Throughout the school week, students of all disciplines meet with those sworn to aid them in their understanding of class material: peer tutors. A peer tutor, however, is no miracle-worker — tutoring a fellow student comes with a broad set of challenges. Should the tutor and tutee meet these challenges together, both can benefit tremendously from the experience. The path to this mutual reward involves careful consideration and thoughtful reflection from the tutor.
As one of over 250 tutors employed by Learning Services, I have identified several questions that I grapple with when tutoring. The first question is simple: How does one tutor effectively? The answer is challenging: It all depends. Many of the issues a tutor faces are similar to those a classroom teacher would face, but on a smaller scale. Presenting difficult material in a memorable and appropriate way requires creativity and flexibility. In addition, much of the material discussed during a tutoring session consists of topics already presented in class, but not understood by the tutee. But this is where the peer tutor can shine.
Peer tutoring is effective — this stems from the fact that every peer tutor has completed and excelled at the class for which he or she tutors. Peer tutors can incorporate strategies and memorization techniques that worked for them into each tutoring session. I am sometimes self-conscious of my ability to present material as well as the professor could when working with peers. The tutor’s goal is not to present information as well as the professor, but to present it differently. This is the inherent value of being tutored by a fellow student.
So where is my proof? How can I be so assured of the fact that peer tutoring works? This is a question that I often pose to myself while tutoring — how do I know that what I am doing is working? The solution to this question was to not even ask the question. Some tutees will share with their tutors how they did on exams — others won’t. The tutor must trust him or herself and, more importantly, his or her tutee. If your tutee continues to meet with you, you have to assume that it helps. Even if your tutee reports a poor test grade, might the tutee have done even worse without the tutor’s help? In this sense alone, there is no way of knowing how much peer tutoring helps.
Receiving help from a peer, however, goes beyond the test grades reported. Those weekly meetings with a student who has been through the class before can provide moral support in addition to intellectual support. The success of peer tutoring cannot be measured solely by numerical improvement of a student’s grade, although it certainly still matters. The real value of working with a peer cannot be measured, quantified or even seen.
Another question I struggle with as a tutor is about how to tutor someone as old as — if not older than — myself. How can I keep the awkwardness to a minimum? Staving off the awkward feelings requires the tutor to admit two things. First, the tutor is the expert. Any second-guessing about one’s own credentials will show during the tutoring session and make the hour-long session uncomfortable for everyone involved.
Second, students ought to help other students. When it comes right down to it, tutoring is just another way of helping a fellow student. Regardless of age or class year, awkwardness does not have to even factor into one’s tutoring sessions. What’s wrong with a first-year tutoring a senior? If that first-year student rocks at the one subject the senior despises, there should be no shame in giving or receiving help for either of them. Such stigma only results from the presence of pride. At Etown, the majority of students will not refuse tutoring if they need it. Every time I visit Learning Services to tutor, I have seen a steady stream of tutors and tutees entering and exiting the adjacent rooms. Peer tutoring works and Etown students know it.
Peer tutoring, when done correctly, creates an environment of respect and fosters new relationships with people you might never have met otherwise. While the potential for awkwardness and ineffectiveness exists, the system deserves our faith and confidence. So much can be learned in an hour each week from a tutor who truly cares. Other students can be our greatest teachers.
