Most schools offer their students the opportunity to be tutored by their peers. Tutoring has a variety of benefits that are incredibly helpful for both the pupil and the teacher.
Study Methods
Being a tutor will increase your knowledge of study methods. Each person you come in contact with may have a different process of studying, and some of those processes may be passed along to others. Depending on the person, they might need visual, auditory, or hands on methods for memorization and understanding. Because you have a first hand view of what tends to work and what doesn’t, your own study methods are also likely to be incredibly efficient.
Glimpse at Education Career
If you are considering entering into the education field upon graduation, tutoring is an excellent glimpse into your future. You can learn your capacity for patience and how to best explain things. It can demonstrate your strengths and weaknesses regarding teaching and force you to shape your problem solving skills. Tutoring can also give you an idea of the age group you want to teach. There is an incredible difference between teaching six year olds how to read and teaching college students advanced physics. Deciding which age group best suits your abilities is incredibly important and necessary before committing to leading a class.
Rewards
An obvious benefit to tutoring others is a monetary compensation. College tuition is becoming increasingly more expensive and having a small income can make a huge difference. Even if the income only goes towards spending money, it is still saving you or your parents more money later on down the road. Tutoring can also be put on your resume. Being able to adequately explain concepts to others is a necessary skill in any career. Also, having the patience to teach complex theories to a confused peer is a great way to prepare for dealing with conflicting co-workers.
Help Your Grades
They say the best way to fully understand a topic or concept is to effectively teach another. If you are taking courses including similar topics to what you are tutoring, you will have no problem within your own classes. It insures that you will put in the time to really learn all aspects of the necessary topics. Tutoring will force you to be effective at time management or else your own grades will suffer. It would be unfair and unprofessional to teach a method that you are unsure about, in case your pupil ends up doing poorly on a paper or exam.
Meet New People
Networking is one of the most important aspects of college life. Tutoring multiple students will widen your social circle and introduce you to people, who you may have never spoken to otherwise. If you are a successful tutor, then your pupils will have a good view of your explanatory skills and work ethic. When looking for a job, it is possible that one of your students could be a connection. If they thought well of you as a teacher, they are likely to stick out their neck and put in a good word.
While tutoring is extremely helpful for the person receiving the tutoring, both sides are benefiting. Being a tutor increases knowledge of study methods, potential careers, and offers monetary or education rewards in return.