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CRLA I Topic 8
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Tutoring Techniques: Communication can take place in a variety of ways:
This video
looks at ways to provide positive reinforcements as an illustration of one part
of communication. View the
film: Positive Reinforcement: Film
Module # 2 VT – 6171 Pt. 1
Kent Library Tutoring
Techniques – Tutor Talk Options Talking to another human
being is at the core of tutoring.
As you talk to your tutees on a moment-to-moment basis, you make
countless decisions about what to say to them.
Being aware of these
options can help you become a better tutor or teacher. The best teachers have developed linguistic flexibility or “tutor
talk”: a set of abilities related to thinking constructively about what
they say; quickly developing alternative ways of expressing ideas; and
incorporating them into their own words to say to their students.
Similarly, tutors who can adapt their talk to the specifics for a
tutoring situation are more likely to be successful. There are six kinds of tutor talk:
Tutoring talk options are
words or phrases chosen to accomplish a specific purpose as opposed to a
conversation that simply goes from one person to another as they each
speak. Both tutors and
learners use the options during tutoring sessions. The intent of this section is not to tell you what to do, but
to give you a useful way to conceptualize your options to help you make good
tutoring decisions. Option 1: Initiation Tutors and learners INITIATE a line of thought with… Question: A
leading sentence: A
leading sentence (So the answer
would be…) Command: “I
don’t understand this. I just get
more confused.” Option 2: Reply Then the tutor or learner will REPLY with… A complete explanation
(more appropriate for the learner to give); often though of as “the answer.” However,
the reply can be given in a way to encourage learner participation by the
careful use of examples, additional questions, incomplete answers, and pauses.
A short explanation
with a pause for the learner to respond. Tutee
participation in the process will foster independence and not
dependence. Don’t train your
tutee to be passive. Option 3: Evaluation
(1.)
Break down the task into even smaller steps and question each step
until they understand how they reached the wrong answer. (2.)
Ask
how they got to that answer and follow their thinking until they reach
the error point, then directing them to the correct method. Because evaluations
are tricky, the more effective tutors use them sparingly and carefully.
Evaluation comments
are very powerful and should be used carefully Superficial of
excessive praising undermines your credibility and makes the tutee feel
patronized. Likewise, excessive
criticizing will likely make your tutees defensive.
Positive Evaluations Positive evaluations are most effective when they are tied to
specific aspects of a student’s work, and are used sparingly for real
accomplishments. “Good paper” doesn’t say much, but “This is a good
example to include in this paragraph because …” is much more effective.
Tying positive evaluation to something specific also fosters
independence. It clearly identifies
the evaluation a being related to the student’s work, as opposed to being
related to the student’s worth. Second,
tying the evaluation of some specific aspect of the student’s work will help
him learn how to recognize specifically what he is doing right.
Praise doesn’t
motivate nearly as powerfully as success.
Negative Evaluations How can you say that a
learner’s effort is inaccurate or off the mark without discouraging the tutee? Bad example: Learner: Okay, I
think the answer is “Each member of the all male committee gave their report
at the meeting.” Tutor: No, no, no, no, no, no, no! How to handle negative evaluations: Smaller steps: Break
the current task into smaller steps and ask questions about the smaller pieces.
(Above) “Can you identify the subject of the sentence?”
This would lead up to the conclusion that “their” was the wrong
answer. Focus on Progress: Identify what
was right and reinforce that. (Not something phony
to praise, but some progress) Example above: “Tell
me about how you got that answer.” lets
the tutee know that his answer is wrong, and leads him to do some thinking and
justifying of his answer, which will, we hope lead to a better understanding of
the problem and the correct answer.
Avoid being too
judgmental or hyper-supportive. Option 4: Addition Additions are the statements that a tutor or tutee give even
though they weren’t directly requested. Effective tutors use a variety of
tutor talk techniques. To further the learning or explanation process, tutors and
tutees make ADDITIONS to the current information, such as… Background:
when the learner needs to know something more to figure it out. Summarizing:
when the learner should explain his/her thinking back to the tutor. Mirror:
is often called reflective listening and occurs when the tutor repeats back to
the learner what he/she has said. Extend:
when both tutor and learner add more information to the process Missing piece:
when the tutor or learner finds that one piece of information to wrap it up. Comparisons: when the
learner needs metaphors, similes, or analogies to help him/her understand. Devil’s advocate: when the
tutor presents an opposing point of view to help the learner clarify his/her
thoughts. Alternatives:
when a tutor gives other ideas, perspectives, approaches, or experiences
to help the learner address the problem. (If one approach to solving it isn’t
helping them, try another way around it.) Option 5: Mark When tutors or learners are listening, they use MARKERS
to encourage the other person to keep talking. Tutors use them to show sincere
interest and encourage the learners to explain themselves better. Learners use
them to show their understanding or keep the tutor talking until they do
understand. Examples: “OK,” “Right,” “Un hum,” and
“Yeah.” Markers mean, “I am
with you so far, go on.” Tutees sometimes use markers to keep the tutor talking in
spite of tutor training to encourage the tutee to talk.
Option 6: Wait When tutoring, it may
seem that waiting is doing nothing, but when you wait you are actually giving
the tutee the opportunity to do something. Waiting is hard for tutors to do. Too much explaining prevents the tutee from learning how to
learn the material, and may train the tutee to be dependent.
The
Good News Tutor “Speak”
is really just a combination of good conversation techniques. It is a more
thoughtful way to converse and will improve your communication skills all
around! The Master Tutor: A Guidebook for More Effective Tutoring,
Chap. 3 By Ross B. MacDonald, PhD Self Study: View the
Film,
Film
Module # 2 VT – 6171 Pt. 1
Kent Library,
and carefully review the six “tutor talk” verbal communication
techniques to use in a tutoring session. Copy/paste/complete,
and print your in depth answers to the following questions.
Submit your paper to your supervisor for discussion.
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