Tutor Resource

The 7 Tenets of Tutoring: Approach

Once the student’s expectations have been clarified, an appropriate approach can be selected. The approach should be based on the
needs and expectations of the student as well as where they are at on the learning curve. During the session, Tutors should be alert
for student cues that indicate the approach may not be working and a new one should be selected. There are many different
strategies Tutors can utilize to move students toward understanding.

Here are just a few:

is providing direct information and explanations to further develop understanding (e.g., if the student
Telling
is missing a key component, there are times when the Tutor will need to provide the student with that
information).

is a strategy used to increase the student’s chances of providing a desired response. In the online
Prompting classroom, prompts could come in the form of written hints in the chat, or visuals such as pictures or
diagrams on the whiteboard, to name a few.

is a strategy in which the Tutor demonstrates a concept for the student (e.g., using a similar problem
Modeling to show the steps) and allows the student to observe. This can be helpful if the student is very
unsure of where to begin.

is the gradual reduction of prompts to encourage greater independence by the student and less
Fading
reliance on the Tutor.

is a strategy that systematically supports student learning by engaging the student in the discussion.
Scaffolding It is accomplished by asking the student questions or providing the encouragement to interact on the
whiteboard for a demonstration of understanding. This technique is essential in building student
understanding in the ongoing discussion.

Tutors will need to adjust their tutoring style and modify their approach on the fly, moving from one strategy to another to
avoid frustration and/or confusion and keep the session moving forward. While different approaches utilize different levels
of engagement, the goal of the session should be to engage as often as possible while always moving the student toward
conceptual understanding and academic independence.

--- The one who does the work does the understanding.

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Examples
Student: i will put my problem on the whiteboard

Tutor: Ok great. Do you want to go ahead and start this one for us?

Student: i am not sure where to start

Tutor: Ok. Let’s back up a little then. This equation has two variables in it. Do you remember what the
definition of a variable is?

Scenario 1
Student: no, this is all new stuff

Tutor: Alright. How about I provide some information about how we do a problem like this and we can
go through a different one so you can see how to do yours. Does that sound good?

Student: yes thank you :-)

Tutor: So in your problem, there are two variables, x and y. These represent unknown numbers. To
solve this problem, all we have to do is find out what numbers these variables represent. So let’s
look at a simpler example to start, ok?

Student: ok :-)

The Tutor picked up on the cue that the scaffolding might not be the most productive approach to one that
involved more telling and modeling. The Tutor can move back and forth between different approaches to
ensure student understanding through involvement and lending a hand when uncertainty arises.

Tutor: Let’s take a look at this sentence from the 2nd paragraph.

Tutor: “The hospital prepared for the worst-case scenario, additional staff were scheduled.”

Student: ok

Tutor: Do you see anything in that sentence that might need some revisions?
Scenario 2
Student: no

Tutor: Ok, let’s take a minute to talk about the comma splice.
Tutor: A comma splice happens when you try to connect two independent clauses with just a comma.
Tutor: You can avoid these by using a conjunction, like “and” or “but” or by using a semi-colon instead.

Tutor: Do you see the comma splice in your sentence?

Student: I think so. Is it where the comma is? Can I put “and” instead of the comma?

Tutor: Excellent idea! Go ahead and do that.

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www.tutor.com  110 E 42nd St, Suite 700, New York, NY 10017

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Tutor: Here is another sentence we want to take a look at. We talked about this earlier. Do you see the
comma splice in this one?

Student: yes! Let me fix that.

Tutor: Let’s take a look at this sentence in the last paragraph. Do you see anything we might want to
revise here?

Student: yes, there is another comma splice!

Tutor: Great work!

The Tutor uses scaffolding in this example by:

1. Providing a greater amount of information or explanation during the first instance of the concept that
was challenging for the student to increase their knowledge.
2. Moving to questions that encourage the student to think about the previous situations and
information.
3. Allow the student to process the information they have previously seen to develop a greater
understanding of the concept.

The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University.

www.tutor.com  110 E 42nd St, Suite 700, New York, NY 10017