How to Become a Tutor for Elementary Students
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
CLASS
Becoming a tutor for elementary students is a great way to give back to your community and school system. Most schools welcome parents and members of the community who want to become a tutor and work with elementary students in areas such as reading, writing, math and science. Here is how to become a tutor for elementary students.
1 Contact a local elementary school
Contact a local elementary school. Most elementary schools welcome tutors from the community. If you have a connection to a child who is in a particular elementary school, that school might be a good place to start. However, you need not have a child in a particular elementary school in order to tutor there. Call the elementary school and ask what you need to do to become a tutor at the school.
2 Submit to a background check
Submit to a background check. Elementary schools need to make sure that their students are safe, so most require their tutors to fill out paperwork for a background check. The elementary school needs to make sure that you do not have a criminal record before they will allow you to spend one-on-one alone time with a child.
3 Attend any training
Attend any training offered by the elementary school. Most elementary schools offer a brief training course at the beginning of the school year. The training course might only last for 30 minutes and just provide a brief overview of the elementary school's needs and recommendations for tutoring. Pay attention to the advice that the school offers to help you do a better job as a tutor.
4 Find out of tutoring
Find out what type of tutoring you will be doing. Elementary schools will likely want you to read with children who could use the extra help. Tutors are also often needed for grades that have an end of the year standardized test. The elementary school will let you know where your tutoring skills are needed.
5 Research ways to tutor children
Research ways to tutor children. Once you know what your tutoring assignment is, you can research ideas online or talk with other tutors about things you can do to become a better tutor. For example, if the elementary school asks you to help a child learn how to read, you can find out strategies for helping a child sound out new words by identifying each letter sound in the word. The teacher can always offer better ways to reach a particular child.
Tailor tutoring to a child's interests. For example, if you are tutoring an elementary student in learning his letters, find out what his interests are, and incorporate his interests into the tutoring sessions. Many A to Z books are available in the library that highlight different areas of interest, such as dinosaurs or animals. By tailoring the tutoring to the child's interests, the elementary student is more likely to be a willing participant in the tutoring, which will make him more open to learning what you are trying to teach.
- Be reliable. The best tutors show up at a particular time on a regular basis. If an elementary student cannot count on you to show up to tutor him, then you are going to have a much more difficult time being effective as a tutor.
Related Articles
