Tips for Tutors: Expanding your Expertise

Today I have the pleasure of sharing a guest post by Thomas S. In his article tutors are going to learn about expanding their expertise.

A few words about Thomas – He is a ten year veteran of the teaching profession and currently serves as a junior high school teacher in southern New Jersey and as a writer for The Knowledge Roundtable, a free tutoring marketplace. His primary focus is building reading, writing, and research skills in his students. He holds two degrees from Rutgers University: a B.A. in History as well as a M.Ed. in Elementary Education. He holds teaching certifications in English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Elementary Education. Thomas has also worked as a tutor for grades ranging from second through high school in a wide variety of subjects including reading, writing, calculus, chemistry, algebra, and test prep. His core educational beliefs stem from the notion that all students can be successful; it is the role of educators to help facilitate growth by differentiating and scaffolding student learning on a personal level. Now, enjoy his article…

Expanding your Expertise

If you are a tutor looking to expand your potential client base or just seeking to pursue different content areas, there are a variety of ways you can expand your expertise.

Flipping the script and becoming the learner instead of the teacher can seem daunting, but the process can be both an enlightening and a rewarding way to keep your tutoring experience fresh.

Where to Start?
If this sounds like an avenue worth pursuing, sometimes the hardest part is knowing what subjects to branch out into. One place to start is to ask your existing clients about support they would like you to be able to provide. By investing time into content your current clients may need help with down the road, you raise the odds that your time investment spent learning will be a profitable one.
Another possibility is to investigate which content areas are in demand in your area. By checking tutoring job boards like The Knowledge Roundtable, you can see where the needs are that you could potentially fill. You may not acquire a new skillset to teach a particular post’s needed area immediately, but you can bet that if there is a need for, say, calculus tutors in your area today, there probably will be next semester as well.

Resources to Use
Once you have an idea of what content area you wish to learn about, the next step is actually digging in and putting your brain to work! One cost-effective solution is acquiring used textbooks in the content area. You can find used editions of textbooks on sites like Ebay and Amazon that can be shipped to your door, often for merely a few dollars. Looking for editions that are one or two behind the current volumes can be a way to find big savings; the differences in the pages’ content are usually negligible. Your local library could potentially carry these types of materials as well; it is definitely worth checking out if you want to keep your financial investment to a minimum.
Online coursework platforms like Coursera and Khan Academy offer inexpensive or even free courses in a wide array of content areas. The work is demonstrated with lectures and videos that break down the content in a fashion similar to a full-fledged online university course. Being able to demonstrate your course completion data from these sites to a client is a way of showing your content prowess as well as your dedication to improving your own learning without shelling out the big buck for college credits.
If you want something a bit more formal for your tutoring resume, check out the offerings from your local community college. There are typically course offerings that can be attended at a low cost (or even audited) if you are a county resident. If your local community college doesn’t have what you are looking for, branching into neighboring communities may be worth a look as well. Picking up some extra college credit could open up future opportunities for higher-level (and higher-paying) tutoring experiences down the road.

Be Honest and Realistic
Acquiring a new skillset can be exciting. Like a child with a new bike, you may be in a rush to get out there and put your skills to the test. Be careful, however. Jumping into a tutoring arrangement where you are not fully prepared can be devastating to your business. A lackluster performance can result in negative feedback that may hinder your acquisition of new clients. Before you take on the first client in a new content area, be sure you are prepared. It might also be a good idea to be up front about your novice status in the area and offer your services at a discount. If you are successful, the experience and potentially positive word-of-mouth could be worth a lot more than what you give up in a reduced hourly rate for your first client.

What have you done to expand your tutoring skillset? Share your stories in the comments below!