Tutors Can Improve Student Motivation

Positive Reinforcement Improves Tutoring Results

Recently, one of our tutors reported to me that a very discouraged and resistant student opened up to her and started improving and becoming more interested in the tutoring sessions.

We talked a little more, and I realized that what this tutor had done was brilliant, simple, and a reminder to all of us that positive reinforcement can be very powerful.

The student had dug himself into a hole--he was not doing well in school and the bad grades were piling up. His parents had taken everything away from him. He couldn't play on the computer, his cell phone was taken away, even his beloved guitar was taken away except for a strict practice schedule.

The private tutor, seeing this, negotiated with the parents to let him have a reward after having a session with her where positive progress was made. Maybe some privileges on the cell phone, maybe a small prize like some money to use at Starbucks. Suddenly, his attitude changed. He realized that he could get his privileges back, and he also realized that the tutor was on his side.

Now, as the session quality improves, so will his attitude in the class, and then the grade improvement will come. Sometimes, when a student is stuck in a rut, what a student needs is a material reason to take a step in the right direction. Once the student wins that small victory, then a whole new perspective of choices opens up, and the student is more likely to make another positive choice. This likelihood increases if he has a tutor who is on his side, supporting him along the way.