Nothing builds student confidence quite like genuine words of praise.
Recognizing participation, bridged gaps and persistence with kind, 
enthusiastic words of encouragement will strengthen rapport, increase participation and create an overall positive learning experience. Here are 80 Words of Encouragement to give you some new phrases for your toolbox. (Source: ChildHelp)
Happy Tutoring!
— Team Yup
Happy Friday, tutors!
Last week, we shared some example situations and encouraged you to practice writing overviews. Below are a few overviews of our own to help clarify what we’re looking for.
Remember, a good overview has the following:
1. A diagnosis of the gap
2. The primary concept you will teach to arrive at the solution
3. A reminder that engagement is expected of the student
Situation 1:
A student is asked to find the volume of a cylinder, but is unsure of which formula to use.
Possible Overview:
“Sounds like you need help determining the best formula to use with this figure. I would be more than happy to get you up to speed with finding the volume of a cylinder! Please do your best to participate and we can find the solution together. :]”
Situation 2:
A student is graphing an inequality, but is having trouble deciding where to shade their graph in order to complete their solution.
Possible Overview:
“You’re nearly there! Looks like you just need some assistance completing the graph. I can certainly tell you more about where to shade when graphing inequalities. Remember to participate as much as you can and we’ll have this in no time. :]“
Situation 3:
A student is asked to use the law of sines to solve a word problem. They have made some progress, but their uploaded work shows a computational error which is causing confusion.
Possible Overview:
“Good effort so far! Looks like you just got off track a bit when calculating the length of side B. Let’s take a quick step back to make sure your work is correct, then we can use the law of sines to find the measure of the missing angle. I’m here to guide you, but I hope to see you participating too. :]“
There are so many different ways to write an effective overview. Keep the 3 guidelines (and your student) in mind, but don’t be afraid to get creative with the phrasing, change the order, or break it up as needed.
Have a great weekend!
— Team Yup
One of the recent changes you will notice on Rubric 2.0 and Tutoring Template 2.0 takes place in the introduction stage of session. After identifying where the student is stuck, an overview should be provided to the student to communicate a plan of action and set expectations for their participation:
Below are 3 example situations– please take a moment to respond with possible overviews via the discussion box below:
Situation 1:
A student is asked to find the volume of a cylinder, but is unsure of which formula to use.
Situation 2:
A student is graphing an inequality, but is having trouble deciding where to shade their graph in order to complete their solution.
Situation 3:
A student is asked to use the law of sines to solve a word problem. They have made some progress, but their uploaded work shows a computational error which is causing confusion.
There many different ways to communicate a helpful overview to the students in the situations above. Take a moment to review the new Rubric and Tutor Template and share your own ideas below!
— Raj
Did you know that around 65% of the world’s population is made up of visual learners?
(Source: Social Science Research Network)
Students with this learning style acquire information most effectively when it is represented through pictures, illustrations, diagrams, or charts. Though our Tutor Chat platform is based on written communication, it is important that we keep these visual learners in mind when conducting sessions.
If typing to a student isn’t doing your explanation justice, taking a brief moment to find a helpful image online or using the whiteboard to create your own could make all the difference.
Example: Rather than simply telling a student that the slope formula is “m = (y2-y1)/(x2-x1)”, a quick image search would give you images like the following to help illustrate the formula in a more visual way:
(Additionally, saving and organizing the helpful images you find makes them readily available for the next student with a similar problem!)
Need to brush up on your whiteboard skills? Check out our Whiteboard Practice page.
Happy tutoring!
— Team Yup
Here are two examples of amazing, 5-star rated sessions for you to look over.
Session 1 (opens in a new tab)
Session 2 (opens in a new tab)
Do you notice any teaching technique or strategy that was successfully used by the tutor in either session? Do these sessions have anything in common? What made these sessions great?
— Team Yup
