Ongoing client relations

Tutor Training Course
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It takes a lot to be a great tutor. Great tutors accept responsibility for their students, cheer for them in their successes and help pick them back up after their failures. Great tutors are more like coaches; they bring out the best in their students with patience and positive reinforcement. When a student does not understand something, typical tutors blame the student. But the best tutors evaluate themselves and teach the concept differently.
Course Content
Ongoing client relationse
Parents should have to wonder how their child is performing in their tutoring sessions. Every Talentmaster should do a scheduled check-in update every four sessions or so. In this check-in, give them an honest, effective status update. Parents love getting updates. It shows you care about the student and it makes the parents feel that their money is well spent. Every check-in, ensure you ask for feedback as well. Feedback is the most valuable information you can gain from your clients. A few points you should touch on during the check-in should be:
1. The student’s grade improvement so far (if academic class) 2. How they are doing with the current material 3. Where they are relative to their class / average students 4. How you expect their future progression to be 5. Asking for feedback from both the parent and student
If you are teaching a non-academic class, (ping-pong, piano, etc.) give your best assessment of how the student is improving to replace any equivalent grade improvement. For example, if you are teaching basketball, “Stephanie’s shooting form is a lot better than when we started.'' It is more difficult than saying, “she scored a 94% on her exam”, but should still be done.
Share a document with the parents that contains basic lesson summaries for each of your students (template provided). Do things that imply you care about your student’s academic success. Great tutors accept responsibility for their students’ grades and take them as if they were their own. Keep track of your student’s progress and provide effective positive reinforcement when necessary. In your sessions, do not make it just homework help. Enforce a maximum of 20% of the session for homework and have the student scan their assignment to make a judgment on which problems they will likely need help with. Intelligently plan for the surrounding days and incoming exams. If the student has an exam next week, utilize your time with extreme caution. Make the most of your session for the student.
Teaching sparingly is in the best interest of your student. Have them struggle a bit, make them think. If they are working on a problem they are vaguely familiar with, have them try it for at least a couple minutes before stepping in. The best quality learning is done in the struggle-phase. It is also extremely satisfying when students find their “ah-ha” moment. You take away that opportunity if you just show them how to do every problem.
Building rapport with your student is fundamental to a great client-tutor relationship. Find things you both relate to. If you both watch the same sports team, occasionally make conversation asking them if they watched the game last night. Build your friendly professional relationship the same way you would build a friendship- just cut off the typical more friendly communication.
Respect is a necessity when dealing with students, especially if they are close to your age. Various ways of asserting respect from your student are: 1. Showing them that you know what you are doing 2. Being prepared and organized 3. Being “warm-strict”, enforcing consequences 4. Having the student get to work 5. Following through with your word 6. Listen
In general, keep your cool and maintain your professionalism. Treat the student with respect and they are more likely to treat you with respect in return. When your student speaks, wait patiently until they finish. A quick way to kill the morale of a student is by interrupting them. However, if they are interrupting you, you need to activate the “warm-strict” strategy. For more on this teaching technique, read more at:
Ongoing client relations
Checking in with the parents:
Parents should have to wonder how their child is performing in their tutoring sessions. Every Talentmaster should do a scheduled check-in update every four sessions or so. In this check-in, give them an honest, effective status update. Parents love getting updates. It shows you care about the student and it makes the parents feel that their money is well spent. Every check-in, ensure you ask for feedback as well. Feedback is the most valuable information you can gain from your clients. A few points you should touch on during the check-in should be:
1. The student’s grade improvement so far (if academic class)
2. How they are doing with the current material
3. Where they are relative to their class / average students
4. How you expect their future progression to be
5. Asking for feedback from both the parent and student
If you are teaching a non-academic class, (ping-pong, piano, etc.) give your best assessment of how the student is improving to replace any equivalent grade improvement. For example, if you are teaching basketball, “Stephanie’s shooting form is a lot better than when we started.” It is more difficult than saying, “she scored a 94% on her exam”, but should still be done.
Showing your commitment:
Share a document with the parents that contains basic lesson summaries for each of your students (template provided). Do things that imply you care about your student’s academic success. Great tutors accept responsibility for their students’ grades and take them as if they were their own. Keep track of your student’s progress and provide effective positive reinforcement when necessary. In your sessions, do not make it just homework help. Enforce a maximum of 20% of the session for homework and have the student scan their assignment to make a judgment on which problems they will likely need help with. Intelligently plan for the surrounding days and incoming exams. If the student has an exam next week, utilize your time with extreme caution. Make the most of your session for the student.
Teaching sparingly is in the best interest of your student. Have them struggle a bit, make them think. If they are working on a problem they are vaguely familiar with, have them try it for at least a couple minutes before stepping in. The best quality learning is done in the struggle-phase. It is also extremely satisfying when students find their “ah-ha” moment. You take away that opportunity if you just show them how to do every problem.
Developing client-tutor relations:
Building rapport with your student is fundamental to a great client-tutor relationship. Find things you both relate to. If you both watch the same sports team, occasionally make conversation asking them if they watched the game last night. Build your friendly professional relationship the same way you would build a friendship- just cut off the typical more friendly communication.

Respect is a necessity when dealing with students, especially if they are close to your age. Various ways of asserting respect from your student are:

1. Showing them that you know what you are doing
2. Being prepared and organized
3. Being “warm-strict”, enforcing consequences
4. Having the student get to work
5. Following through with your word
6. Listen

In general, keep your cool and maintain your professionalism. Treat the student with respect and they are more likely to treat you with respect in return. When your student speaks, wait patiently until they finish. A quick way to kill the morale of a student is by interrupting them. However, if they are interrupting you, you need to activate the “warm-strict” strategy. For more on this teaching technique, read more at: