents from the day of first introduction to the day of first teaching, then I am afraid that the respective home tutor can no longer carry on to become the home tutor for that respective home-student.
Indeed, in the case of home tutoring the parents plays such a vital role that is perhaps not that usual and prominent in cases of other forms of teaching, such as school teacher or coaching center teacher. For this reason, I have to again and again come to the issue of communication between home tutor with student’s parents in my series on home tutoring. And we will explore in as much detail as possible on the subject of parent-tutor communication and issues.
In this issue of the series I would focus on the first day. Now you can wonder which is the actual first day? The day you as an aspiring home tutor first got introduced to the parents, or the day you are to start teaching the student.
Well, in my perspective, both days are the first day in their own respective manner. And there is absolutely no scope to deny or anyhow devalue the importance and sensitivity of both the days. So it will be better if we do justice with both the ‘first days’ and cover them both here in this article.
Let us assume that you are a home tutor for quite some time, say about 2 years or more, currently teaching more than one student, and have a college degree. But you need a boost in your career as a home tutor. But you need more and more students for that. So you registered to one reputed home tutor consultancy agency functional at your locality, just like this one, KridhaTutor Consultancy functional in Kolkata, West Bengal and Bihar of India.
Once you are in the good book of a reputed home tutor consultancy then it would not be a long wait for you. It is likely that you will get some leads or interested parents within a short time. If it happens to be a critically crisis time like Covid-19 lockdown then it may take much longer.
Now let me ask you a question…suppose you have got that call from the home tutor consultancy agency which you are eagerly waiting for a couple of days. So you have got the call, so what will be your conversation with the representative of the consultancy on the other part of the telephone?
A few things you should be knowing and understanding very meticulously before moving forward to get connected with the parents of that respective home tuition lead that you are discussing with the consultancy representative.
I am trying to provide a small checklist which you should be making clear before you start your conversations with the parents. This checklist is not exhaustive but can be taken as a basic guideline. You can always add more queries for your purpose and you should always feel absolutely free for that.
- Check the location of the home tuition very meticulously. Before anything, you have to make it sure with yourself that the location is comfortable with you. You have to attend the tuition in-date in-time, so you are the best decision-maker about what is exactly comfortable to you. If you feel any location as uncomfortable for you, settle this in the very first conversation with the representative of the home tutor consultancy.
- Ask and know the details about the student’s class and school and other academic details like last year’s grades, and so on. You should have a very clear idea about the student and his or her performances before you take the responsibility of tutoring that student.
- Then you should query about the specific requirements that may have been posted by the parents. If you do not meet the requirements then you may have to consider stepping back from this particular student and wait for the next one from the consultancy.
- Try to know something about the parents also. That will be helpful to make you prepare for your first day meeting with them. If you can have an idea about the academic, economic and social aspects of the parents then that can be useful for your preparation accordingly. Though in most cases these information are not available with the home tutor consultancy. But still if they can provide any input regarding these then that can prove to be valuable.
In case you do not get much idea about parents from the consultancy then you have to figure it out all by yourself on the very first day of your meeting with them. You can also try to get some information when you will be having your first telephonic conversation with the parents before the meeting and to fix the date and time of meeting. But that is usually not very possible and nothing will be good to overdo in this process. The more natural, smooth and seamless it can be, the better and positive result it will yield.
So let us suppose that you have completed all the process with your home tutor consultancy. And also you have called the parents to fix up a date and time of meeting. Also you have been able to get some information about the parents, but obviously not too much or too detail. So what’s next?
The next obvious thing to do is to go to the respective students house (or the preset meeting venue) at the predetermined time without fail. And you should be dressed in a dignified and presentable manner. There will be no specific dress code usually, so normal dress that you feel comfortable in will do. But it should be dignified and reflect your higher taste and culture.
I personally recommend a wrist watch. Though many people nowadays do without it comfortably as they have one clock on their mobile. But wearing a good quality wristwatch portrays some professional qualities within you. That is, you value your time. And one who values his or her time is also expected to give value to other peoples’ time. And time is perhaps the most precious thing we have just after our precious life. So as a teacher you have to learn to respect your own time and also to teach the same to your student.
Keep a very meticulous taste for your shoes also. Many people ignore the shoes though very conscious about the other sections of the dress. Your shoes most often are the sign of your way of taking life. We think that shoes go unnoticed, but that’s not the exact fact. In many business occasions your shoes carry your professional attitude and taste. Life is a journey and so does your work. So wearing high quality shoes with a statement positive to your profession signifies that you are ready for a long journey, a long distance and also in as perfectly as you can. I think as a teacher, a work boot or a sneaker would do much better.
As you reach the meeting venue, you have to follow usual greeting etiquettes which you already know I suppose. It is good to keep things brief and short. Small sentences are better. Pauses can be long.
If they ask you about yourself and your professional experiences, it is better to give brief and to-the-point answers. You can mix a little bit of marketing hypes and bites, but that should be very natural and subtle. Overdoing will be more negative than any positive. Then you can start some questions and answer conversations about the student. If the student is present there then you can start the conversation with him or her or else you can start the discussion with the parents also.
If you are not asked anything at beginning then you can start the conversation by some general questions about the student. Like the name, class, performances and grades, academic likes and dislikes, aims and aspirations, etc. One thing you should not miss to ask is about the subject you are there to teach. You should know in detail about what are his or her exact problems and requirements in that or those subjects. And you should also very meticulously figure out what exactly is wanted from you and whether you can deliver that or not.
In all the conversations, you have to figure out the exact problems they are facing with their child’s education regarding that subject. There must be a problem and that’s why you are there. And you are expected to be the solver of that problem. So better and faster you point out the problems and plan or devise some effective solution, the better for you as the home tutor.
If you are already experienced then you can do all these very easily and spontaneously. But if you are a fresher or much less experienced then you have to work on these issues. It’s better that you start working up on these issues right at your home before the real meeting. You can consult some experienced teacher around you who can give you valuable advice. You may also seek help from the home tutor consultancy for some advice and tips. Many consultancy also have tutor mentoring and consulting services for these purposes. Such mentoring services are sometimes also available for teaching and pedagogy processes and methodologies.
It is always better to carry your documents with you. Your identity proof documents, academic documents and other professional documents (if any). Though usually they are not required in the introductory meeting of a home tutor but still some parents can be a little more demanding than others. You better carry some photocopies of the documents also. If you are asked to give some documents for their reference or filing purpose then you may have to provide the same.
Usually the first day is not a study day. But sometimes you may get it. You can provide a brief demo class. But do not anyhow cross the time limit of the total conversation and demo class. Keep the time limit equal to the time limit of any normal class that you will be delivering regularly.
You may be asked for a few free demo classes. In such cases you have to give some. But it is advised to keep it within the limit of two in numbers or one week in duration whichever is lesser.
If you are asked to give some demo class then you have to understand that they will be your acid-tests. Don’t give too many demo classes, limit it as little as possible, preferably not exceeding two. But you have to plan your demo classes very meticulously and intelligently. So what would you be teaching in demo classes?
There can be 2 different modes. One mode is you keep some of the toughest parts of the subject very well prepared and presentable. You can make some illustrations, presentations, quiz sets, light assessment papers and so on. And in your demo classes you discuss and deliver those very well prepared sections first. But you must understand that whatever standard of teaching you define and establish in your demo classes that you have to more or less continue with your normal classes as well.
The second mode can be more attractive but also can be a bit more difficult for you. In this case you ask the student about his difficulties and pain points in the subject. Then you take one of that and deliver one demo class on that topic. If you can make that topic very easy and comfortable to the student then you can understand that your job is done. But for this mode you have to keep yourself prepared well in almost all possible difficulties of that respective subject.
After the demo classes are over, if your student finds your teaching and pedagogy interesting and effective for him then the job is done.
So this is a brief sketch about your first day and demo days with your new student and his or her parents. I will be covering many more topics regarding home tutoring and teaching as a whole. Keep following my articles for more interesting discussions and information.
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So bye for now and wish you all the best for your first day as home tutor.