Tutor Training

For the past semester I've worked as a writing tutor, and for the past year and a half, I've been a tutor in an Adult Basic Education (ABE) classroom for people seeking their GED. As a tutor working with adults of all ages, levels and backgrounds, I think I've learned more from the students than they have from me.

I've read essays about people's struggles with drug addiction, anorexia, learning a new language, having a child born prematurely, seeing a friend die from a gun shot, finding religion and of course, a challenge they all share: going back to school.

For me, going to college was never a question, it was the next phase of life after graduating from high school. The majority of my friends followed the same path. And while I knew people who didn't go to college, it was never something I contemplated much. You go to high school, you decide on a school and you go.

I knew from a young age, I would go to Colorado State University, I would go to vet school, I would become a vet, care for animals of all sizes and type and have a menagerie at home. My mother was an elementary school teacher and people always asked my sister and I if we wanted to be teachers like our mom. I always vehemently said no.

Lesson One: Learn to deal with the unexpected

I said no because I saw the long hours my mom put in, both during the school year and during her breaks. I had helped organize projects that she was working on. I had graded a few papers. I had put up decorations in the classroom, stapled the monthly calendar into place on the wall and organized and cataloged the books that she kept in her classroom library by reading level and interest. I had heard her discuss parents who were either over or under involved. I said no, because I heard exasperation in her voice as she talked about kids who were unruly and didn't do their school work. I remember disagreements with principals. I said no, because working with animals sounded a heck of a lot easier than dealing with those stresses.

And then came the change of major. Then came the failed launch of a journalism career. Soul searching ensued. I found myself in an MFA writing program trying to glean what I could teach others about writing. It was a roundabout route to what I had suspected all along: I wanted to share knowledge with people who needed it.

Lesson Two: Patience

Working with the students in ABE class, I have found a patience I didn't know I had. This patience extends beyond the rules of writing into teaching math, something I never imagined. I always thought I was horrible at math in school, but I actually understand a lot more than I ever thought I did. (Part of it is probably the amazing workbooks we have that use really good examples that are easy to understand.)

I still suck at remembering my multiplication tables, but algebra came back easily, and I'm able to figure out percentages, fractions and even long division. Not bad for a writer. One of my students is working on algebra and every week it's a struggle. It would be easy to be frustrated with her when she repeats the same mistakes week after week. And week after week I have to remind her that every reaction has an opposite reaction and we must follow that rule. As one of my coworkers has told me, I seem to have infinite patience. But it's something I have to remind myself every time I open my mouth to a student: here is a person who is still learning these rules. Everyone learns differently, at a different pace, and most importantly: I was this person once.

There are many different subjects that make sense to some of us and seem like a totally abstract concepts to the rest of us. Some subjects we may become semi-experts in, others we may ignore for the rest of our lives. But one thing people should always keep in mind: getting upset with someone for not immediately knowing everything in the universe helps no one. It doesn't help the teacher to believe that the student can't learn. It doesn't help the student to believe that they are incapable of learning. Success is your reward for being patient.

Lesson Three: Adult learners are among the most courageous

I can't imagine going back to school thirty years after I graduated from high school, can you? What about moving to a country where the majority of the citizens don't speak your language? And not only that, but you are going to school to learn this new language as well as earn a degree of some sort? I cannot even comprehend the challenge. Not only do these adult students amaze me, but the ESL students I work with astound me. It never fails that I enter a tutoring session and an ESL student says they need help with their grammar. What is so interesting to me is how well these people, who think their English skills are awful, really understand English. Definitely a lot better than I understand Chinese, Russian, Arabic or Japanese. Their eagerness to learn is infectious. Read the sentence: She say she win me next time. Suggest a modification: I think you mean, "She said she would beat me next time." A smile spreads across the face next to me: Oh, yes. She would beat me. Say a phrase and they jot it down and ask you to say it again. Smiles illuminate with recognition. Encouragement is paramount. Praise successes and be gentle with suggestions.

It's not just ESL students I find inspiration in; there is a grandmother in my ABE class that is learning to read. I love watching her finish a section of her social studies book. She sits back in her chair, lips slightly parted, a smile tugging on one side of her mouth, a look of wonder in her eyes and says, "Wow." A year ago, she was still using an audio dictionary to read many sentences; plugging in a word and listening to it be pronounced. Her kids are grown. This is her time to learn, she told me.

Lesson four: To teach is to learn

No matter what I teach my students, learning how to share my knowledge in a better way is important to me. Keeping the tutoring session a safe place to ask questions is especially imperative. Empowering students to ask questions may help the teacher teach more effectively in the future. I encourage my writing tutees to stop me if they have a question as we read through their work. Many feel since I'm the "expert" I have all the answers. I recognize that there are limitations to both my knowledge and my proofreading -- there are probably going to be things I miss or fail to explain. Questions can take you out of the moment, perhaps into something deeper.

This is probably the most important item I've learned as a tutor. There is room for growth in all of us, either as a student or a teacher. While I tell people I'm probably done with school, I don't ever believe I will stop learning. And I don't want to stop. Education, whether formal or not, is vital. Humans learn every day. If we aren't learning, we become complacent. What a boring world that would be.

Thanks for stopping by The Tendrils.