Sometimes tutors have two first days – their first day walking into a lesson to face their students and their first day teaching online. Both are memorable moments and both come with their own set of challenges.
If you’re hoping to become an online tutor but haven’t experienced your first tutoring session, it’s completely normal to feel a little nervous. To help, we’ve put together a short guide to support you, whatever subject you are teaching.
We’ll show you what to do before, during and after class, as well as offer some video call tips.
What to do on your first day of tutoring online
Before the lesson
Lesson planning
You need to start by preparing what you’re going to teach. Whether you’re following a textbook, helping students with their problems, or creating your own lesson from scratch, begin here.
Start with your student’s learning objectives before deciding on activities, which should follow in a logical sequence, culminating in an activity that allows students to show what they’ve learned.
First tutoring lesson ideas and tips:
Every plan should have a learning objective. It’s a good idea to hear from students what their goals at the beginning of the lesson.
Scaffold your activities. In other words, make sure students have all the tools and knowledge they need before they start each activity.
Demonstrate or provide examples each time you want them to do something new. This is especially important online, where communication is sometimes more difficult.
Plan to use a range of interactive resources such as games, videos and online quizzes, to include in your lesson. You can even use realia if objects are small enough for you to pick up and show using your camera. Whatever you choose to cover, make sure you aim to engage the students as much as possible.
If you’re unsure about how to order activities, it’s worth reviewing Bloom’s revised Taxonomy, which shows the complexity of tasks in order (see the diagram from Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching below). The bottom of the pyramid shows the simplest level of thinking/learning and the peak shows the most complex learning in action.
Learn the tools and platform
Now you’ve got your online tutoring session ready, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the teaching platform. No matter which you’re using, make sure you know where to adjust the microphone, video or chat settings. Perhaps you want to send messages or files to your students, or do you need to mute them while you play a video?
In order to make the lesson more interactive, you may wish to share your screen or open a whiteboard so students can contribute ideas. Or maybe you want to do smaller group activities using the breakout room feature.
It may be worth testing out the different functions of your chosen platform with other people, so that you can see what students will see and may have doubts about.
Make notes on where features are and how they work so that you can explain them to your learners later on.
Uncovering learning goals with a needs analysis
You should create a needs analysis with a number of simple questions for each student to complete. If possible this should be done before the first tutoring session, but it can also be done later if necessary.
It will help you understand their learning goals and develop course content that they are likely to be interested in:
Why are you studying this subject/language?
For university
For a school exam
For my own interest
What do you find most challenging about this subject?
Which is your strongest skill?
Which problems would you like to work on?
Inform your students
Get in touch with students to let them know if there’s anything they need to do prior to the lesson. Do you have a warm up task they need to complete? Is there a needs analysis you’d like them to do? Whatever it is, now’s the time to contact them and let them know.
Finally, remind learners that they need headphones, a microphone and something to take notes with. Similarly, you can inform them that they need to enter the lesson with their cameras on and away from any distractions. This way, you’ll be well prepared for your first day.
During the lesson
Now you’re well on the way to becoming an online tutor! Here’s what we recommend you do to get started:
Greeting your students
Before you do anything, it’s important to greet and welcome your students to the online tutoring lesson. It’ll help make everyone feel more comfortable and set the tone for the rest of the lesson.
Beginning the lesson
You want to get to know your learners – and they’ll want to know you – so include some activities to find out more about them and their interests. For instance, you can play two truths and a lie, by having students write two things about themselves that are true and one thing that is a lie.
This can work equally well one-to-one or in a group class, as students will learn more about each other as they try to figure out which sentence is the lie.
If you’d prefer to ask them more specific questions, write a list on the digital board. Direct these at finding out more about them e.g.:
Where are you from?
Do you have any hobbies or interests?
What are your favorite school subjects?
Where’s your favorite place to visit with your family or friends?
Note: These questions should be adapted to suit the age and level of your students.
Dealing with technology
When in a face-to-face setting, it’s normal for teachers to do a tour of the classroom. You might show learners where books, supplies and facilities are. Yet, in an online environment, you’re faced with a different challenge. As you’re dealing with technology, you’ll need to explain to learners how to use the important features on the platform.
To make this fun, you can turn it into a scavenger hunt. Whether you’re teaching a group or an individual, you can write down a list of features on your interactive whiteboard to hunt for and a set of instructions. This could include:
Chat box: write your name
Microphone: turn it on and off
Video: turn it on and off
Give them two minutes to complete the hunt and offer feedback. After everyone’s comfortable with the technology, you’ll be able to begin your lesson.
Setting homework
Make sure to explain instructions in a clear and simple way. As you’re working in a digital environment, it’s also important to say how you want learners to hand it in.
For instance, if they need to complete a written assignment they can share it with you by sending a file directly in the chat box. If you prefer email, make sure to give them your email address. However, you choose, ensure students are clear on what they have to do, when they have to do it, and how they should deliver it.
End on a positive note
Last but not least, finish strong. Go over what you’ve covered in your lesson and congratulate them for completing their first day. Positivity will leave learners feeling inspired and remind them that they’re one stop closer to reaching their learning goals. It’ll also make them excited to come back to their next lesson.
After the lesson
After finishing your first day, take these next steps to help you develop for your next lesson.
Reflect on your first day
Now that your first online teaching day is complete you can breathe a sigh of relief – you made it! And it’s never as nerve-wracking as you initially think it will be. Before moving on to plan the second lesson, it’s important to reflect on your first day.
Ask yourself:
What went well?
What needs improvement?
What new activities can I bring into the lesson?
Do I need to go over the digital features again?
Make some notes next to each question and use these as the building blocks for your next lesson plan. Not only will this help you to help your students reach their learning objectives, it’ll help you become the best teacher you can be in the long run.
Ask for feedback
If you know any other online tutors, it’s always a great idea to ask them for advice or feedback. Show them your lesson plan, your reflections on your first day and ask them what they’d do differently. It’ll help you to get an insight into how someone else teaches online and show you if there’s anything you can pick up.
Conclusions
While first days in any job can be tough, following these simple steps will help you to be at the top of your game when you teach online. It’ll also ensure that your students get the most out of the experience and look forward to future lessons with you.
