Should Repeating And Review Be Considered Important When Tutoring Children?

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The answer to the question is simply "Very Critical". It's not a question of whether it's important or not, rather why is it so critical when tutoring students? It may be obvious to many of you. Some of the tasks and skills we use in our daily lives require that we just learn them, but for many, if not most, practice is required, and learning cognitive skills is no different. Of course, the mechanism that powers practice and review is repetition.

True Story

A friend of mine was teaching abroad. He taught all grade levels from kindergarten to high school. One day, he was asked if he'd fill in for one of the grade four classroom teachers during one of his free periods. The lesson combined the two grade four classes requiring two grade four teachers as a result of the extra large class size. The lesson was on English and this gave him an opportunity to see one of the teachers in action.

The teacher started the lesson by instructing the students on a particular grammar rule. After several minutes, the teacher started in on another lesson teaching an totally new grammar rule. The teacher, not only provided no review for the lesson, but gave no exercises for the students to practice on what they had just learned.

After several more minutes went by, the teacher began another new lesson on another new grammar rule. Not only was my friend getting bored, but the students were thoroughly bored as well. It was only after the third lesson and about 35 minutes later that the teacher finally gave the students practical assignments to practice the new material.

This is where my friend was able to provide assistance by answering questions the students had. Well he had his exercise for that day because every student had him come over to his or her desk or work area to answer questions. All the students had him hopping from one student's desk to the next. The fact was very few, if any, of the students actually learned anything at all. Students were expected to learn new material when previously learned material had not been properly reviewed and practiced.

The lessoned learned here is to give instructions in easy to follow and manageable steps then reinforce the learning or tutoring experience with exercises that will give the students plenty of practice. And did I not mention that even when the material is clearly understood and seemingly locked into the student's mental database, review is still required periodically.

Sufficient review and plenty of practice are necessary components to the learning process. Without sufficient review, learning may not be fully appreciated, and without practice, learning is significantly diminished.

John H Chartrand is an Ontario Certified Teacher and is at present offering his tutoring services to parents in Ottawa, Ontario. By visiting his Tutoring in Ottawa website, you will have access to his Free ebook "Best Study Practices for Today's Elementary Student". This is essential reading for both teachers and parents alike. Ottawatutors.org

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