These five principles should guide your work as a tech tutor. Review this page before starting each tech tutoring shift throughout the semester.
Patience is the most critical gift you can give your tutees. Many tutees may already be frustrated and impatient with themselves when they come to a tutoring session. If you can be patient with your tutee, she or he is more likely to be patient as well.
Empathy is the ability to put yourself in another person’s shoes. When teaching skills you know inside and out, it takes an effort to imagine the confusion or puzzlement of a tutee. You need to go back in time when such skills or tasks were a mystery to you.
Your ultimate goal is for tutees to get tasks done without your help. So you want to help them understand the things you look for and the way you figure things out. By modeling the ways you solve technical problems and figure out programs for yourself, you’ll show tutees approaches they can use to work on their own.
The key to learning many technical skills is to know the right questions. The answers are often easy, once the right question is found. The best way to engage a tutee in active learning is to ask questions that gently guide her/him toward the answer without giving it directly.
Respect between tutor and tutee goes both ways. Every tutee deserves your respect and understanding. And you as the tutor deserve respect as well. You should never have to take abuse or harsh words from a tutee. While it’s understandable that a tutee will get frustrated at times, don’t allow them to take this out on you.