The art of tutoring, like any other art, is learned in the doing. To be really good at it requires, some special personality traits, skills, and sensitivity, The one-to-one relationship brings you into direct, personal contact with the pupil. There is always some tension, some anxiety in a relationship of that proximity. The way you relieve that tension and anxiety is to make the child feel that he or she is liked. You might start out by saying something nice about the child’s appearance. You should also let the child know that he is in for an interesting time, that both of you are going to enjoy the hour you spend together. If you are tutoring in your home, choose a well-lighted, bright part of the house for the instruction area. Treat the child with courtesy, helping him (or her) off with his (or her) coat. Show that you are glad to see him. All of this is to make the child receptive to your instruction and to put him at ease.

Since you both will be sitting together, have two chairs and a table on which you can spread out the instructional materials. You should also have an upright blackboard. You might sometimes find it easier to explain things by the use of such a blackboard in conjunction with side-by-side instruction. Be flexible. Each child is different, and you will find that an approach that works with one child may not work with another. The most important point to remember is that each child is an individual and that you will have to work with him in order to find the approach that suits him best. Each child brings to the tutoring experience a different amount of knowledge, a different attitude toward learning, and a different attitude toward the tutor. The expert tutor knows how to adapt himself to the personality of the child.

In the tutoring situation the child is relieved of the problem of competing with others in the classroom. But at the same time, he wants to make a good impression with the tutor. Anyone who comes for instruction, whether it be a child or an adult, is sensitive to the fact that he is inferior to the instructor in the area of knowledge in which he is to be instructed. The child who does not know how to read may not think of himself as an illiterate, but he does know that he lacks a skill which every child slightly older than him already has. He is sensitivie about his intelligence and his ability to learn. He badly wants to succeed and can be easily disappointed if he falters. Therefore, it is important to pace your instruction according to the child’s ability to learn. It is also important to give him a pat of the back when he learns well. In feeling out the child’s abilities and general understanding, be patient, affectionate, and maintain a sense of humor. Never scold, never show anger, never show impatience.

Plan each lesson in advance. Know the material you are going to cover. Get to the instruction once the child has settled down. Do not waste time. Get the child absorbed in the learning process so that he does not have a chance to be distracted. After your explain something to him, have him do it, write it, or read it. This gives him a chance to absorb what he has been taught and to use his hands and fingers or express his thoughts verbally. If, during the lesson the child seems overly restless and inattentive, try to find out the cause. Are you going too fast or too slow? Is your approach too dry? Perhaps a short break for a drink of water might be helpful.

In order to maintain the appropriate pace of instruction, you will have to be sensitive to the child’s rate of learning. It is better to give him a little more of what you think he can learn than less. By giving him more, you don’t give him a chance to be bored. In addition, by giving the child a little more to learn than his present capacity, he becomes accustomed to the process of exerting mental effort. This is important, for although we should try to make learning as interesting, exciting, and as pleasant as possible, there is no escaping the fact that learning requires mental effort – mental work – and the sooner the child becomes accustomed to the process of mental work, the sooner he will understand, appreciate and enjoy the whole process of intellectual mastery. Therefore, maintain a pace that requires the child to exert some mental effort. However, do not require efforts which are clearly beyond his capacity. Reading, writing, and arithmetic require the child to master a good deal of symbolic abstraction. Such mastery does not occur effortlessly. But once the mind is put to work, it begins to expand its capacity to handle even greater abstractions.

The mind works in a very remarkable way. It has the power to integrate a great deal of new knowledge with what it already knows, and the result is a greatly expanded understanding. The mind seems to have a limitless ability to absorb knowledge over a long period of time, and this ability expands with use – just as a muscle will grow larger if it is required to lift heavier loads.

Muscle building by weight lifting is probably a perfect example of a similar process with goes on in the brain, namely, the expansion of capacity through greater exertion and use. If a weightlifter lifts the same light weight a thousand times, it will not expand his muscle. He can only achieve this by lifting a much heavier weight to the limits of his capacity. To go beyond his present limit requires an exertion that is painful but necessary if his capacity is to grow to meet greater demands.

The brain’s capacity expands in the same way. It requires mental exertion of a comparable intensity to reach a higher level of ability. No one likes mental exertion any more than he likes physical exertion, and this is true of adults as well as children. But such exertion, unfortunately, is necessary if the child is to learn and grow as an adult.