Job Memo

Peer Tutor

About two years ago, I was a peer tutor at my community college. I assisted other students in gaining a better understanding in both microeconomics and macroeconomics. Getting the opportunity to work with other students not only allowed me to aid them but also helped to improve my interpersonal and communication skills. This was an interesting job because it allowed me to meet new people and connect with them.

As a tutor in the Learning Center at my community college, I

·      Assisted students in their specific classes

·      Managed the facility

·      Attended mandatory meetings

In this memo, I am going to explain and go into detail about these topics.

Assisting Students in their Specific Classes

Students would come into the facility with questions, confused on certain topics or in need of some clarification on their homework assignments.

·      Tutoring sessions usually lasted for fifty minutes. During this time, the students were allowed to ask anything related to the subject.

·      I was not allowed to give students the answer immediately. I guided them in the right direction so that they would be able to learn and understand the topic.

·      If students did not understand a lesson in their class, my job was to clarify the topic for them.

The days before an exam were the most popular time for students to come into the Learning Center and meet with tutors. Here is an example of a session that I had right before midterms. One student came in with a study guide that was provided by the professor and asked detailed questions about certain topics. We focused on practice problems offered by the book to help the student better prepare for the exam. These questions were also similar to the homework problems, so these were not new questions that the student had never seen before. I thoroughly explained practice problems so that the student was able to get a better understanding of the material. My step-by-step method taught the student how to approach any new questions on the exam.

Managing the Facility

Working in the Learning Center required other duties besides tutoring. I was required to run and maintain the Learning Center, which enabled the facility to run smoothly and efficiently. All the tutors participated in all the required duties and switched roles every week. Here are some of the other responsibilities we were given:

·      Scheduling tutoring appointments

·      Working at the front desk, directing students and offering services

·      Managing the computer lab

·      Renting out textbooks and human anatomy models/study aids

Managing the facility gave us an opportunity to do different things other than tutoring. I was allowed to exercise and develop my leadership and interpersonal skills. Specifically, working at the front desk allowed me to develop hands on customer service skills. Our facility believed in offering excellent service and made sure that every student was well taken care of. By performing these tasks, I learned how important teamwork was. Every tutor contributed to the Learning Center in order to offer the best experience possible.

Mandatory Meetings

Another important aspect of being a peer tutor required attending mandatory meetings. In these meetings, we discussed performance, upcoming events, small facility changes, or other updates. One of the main points of these meetings was to discuss:

·      Individual performances

·      How an individual can improve their tutoring skills by letting them know what they needed to change

·      Giving supportive advice to one another

Having these meetings allowed individuals to better improve themselves, and also allowed them to gauge their performance since we all strived to be excellent tutors. During a certain month, tutors were required to give an evaluation sheet to his or her tutee and have them evaluate their tutor. Here’s an example of the process that I had to undergo. After finishing a tutoring session with a student, I asked them to fill out an anonymous evaluation sheet. I then turned in the evaluations to my supervisor. Once all the evaluation sheets were turned in, the head of the Learning Center would read the evaluations. Based on the evaluation’s, I would receive advice on what I could do better to improve and what I was doing right.