Charlie here with tip # 5 for all you peer tutors!
Tip #5: Establish the best tutoring environment.
The tutoring environment and atmosphere is a really important, and often overlooked, aspect of tutoring. As with most tutoring, it is important to establish a casual, quiet, neutral environment for your peer tutoring sessions.
This should be a fairly quiet place free from distractions so that you and your tutee can focus on tutoring instead of your surroundings. Noisy cafeterias or crowded restaurants are especially bad choices since they are not only loud and distracting, but they also offer the hazard of food and drink on the table. One wrong move and your study materials wind up covered in BBQ sauce and iced tea...trust me, I found out the hard way many years ago.
It is also a good idea to try and find a neutral meeting ground where each of you feel comfortable talking, and no one has a territorial advantage. A quiet classroom with side-by-side seating or a private library study room are both great choices for peer tutoring. The main floor of the library may not be a good choice, however, eve though there is plenty of quiet. Why? Because the forced quiet of the library may make conversation difficult. Definitely opt for a private study room instead.
Of course, if your peer tutoring program provides a designated space for the tutoring, that makes your job a bit easier when it comes to finding the perfect tutoring environment. Definitely take advantage of any provided tutoring spaces. Chances are, the tutoring program coordinator already has set up an optimal tutoring setting.
Well, that's it for tip #5, but stay tuned for tip #6, coming soon!
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