Teaching · For Tutors

First Tutoring Session Planner

Plan a first session that puts a new student at ease, shows you where to start and tells the family how things will run, all inside the time you have.

Start a planWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Tutoring business kit, $69 for 97 items.

Plans

Each plan holds the setting, the informal tasks and the timeline. Load the worked example to see a 60-minute first session in reading.

Loading the first-session plan form. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Teaching · For Tutors$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
A first-session plan with the setting, when the family joins, the informal tasks and an interest to start with; a timeline that adds up against the session and shows the time spent with the student; seven checks marked ready, not yet or not needed; and a run sheet with clock times to print.
Who it is for
Independent tutors and tutoring-center staff meeting a new student, any subject, grades K to 12.
Format
Browser tool with a saved record per first-session plan. Prints a run sheet with clock times, the full first-session plan, every first-session plan in a table or a blank form; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Tutoring business kit ($69) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The For Tutors space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Set the length and the subject.
  2. Choose the tasks, easiest first.
  3. Lay out the segments.
  4. Mark the checks.
  5. Print the run sheet and sketch session two.

Start a plan

A first session that shows where to start

What a first session gathers, and howGatherHowNot thisInterestsA short game or a choice of topicsA long questionnaireReadingRead aloud from two short passagesA score or a grade levelWritingA paragraph on a topic they choseRed-pen correctionsMathFive problems, easiest firstA timed testHow sessions runSchedule, missed sessions, contactA sales pitchThe student's goalOne thing they want to get better atYour goal for themWhat a first session gathers, and howInterestsHow: A short game or a choice of topicsNot this: A long questionnaireReadingHow: Read aloud from two short passagesNot this: A score or a grade levelWritingHow: A paragraph on a topic they choseNot this: Red-pen correctionsMathHow: Five problems, easiest firstNot this: A timed testHow sessions runHow: Schedule, missed sessions, contactNot this: A sales pitchThe student's goalHow: One thing they want to get better atNot this: Your goal for them
Every task in a first session is informal and short. It shows where to start; it does not label the student.

Informal, on purpose

A first session is not a test. Short reading, writing and math tasks show what the student does with familiar material and where they slow down. Report what you saw in plain words; leave scores, grade levels and labels to the school's evaluators.

The relationship comes first

Students work harder for adults they trust. Starting with an interest, giving a real choice and ending with a goal the student names are small moves that make the second session easier than the first.

Sources

  1. Rosenshine, B. (2012). Principles of instruction: research-based strategies that all teachers should know. American Educator, 36(1), 12-19.
  2. Pianta, R. C., Hamre, B. K., and Allen, J. P. (2012). Teacher-student relationships and engagement. In S. L. Christenson, A. L. Reschly and C. Wylie (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Student Engagement (pp. 365-386). Springer.
  3. Deci, E. L., and Ryan, R. M. (2000). The "what" and "why" of goal pursuits: human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227-268.
  4. National Reading Panel (2000). Teaching Children to Read. NICHD.

The worked examples are made up. The 65 percent and 12-minute flags are planning rules of thumb. Informal tasks are not assessments and give no scores. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.