It's Important For Tutors To Tutor Effective Study Strategies
When parents hire a tutor, they believe that their child should only be tutored in the problem subject; however, often the problem lies, not solely in the subject, but in the manner in which the student is learning it. Perhaps the young student may not particularly like the subject and go about studying in a disorganized haphazardly manner, not to mention putting off studying altogether.
In addition to tutoring the subject material, the tutor should also teach effective study habits and skills that will help the student to autonomously improve academically.
For example, let's assume that a grade five girl is terrible in math studies. She tells everyone who will listen that she hates the subject, and reasons that she'll never have any use for it later in life. Just with that information alone, one can see an attitude problem may be holding her back. In addition to a bad attitude, it may be nothing more than altering and improving the way in which she studies the subject. Tutoring the subject may not target the root of the problem that the girl is having in math, and may only prolong the agony of learning the subject.
By altering a few bad study habits, however, progress can develop a lot sooner, and as a result of achieving that initial success, the girl may learn to appreciate and even like the subject.
When a student is good in a subject, he or she will enjoy it more and naturally find ways to create effective study habits such as being organized and choosing good times to study. If a subject becomes a problem, however, natural study habits may not be present and the student may fall deeper into the hole of academic failure. By altering the bad study habits, the student can slowly progress in the academic subject and perhaps even develop an interest in the subject. Once a small change is made, another can be made until the problem subject no longer becomes a problem.
I have found that young elementary students are not the only ones who suffer from poor study habits, but students in high school as well. Of course, this is only natural because if students haven't learned certain skills early in their academic careers then how are they to develop those skills later on? Some do and some don't.
If your child needs tutoring, have the tutor incorporate effective study skills in addition to providing direct help in the subject matter. This will not only help your child better succeed with the problematic subject, but will help in all subjects, not to mention that these skills will stay with the student in later years as well.
About the Author
John H Chartrand is founder of Ottawa Tutors, a tutoring company in Ottawa, Ontario. As a 15 year Certified Teacher, John has a vast knowledge in education. His website contains many articles on education and tutoring young children. Visit: http://ottawatutors.org
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