How to Volunteer for Tutoring

Volunteering for tutoring will help many young students. Many children can use some extra help in learning how to read, write, do math or master other school subjects. Most schools will even provide the tutor with training for tutoring in a particular area. A tutor does not need to have a college degree, or even a high school diploma, in order to tutor. Here is how to volunteer for tutoring.

Instructions

1. Decide whether you want to work with children. Some people love working with children while others find it to be a burden. When you volunteer for tutoring, you are not just teaching a school subject: you are teaching a child. You need to have an appreciation for how special a child is to do a good job volunteering as a tutor.

2. Contact a local school. Most schools welcome tutoring volunteers from the community. If you have a connection to a child who is in a particular school, you might want to contact that school first. However, you need not have a child in a particular school in order to volunteer for tutoring at that school. Call the school and ask what you need to do to volunteer for tutoring at the school.

3. Consent to a background check. Schools need to make sure that their students are safe, so most schools ask their tutors to fill out paperwork for a background check. The schools need to make sure that you do not have a criminal record before they will allow you to spend one-on-one alone time with any of their students.

4. Attend any training offered by the school. At the beginning of the school year, most schools offer a brief training course for those who volunteer for tutoring. The training course might only last for 30 minutes and provide basic recommendations for tutoring children within the school.

5. Find out what age group you will be tutoring. Some schools need help with the younger children in learning how to read, while other schools need tutors to help prepare older students for taking end of the year standardized tests in a variety of subjects. The school will let you know for what grades they need tutors.

6. Research ways to tutor children in the subject that you will be tutoring. Once you know the age of the children and the subject you will be tutoring, you can research ideas online or talk with other tutors about things you can do to become a better tutor.

7. Tailor tutoring to a child's interests. To the extent you can, try to do activities with a child that piques his interest. Find out what topics interest the child, such as dinosaurs or cars. See if you can find resources in the library that will help with the tutoring that include topics that interest the child.

Tips & Warnings

• Be reliable. The best tutors show up at a particular time on a regular basis. You are establishing a relationship with the child and gaining her trust. That is as important as the academic skills she learns.