Ms. Lucy Garcia

I ask questions about your motivations and your goals and what experiences in your life prompted you have them. 

I ask what topics you think you need to study and ask to see the syllabus you are working on and the prompt or study sheet for the work/test/paper. You tell me the timeline we are working on and the time that you feel you can devote to this part of your studies. 

Why did you hire me? I ask what you see as my role--what you perceive to be the problem, and what you hope I can do to help. This kind of gentle questioning builds your confidence in what you do and don't know. Either we expand or narrow the problem, allowing me to come up with different approaches. 

Both you and I have to agree to work together on the problem(s).

Then we work out a specific set of learning exercises and appointments. 

I think I said all this in my introduction, but let me add that as one of those teachers who comes in early and stays through breaks and after school, I have thousands of hours of tutoring experience with hundreds of students. I care, I listen. Even while in college, my professors would write in my recommendations that I always helped the other students without making them uncomfortable. 

In a teacher, there's a little undimmable light of hope for everyone, maybe also an annoying bit of bossiness, a sense of delight about how all the ideas fit together, and everpresent curiousity about what people might make of those ideas. That's me, so I fell into teaching right out of college, and besides, by then, I had my three children to take care of too. I hope that I have learned a bit more patience and grace since the beginning of my career.

High school and undergrad.

Honors students, and at risk students, (some who were both), ambitious, unmotivated, recent immigrants, people going back to school. 

I tutor my 5th and 6th grade grandsons. The older boy and I had gone to the historic Rams vs. Chiefs game last year, the only one where the LOSING team had more than 50 points. This year, for a "personal narrative" essay, an assignment he was very reluctant to start (avoidance, frustration and tears), he wrote up that game. I just asked and asked him questions and bit-by-bit, this kid wrote a well-organized, fairly long, very engaging, almost play-by-play description of the game, including the emotional seesaw we and the other fans felt. Got an A, too. Great job, grandson!

Look for an engaged tutor: Is your tutor interested in both the subject and you as a learner? 

Look for a capable teacher: Do they just keep repeating something or do they find a variety of ways to communicate the troublesome concept? Are they mostly lecturing or are they asking you helpful questions? Do they stop often and check for your understanding? Do they teach isolated procedures or do they connect ideas well? 

Hire me early. As soon as you sense that you are not into the subject. Right after the first quiz. 

Before we meet, gather all the materials for your class, the syllabus, all deadlines and assignments, rubrics and prompts, study guides, question sheets, lab instructions, etc.

Feel: Why do you hate the subject? Why do you love it? What do you fear? What resources do you have in your character that you can use? 

Think: up to what point do I understand this material? See if you can formulate good specific questions (Where does this value of x come from?) or fundamental head-shakers (Why do I have to learn this? What possible good can this do for me in my life?). 

Set your limits and expectations: How much time do you think you can dedicate to your tutoring? What exactly do you expect me to do?