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I am a math and science tutor, and work mostly with high school and college students. One of my current clients is a college freshman, and I am tutoring him in beginning chemistry. We just started working together, once a week, about a month ago, but I can already tell that this is going to be a looooooonnng semester with him.
The problem is my tutee is really irritating. He takes personal phone calls from his buddies during tutoring, turns on loud music (complete with "pencil drumming" the table) during our sessions, and never seems to be paying attention to the material.
Last week it was so bad that we barely covered any material at all. Between him calling his girlfriend, making plans for Friday night with his friends, and changing the music every five minutes, we got nothing done.
It's really starting to get to me, so any help would make me a happy guy. Thanks!
J.A., an irritated tutor in San Francisco
Answer: Hey, there, J.A.. You're right - that is annoying! Sorry to hear about your difficult tutoring sessions - this tutee doesn't sound like too much fun to work with on a weekly basis.
Crazy as it may sound, your tutee may not even know that he's being annoying. The next time you two meet, try sitting down and having a quick talk with him about the expectations for your tutoring sessions. Lay out the ground rules, using an upbeat, friendly tone.
Let your tutee know that by focusing all of his attention on the tutoring session (instead of phone calls, music, etc.), he will be getting the most tutoring for his money. Also let him know that you want to help him do his best in his chemistry class, and the most effective way to do this is to make sure that you are both putting in 100% effort during tutoring.
Also, take a few seconds to get his input on how he thinks the tutoring is going. Learn a little about him and his tutoring expectations.
Set goals together so that you both have something to look forward to during tutoring. Give your tutee something to shoot for - a good grade on his next exam, memorizing a particular segment of the periodic table, learning a new chemistry concept, getting a good grade on his homework assignment, etc.
I believe that by talking to your tutee, the problem will practically fix itself. That said, if you find that this tutee continues to disrespect your time, and isn't contributing to the tutoring sessions, it may be necessary to drop him as a tutee.
However, like I said, I am confident that a quick conversation will straighten everything out in no time!
Good luck, and happy tutoring!
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