Combating the Biggest Fear for Private Tutors
I often find myself in conversations with teachers who ask what I do for a living. I usually respond by saying that I am an online teacher, but I am not the traditional teacher. Instead, I’m more like a Math coach (which is just a fancy way of saying “Tutor”).
Without fail, everyone responds with similar variations of the statement, “Oh wow, I don’t think I could do that.” Then, the line of questions come and excuses for why they are unable to transition into tutoring. But, there is a specific fear that really stands above the rest, and in our time together, we will talk about it and I’ll provide you with my top solutions to push you in the right direction!
What is the biggest fear?
The biggest fears tutors generally have is “What if the student asks something I do not know?”
This was one of the fears that kept me from really taking a deeper dive into actually taking tutoring more seriously. You see, I tutored for my local university to help to pay for school, and so, it was easy to clock in, stay for a few hours, help a few students and still get paid even if I didn’t know the answers. HOWEVER, now that my reputation was on the line, it became more fear inducing and debilitating. But, here is how to address it!
Solution # 1
If you do not know the answer, just say so. It will save you much headache to simply let the student know that you are not familiar with the content rather than taking them on a wild goose hunt “hoping” you will arrive at the right answer.
How do I know, well... take your guess… I’ve tried it! In the end, I simply asked the student to give me a few minutes to work through the problems and then we rescheduled a time to pick back up. Yes, there is a potential to loose clients, but it is a better outcome compared to having to repeatedly correct your own mistakes in front of the student.
This drives us to our second solution.
Solution # 2
Ask the client to email a copy of any content, worksheets, or study guides the student would like to go over during your session. Provide a reasonable timeline that will allow you to go through some of the questions and do any necessary research. This tip is a gamechanger and life saver, because it allows you to have better control of the session. If you find that there is a question you really do not know, you can ask a friend, or you can simply let the student know that you are not certain of the question, but encourage them to ask the teacher.
Going into a tutoring session prepared builds your confidence as a tutor, and it also helps you to focus more on the needs of the student, rather than your insecurity.
Solution # 3
Only take on last-minute sessions if you are prepared to do so. When tutors take on last minute sessions, that is, sessions that give little to no time for preparation and not prior insight about what will be covered, it automatically places them at a disadvantage. This is because there is much more room for the tutor to be blind sighted by the questions and content. Also, it can waste the time of the client if you are not able to think on your feet and meet the needs of the learner.
I find that it is safer to understand your strengths and weaknesses as a tutor, and operate in those strengths while learning to navigate the weaknesses in a manner that benefits both tutor and client. So, I have set up a policy for myself, that I will only take on students at the last minute when I am confident that I know the content they are covering and can meet their need.
Now, there is so much more that can be said about the fears tutors have regarding tutoring. In fact, the solutions that are mentioned above can become solutions to others fears as well. Nevertheless, I hope that these solutions will help to push you in the right direction as you step out in faith!
