The Tutoring Center

Our mission:

• Provide high quality, curriculum-based tutoring that is responsive to the knowledge and ability level of the student and which engages the student in a thoughtful conversation about the work.

Our philosophy:

• The tutors will put forth their best effort to facilitate the learning process by building rapport, challenging students to greater and deeper understanding, and serving as mentors for students who are new to the academic discourse community. The tutoring centers ideally serve as an academic community of practice, where students strive to make meaning and forge identities, learning is reciprocal and taking ownership of work is the ultimate goal.

What will the tutors help me with when I go for tutoring?

We’ll use the Writing Center as an example to answer this question. Tutors will help students with proofreading and editing strategies, but students are ultimately responsible for their own papers.  Students can come in for help at any point during the writing process: brainstorming, organizing, overcoming writer’s block, revising and/or formatting. The tutor will ask the student questions and engage in conversation about the paper.  Tutors will help with grammar; so, if the tutor notices, for example, that the student has used “you” as a pronoun, the tutors will talk about the effect of that pronoun choice in a formal paper. This philosophy of engaging the student in a conversation about the content is consistent in the math and science tutoring centers, as well.

How are the peer tutors selected and trained?

The peer tutors are students who have excelled in the subject(s) for which they tutor. Most often, an instructor makes a recommendation to one of the Tutoring Coordinators for the Math, Writing, and Science Centers. Some students who did exceptionally well in a class and have a desire to help other students will take the initiative to come in and ask if they could be considered for a tutoring position.  Finally, the Tutoring Coordinators hire some first-year students who have demonstrated superior strength during their high school years.

The tutors receive extensive training both in the content area for which they tutor and in building community. While much of the training is managed by the Tutoring Coordinators, many of the veteran tutors are also engaged in facilitating training.

Why do students go for tutoring?

Many studies have proven that students learn best through collaboration with their peers as well as with faculty.  Thus, while students might work through a draft of a paper on their own, it is often invaluable to be able to test out an organizational strategy or the development of an idea on a real audience before submitting the paper. Likewise, if you are struggling with a particular math concept, you might find some relief from that frustration after working with a peer who is able to relate to what you find difficult.  Often, because the peer tutors are students themselves, they have experienced similar situations, either in their own coursework or in tutoring sessions, and they have developed strategies for approaching a particular kind of math equation, a chemistry problem set, or an organizational dilemma in a paper.

What is most important to keep in mind about tutoring?

1. Don’t wait until the last minute to get help! Come in early in the semester or when you start to feel as though you might be having some difficulty with completing an assignment to the best of your ability.
2. Come in prepared! If you are working on a paper, bring in the assignment and any notes you have written. If you are struggling with a math concept, come in with your notes and the problems you have attempted.
3. Don’t hesitate to ask for the help you need.  If you feel as though you could use a Political Science major to look over your Political Science paper, let us know!  We have a “Tutors and Major” list in the different centers. Or if you are looking for a tutor in a course that is not listed, ask us and we will see if any of our tutors have successfully completed the course.