Tutoring

These games are ideal for tutoring

Tutoring is one-to-one by nature, so these two-player games work well as tutoring resources. Tutors can be volunteers or professionals.

Safety in tutoring

Whenever a child is working individually with an adult, it is good to be aware of safety. One good practice can be to hold individual tutoring sessions somewhere reasonably quiet, but with other people nearby. A public library, a coffee shop, or a McDonald’s are good places for tutoring. Buildings with other people around might have appropriate rooms if the room door is left open; to find out if a room is appropriate, check with a building administrator.

Another good practice can be to use a private room, but make a video recording of all student/tutor interactions. The community of music teachers is familiar with this practice, because music lessons need to take place where others will not be bothered by noise. For example, the website MusicEducatorResources.com (2019) recommends “If you are alone with a student, recording the lesson is a good idea. Plus, you can use it in a couple different ways later on. You can send the student a copy of the recording to help them practice that week and you can use it to observe your teaching.”

Safety in electronic communication is also important. Any electronic communication between a tutor and a child should be copied to the child’s parent or guardian, no matter whether the communication is through email, phone texting, or some other platform.

Parents and tutors should not hesitate to discuss safety practices before tutoring begins. A good tutor will want to follow good safety practices, and parents will appreciate hearing that tutors have thought through these issues and take the issues seriously.

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References

Music Educator Resources. 2019. “10 Safety Protocols for the Independent Music Teacher.” Retrieved from https://musiceducatorresources.com/2019/10/28/10-safety-protocols-for-the-independent-music-teacher/ .

August 18, 2020