Week 2 – Structural Factors, Growth vs. Fixed Mindset, Professionalism

📖 Readings

Optional:

Spira, The Boys of Late Summer: Why do so many pro baseball players have August birthdays?
YouTube: From Potential To Promise: Developing scholars, one eureka moment at a time - Rajiv Gandhi - TEDxCMU

✍️ Homework (due Sunday, April 23rd)

Part 1: Shadow an Experienced Tutor

Find an experienced tutor in the class you are tutoring for and “shadow” them (i.e. follow them around and observe them) during their office hours for at least 30 minutes. Preferably choose a time that will be busier, e.g. the day that homework is due.

Then, answer the following questions.

What is the tutor’s name and what class are they a tutor for?
How many times have they tutored, and for which class(es)?
What problems did students ask about? Describe them in as much detail as possible.
How did the tutor answer those problems? Describe their answers in as much detail as possible.
What was the tutor’s approach to answering follow-up questions?
Was there a situation where the tutor didn’t know the answer? What did they do?
What was the tutor’s strategy to answer student questions quickly?
In what manner did the tutor communicate with the student – were they formal? Encouraging? Casual? Straightforward?
What feedback would you give the tutor on how to improve – that is, what would you have done differently?

Part 2: Anticipating Questions

It’s a good idea to anticipate what students may be struggling while preparing for office hours, so that you can come prepared with good explanations. To do so, identify three questions that students in your class might have based on this week’s lecture material.