Tutoring + Coaching, Better Than Tutoring Alone
Posted on October 22, 2008
Filed Under General Interest, Helping Parents Help Kids, Imagination, Improve Your Skills, Learning Tips, Teaching Tips |
Tutoring is good and Coaching is good, but Tutoring / Coaching is best. Here’s why.
Tutors usually teach, or re-teach, content. Examples i
nclude how to regroup when subtracting and how to remember the amendments to the Constitution for a test on Friday. Whenever possible, a good tutor will also attempt to make the content relevant, by connecting it with other content with which the student can personally relate.
Coaches basically help students learn how to learn. By focusing on the process of learning as opposed to re-teaching content, students learn invaluable life-long skills and strategies.
Here are some examples:
- Note-taking skills
- Organization strategies
- Reading comprehension
- Study skills
- Task analysis
- Test-taking strategies
- Motivation techniques
- Planning strategies
- Reflection techniques
Interestingly, by design, coaching leads to independence, or at least, less dependence on the coach.
In school, because of the curriculum demands, teachers usually just teach; that’s all they have time to do. Similarly, tutors tend to just teach, because that is the routine they use in their classrooms. (Interestingly, this explains why most children get so little out of the after school extra help; it is usually a repeat of the same lesson they didn’t get during class.)
Skillful, experienced educational professionals are both coaches and tutors. And, they have the judgment and experience to know the perfect amount of each to apply to each situation.
So, at times they teach, at times they coach, but most of they time they skillfully do both. This is the philosophy behind our company motto, “…tailored to your child’s needs and your busy schedule.” STRONG Learning Centers.
Linda & Al Silbert
authors of the award winning book Why Bad Grades Happen to Good Kids
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