Tutoring Do's and Don'ts

Tutoring Do's

• Introduce yourself and make short, friendly conversation if possible.
• Have tutee's work in the center, to make it accessible and easy to read.
• Be mindful of mood, gestures, and tone of voice. Make sure they are all calm.
• Be inviting, supportive, and receptive to the tutee.
• Ask questions and give suggestions to tuee and the piece being worked on.
• Use resources available such as dictionaries and thesauruses.
• Ask questions to an authority figure if unsure about anything.
• Express what the tuee is doing well in the piece and what you see needs work on.
• Read or ask what the writing assignment was and make sure tutee understands it fully.
• Concentrate on higher order of concerns first, then lower order concerns.
• Let tutee read work aloud - they might catch their own errors.
• Repeat tutee suggestions to clarify meaning and interpretation.
• Signal for the tutee to return to the writing center to continue working on piece.
• Take notes if possible.
• Give mini-lesson if tutee continues to have issue with a particular area in writing.
• Have a conversation about the piece or topic of interest with the tutee.
• Provide probing questions to the tutee to make them think about their piece.
• Ask for tutee's opinion on topic.
• Suggest outside resources such as books, websites, videos, etc. if you feel it can help tutee with their writing or ideas.
• Be mindful of time in order not to waste it on one aspect of the tutee's work.
• Encourage tutee to contribute to their work in front of you.

Tutoring Don'ts

• Be rude, mean, obnoxious, or judgmental of tutee or their work.
• Talk about your personal life.
• Write or correct anything on tutee's work.
• Eat or have clutter in tutoring space.
• Give criticism about tutee's professor.
• Overtly express your opinion on tutee's work or topic.
• Have your phone out.
• Be distracted in any way.
• Hover over tutee or make them feel unwelcome.
• Insist your ideas or suggestions are better.
• Act as if you have all the answers or solutions.
• Talk the entire time.
• Claim the tutee's work as your own.
• Sugarcoat the truth about tuee's work or say that piece is perfect.
• Insist the problem is one thing, when tutee is expressing something different.
• Be informal or unprofessional with tutee.
• Rush the tutee out of the session.
• Make conversation with tutee the entire length of session.
• Argue or fight with tutee.
• Step away from session for long periods of time.
• Focus on grammer and spelling first.