A student named Mia needed help with her reading assignment, so I offered to help her out. The reading assignment was about the creation of the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights. Mia asked me how the Aurora Borealis was created, so I skimmed through the reading and tried to find the answer. In my mind, I thought I was not supposed to give her the answer but lead her to the right path, but I ended up telling her because that was much easier. Although I am not a paid and experienced tutor, I felt not only embarrassed for choosing the easy way out but also relieved because both Mia and I wanted to finish the assignment quickly. Luckily, the next and last question involved interaction as Mia explained to me the main idea of the reading. I paraphrased what she told me, and she wrote what I told her. In this case, I did give her the answer, but it was a crafted answer that came from Mia. Thus, I enjoyed helping Mia with her reading assignment because I learned that encouraging the student to explain the answer and then I paraphrasing what he or she said can facilitate learning and increase understanding.
Rose Scholars Spring 2020
Endless possibilities
There are so many times when this sort of dilemma occurs. Clearly the student had faith in your ability to answer the question. However, as a tutor myself, I’ve faced a number of situations when I simply did not know the answer to the detail required. It sounds as if your strategy of first looking for the answer and then reliably rephrasing that answer was an important first step. Not always the best call, giving answers, but at least it leads a student down the path of the type of content and the frame of thinking that is required. I think you did an excellent job figuring out how to get the student back involved in the later questions. Good job!
I love this process of having the student to explain their thought process, when tutoring. It’s often a really good tool to see how they’re interpreting things (do they have the right ideas?) and how they’re framing them (are they using precise/correct language? This one is more relevant for older people, of course). And paraphrasing them allows you both to discuss language (if relevant) and validate their thoughts and work based on them, which can be a really good form of encouraging students to remain engaged!
From what you’ve said, it sounds like that went well with Mia, so great job!! 😀