How to plan your first tutoring session
- Aimée Elkington
- Oct 7, 2023
- 7 min read
If you have a desirable skill set, tutoring is a great career option.
Tutors are their own bosses, can earn a decent amount of cash, and get to make a living talking about what they are passionate about.
What more could you want?
However, the reality of your first session can be a bit daunting. A multitude of worries might be running through your head: will my student actually learn anything from me? How do I break the ice? Where do I even start?
My name is Aimee, and I'm a Secondary School teacher in the UK. I work with young people everyday to get them from A to B on their learning journey.
In this blog post I will walk you through how to make sure your first tutoring session runs smoothly, and your tutee walks away wanting more.
1. Assess your learner's prior knowledge before the first session.
Imagine the scene:
You spend hours planning the content for your very first tutoring session, only for Little Timmy to waltz in and show you that he has already mastered that content at school.
You move through the session too quickly and now you're not sure what to do for that last agonising half an hour. Little Timmy goes home and tells his mum how boring it was, and you never see him again.
Sounds rubbish, right? One of the biggest mistakes I see new tutors make is not scoping out the prior knowledge of their tutees.
While it makes sense that if they are paying for tutoring they need some help, you should not assume that every tutee is a total novice in your area.
You want every session to be impactful, but the first session needs to make the biggest impact. The first session is where the parents paying you decide if your services are worthwhile.
Therefore, it is essential you are personalising your session to the child taking it.
There are a couple of ways to do this. The first option is to organise a brief introductory meeting where your only goal is to break the ice and get an idea of the knowledge your learner possesses.
This takes the pressure away from actually teaching, and can be incredibly useful in terms of making a first impression. In this meeting you can make note of what they feel confident with and what they would like to improve on.
You can also discuss this with their parent, as they may have a better idea of their child's skill level. I recommend this option as you can also get an idea of what your tutee will respond well to - do they like games? Do you need a low-stake starter every session to build their confidence? Is there something that they are super in to that you can work into your content?
These are all things that you should be thinking about on that first meeting.
The other option is creating an entry form for your tutee to fill out prior to the first session. This form should delve into why they are looking for tutoring sessions in this subject.
Is it because there is an exam coming up and they are currently failing? Is it because they are currently doing really well in school but want to be pushed that little bit further? Once you know their motives, it will become easier to plan effective sessions for them.
This form should also include a space for them to write down specifically where they want to improve, and where they feel confident. If your learner is a total beginner, it is important there is a space on the form where they can declare that so you know you are starting with the basics.
The good thing about this option is that the form can be digital - for example, Google Forms - which means you won't have to exchange your time for no profit.
Here are some questions I recommend you have on your form. Fo young children, you might want to reword the questions so they are aimed at the parents:
Why would you like tutoring sessions?
Are you totally new to _______?
Can you outline any previous experience you have had with _____?
What areas are you looking to improve on?
What areas do you feel confident with?
The answers you get from these questions can help you create the perfect first session for your tutee.
2. Start your first session with a 'hook'
Remember, your first session with a tutee is all about you selling yourself.
Yes, teaching is an ancient and noble profession that should not be reduced down to how thrilling the process is, but you do need to pay the bills.
As a tutor, that means making sure your tutee wants to keep coming back.
One of the best ways to ensure your learner is engaged is to start the session with something low stakes, challenging, and - dare I say it - fun.
A 'hook' is a starter that ticks all those boxes. This does not have to be anything extravagant.
There are plenty of things you can do that are simple and effective at engaging kids straight away.
Here are a list of hooks I recommend:
1. Spot the difference.
Teaching about the difference between Birmingham before and after the Industrial Revolution? How about what happens to a plant during photosynthesis?
Spot the difference its a great visual aid to help your learner gage change. For this task they don't need prior knowledge, so it is perfect for a first session.
2. Roll the dice quiz.
It does not matter what age someone is - for some reason everyone loves it when a dice comes out.
Come up with six questions and label them 1-6. Your tutee has to roll the dice 3 times and answer the questions it lands on.
3. Pictionary.
Draw a picture that relates to the topic your are studying. Your learner has to guess what it is. Once they have some more knowledge under their belt, they can draw too!
If you are teaching online, the platform WebWhiteboard.com allows you to make collaborative boards with your students for free just by sharing a link.
4. Blurting.
Get your learner to write down as many things as they can about a certain topic within a time limit. I usually give 30 seconds so they really feel the pressure!
5. Stand up if...
Read through a series of statements linked to the content you are covering. Your learner needs to stand up if they think it is true, or sit down if they think it is false. From experience, this works best with younger tutees!
These are just a few of the ideas that I have had success with over the years. They are quick and effective for getting your tutee in the mindset for learning.
3. Balance time for instruction with time for practice.
Us educators could talk for hours, but while there is definitely a need for in depth explanation, it can't take up the whole session.
Therefore, dedicated practice time needs to be worked in.
This can look different depending on the the subject you are teaching, however the steps to get your learner from 'listening' to 'doing' are pretty much universal.
The 'I do, We do, You do' approach is widely used in the world of pedagogy, and for good reason.
Not only is it a very effective way of letting your learner master a new skill, it is also super easy to execute. I will use the example of teaching descriptive writing.
1. I do
The first step is to model the process to my tutee.
I would 'think out loud' as I write and ask myself questions - 'what is special about the flower? Well it's quite tall and pink..... Should I put a full stop here? Yes, I think I should because it is the end of the sentence' - so that my learner can hear and see my thought process.
2. We do
I would then tell them we are going to write the next one together. This time, I will ask similar questions but get my learner to answer them.
This way, I am leading them in the right direction with my questions, but they are doing the thinking behind the answer. This not only builds confidence but also hopefully sets them up to ask themselves these questions in the next stage.
3. You do
For this stage I would completely give the reins over to my learner. They now have two examples to refer to, and can use those answers to create a description independently.
Sometimes, the learner might still be struggling. If this is the case, I would go back to the 'we do' part and keep doing examples until they are confident to do it on their own.
Depending on what the focus of the session is, 'I do, We do, You do' tasks can take as much or little time as you need.
Make sure you prep a few examples in advance so you know exactly how to model it, and you will have an instant win for your first tutoring session!
4. Create an exit ticket
Valuable feedback is a vital part of the learning process. In fact, feedback is one of the most high impact and low cost way of improving learning performance (check out this article for the full study).
In order for feedback to be successful, you need to act on it. An Exit Ticket can help you plan your next session so that you are guaranteed progress.
An exit ticket is a great way to reflect on learning and also serves as a reminder of progress at the beginning of the next session.
It does not need to be overly complicated - a simple 'What Went Well' and 'Even Better If' can work wonders for pinpointing how to improve on learning.
It can be as simple as this:
This form allows both me and my student to reflect on progress and plan for next time. Easy!
Access this template for free on Canva by clicking here .
5. Speak to the parent after the session.
If you have followed these steps, you will have a successful first session with you tutee. However, there is one last thing you need to plan for.
Speaking to the parent/s at the end of the lesson is vital for retaining tutees. It does not have to take up much more of your time - just a couple of minutes will do.
The end of the first session is your chance to show the parent/s how much progress you have made with their child already. You can show them the Exit Ticket so they can see you are already planning how to help their child improve.
First impressions are everything in tutoring, and if you can form a positive relationship with the tutee and their parents in the very first session then you are way more likely to keep business with them.
Ultimately, parents pay tutors to help their child progress in a certain area. If you can show you are doing that in the very first hour of working with them, then you are giving them every reason to keep paying you!
This has been 5 tips to successfully plan your first tutoring session. For more tips, bookmark www.tipsfortutors.co.uk, or follow me on instagram @tipsfortutoz, for regular articles on teaching and learning for tutoring businesses.
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