Question: Hi, Micki. I am tutoring a junior high kid in algebra, and he is not excited at all. He hates the fact that he's in summer school, and mentions (at least a dozen times per tutoring session) how he'd rather be having fun with his friends instead of studying. To top it off, it's math, which as you probably know, isn't the most popular subject offered.
Any ideas or suggestions on how to perk up my bummed out tutee?
Thanks,
Allison C. in NJ
Answer: Hi, Allison. I feel your pain...and the pain of your tutee - I had to take a summer trigonometry class myself back in high school, and it wasn't as fun as the swimming and beach BBQs I had been planning!
Believe it or not, what helped me most of all was time. As I got to know my tutor, saw my grades improve, and realized that I could swim and BBQ after finishing my homework, an interesting thing happened - I started getting interested in the subject matter. I think, sometimes, summer school students are so ticked off at missing out on vacation time that they resist being excited about tutoring or their classwork.
Give him some time. Chances are, he'll realize that summer tutoring isn't so bad after all, and there is still plenty of vacation time to enjoy.
If you want to speed things along, mention how much time he has after summer school/tutoring to hang out with his friends. If you're feeling ambitious, calculate how many non-summer school, non-tutoring hours of vacation time he has to enjoy - chances are, it is way more than he thinks!
You could also try a change of scenery - find a large table to work at in the backyard, meet at an air conditioned library, etc. Find a place that gives your tutee the feel on not being stuck at home, while also being a place that isn't distracting during tutoring.
You know what else helped me through my summer as a math tutee? Having a friend with me. No, I'm not talking about a distracting friend who snacks and plays video games while your tutee tries to work. :-)
I'm talking about a friend who worked with me - we worked together on homework and during tutoring, challenging each other to be our best.
Ask your tutee if he has a friend who is taking the same summer course. If he does, and you feel comfortable with it, offer to tutor in a mini-group environment. See if your tutee might be interested in having a tutoring group/study group with his friend. It may make it a bit more entertaining for him, and it will let your tutee know that he is not the only kid in summer school.
Good luck, and happy tutoring!
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