Category: Tutoring 101: Do’s and Don’ts

Checking Answers + SotW & Bonuses

REMINDER: Checking Student Answers

Working with a student who already has an answer for their problem? Before confirming the student’s answer, it’s vital that we ensure they understand how they reached their solution.

–  Always encourage students to upload their work or walk you through their solution before confirming an answer.

–  Avoid confirming answers to multiple-choice problems without first verifying that the student knows why the answer they chose was correct (see example below.)

–  If a student’s uploaded images clarify how their answer was reached, then it would be acceptable to let them know they solved correctly.

SESSION OF THE WEEK

Congratulations to Session of the Week winner, Vaughan Leslie! The rapport you have built with this student is exactly what we love to see — well done!

Nominate one of your own exceptional sessions via the submission form and you could win a $25 bonus!


PERFORMANCE BONUS RECIPIENTS

Congratulations to the following tutors who achieved a Top Ten tutor ranking for two or more consecutive weeks, earning them a $25 performance bonuses. Great work!

–  Roy Alexander
–  Usharani PV
–  Robin DeShazo

Have a great weekend!
— Team Yup

Speed in Yup Sessions

Hello Tutors! Before your next session, please read and remember the tips below.

Two Types of Speed

The issue that unsatisfied Yup users bring to our attention most often is speed. We also want to stress that responding as quickly as possible and breaking up long messages into shorter ones is only half the battle!

We’ve found that there are really two key things that students mean when they mention speed. We’ll call them “typing speed” and “instruction speed.” Even if you respond immediately to every message, you could still be moving the session and the student’s understanding forward in a way that feels slow to the student. Concrete examples of this include lingering on topics that the student fully understands, asking about topics whose relevance isn’t clear at all to the student, and not pausing or adjusting guiding questions when the student is confused or discouraged.

Tips and Takeaways 

There’s always a way to move toward the solution with input from the student as long as you anchor your questions to what the student knows and stay attentive and encouraging. For example, if you’ve asked more than one guiding question in a row but the student hasn’t been able to answer them, you can always give a limited but helpful amount of information via simplified example problems, whiteboard drawings, or hinting at where the student should direct his or her attention next.

We and other tutors would love to hear about your experiences with session speed and what has helped you with this issue in past sessions. Feel free to discuss in the comments section below!

— Team Yup

Discussion:

Quick Reminders for Teaching

L’Hopital, Attention to Detail & Student Uncertainty:

– Please be aware that we do cover L’Hopital’s Rule, as it is included in the AP Calculus AB curriculum:

 

– Please ensure you are carefully checking students’ work and reading through any given directions in their entirety. Unfortunately, we’ve recently noticed student errors going uncorrected and tutors failing to follow given instructions.

– When a student responds to a check for understanding with uncertainty or a lack of confidence, (for example, responses like “Kind of” or “A little bit”, when asked if something makes sense), please do not continue with the solution.  Instead, it is imperative at this point that you take a moment to ensure you and the student are on the same page before moving on.

Happy tutoring!

— Team Yup

Discussion:

Session Analysis + Practice Whiteboard Tool

SESSION ANALYSIS

After reading through this session, what are some ideas that come to mind for increasing the likelihood of the session reaching “Bridged”?

We look forward to hearing your thoughts!

 

WHITEBOARD PRACTICE LINK

Did you know that using the whiteboard feature during a session significantly increases the chances of reaching “Bridged”? For those of you who are not familiar with it, the following link takes you to a stress-free environment where you can practice using the Whiteboard feature:

Yup Practice Whiteboard

Happy Tutoring!

— Team Yup

Discussion: