11 Reflect on Tutoring Processes
Understanding Self
Your own self-awareness allows you to identify your own needs, interests, values, strengths, and limitations. The communication skills in this section are the basis for your development of the ability to express your needs, wants, and rights in a positive assertive manner (self-advocacy) and to have the confidence in yourself to do so appropriately (self-efficacy). As you learn to self-assess your performance and adjust your learning and goals appropriately, you improve your performance and increase you success. This self-autonomy, personal attitudes, and abilities on your part translate into the tutoring skills needed to assist your tutee to become an independent and self-actualized learner. You lead the way through your modelling of good practices in communication and learning. This whole process is the practise of meta-cognition which is ‘thinking about your thinking’.
Reflective Tutor Journal Entries
Engaging in the process of reflecting on session process is part of understanding yourself. It is also part of your growth and development as a tutor and an expectation of the job. You will be completing a reflective journal, either in hard copy or on-line to do this. Consider these questions after each session and pick one or two to write about.
- Was I prepared for my session?
- How do we work alongside the tutee?
- What questions need to be asked?
- Was my tutee on task?
- Did my tutee understand the information?
- Did I encourage my tutee?
- How do we build tutee confidence?
- How do we build on the learning that occurs in a tutoring session?
- Was the session successful?
- What could I have done to make this session more effective?
