Well done on getting booked for a tutoring task! We have put together this guide to help you deliver your tutoring sessions along with some useful resources to use.
Although it’s not necessary to do hours of preparation in advance, it’s important to have a plan for your session. Having a lesson plan with an outline of what you will cover and do will help with engaging the child but also gives you the confidence to deliver the session
If it is your first session, find out from both the parents and the child what areas you will need to focus on. If they have signed up for English tutoring, what area specifically do they need help in? Agree on some goals/ways of working for your session – are they going to bring you homework each week to go over? Or will you go through a list of topics etc? It is good to lay out clear aims that everyone can agree on.
Setting out the plan for the session is an important step in providing direction to your session. Everyone should have a clear idea of what is going to be achieved/ worked on in the session, and it should be manageable within the 45 minutes time frame
It’s important to check in with the child to make sure they are understanding the work, if you are going too fast or slow, etc. It helps to also check in with the parents and keep them well-informed about the progress their child is making.
In your preparation make sure to include fun and engaging ways to teach your student. You don’t want it to be 45 minutes of just you doing the talking. Think about how to include practical activities, questions to check understanding and fun games to keep your students interested and tailor this to the age of the child.
Having a plan is great, but don’t feel like you have to rigidly stick to it in the session. Your student may need more time to go over one area or may have something else that they want to focus on that week.
After each session, its helpful to message the parent on the platform to let them know how it went, what you intend to focus on next week and if there is any activities/tasks that you are setting for their child to complete over the week.
Its good to also get regular feedback after sessions from both the child and the parent to see if there is anything else you could do in the sessions to help with their learning
Ensure your client has made a booking for your next session and provide Zoom links ahead of time. If there are any issues make sure you get in contact with the MyPocketSkill Community Team on the platform.
BBC Bitesize - Full of free videos, step-by-step guides, activities and quizzes by level and subject from KS1 to GCSE
Kahoot - Create fun games with questions from topics to test understanding
Save My Exams - Revision guides, topic notes, past paper questions for GCSE and A Level organised by exam board and subject
Quizlet - Interactive flashcard style resources to quiz students and check knowledge
Google Slides and Google Docs - Free powerpoint and document tools to create worksheets and presentations