Why Being a Tutor Can Help You Become a Better Student

Tutoring is not only a great way to discover whether you have an interest in teaching, but it can provide you with experience that is valuable for your own academic success and your resume.

The student who receives tutoring assistance is not the only one who is learning. Tutoring other students in reading, writing, and study skills, as well as course concepts and theories, can help you cement your own knowledge in these areas. By explaining course theories to others, you will discover that you gain further understanding of concepts that can help you enrich your own academic studies. Similarly, by helping students with their writing, studying, and organization, you can refine your own skills in these areas.

Becoming a tutor can also provide you with valuable interpersonal, communication, and listening skills. As a tutor, you must be able to explain various concepts in a multitude of ways to accord with each student’s learning style. By recognizing and addressing the individualized ways in which students learn, you will develop strong interpersonal and listening abilities. Tutoring also allows you to hone your skills in communication as you may have to explain complex theories in more straightforward language. As tutoring provides you with skills in communication, you gain experience that can help you when networking with professors, other students, and employers.

Finally, tutoring enables you to develop skills in leadership that can help you during group projects in academic and career settings.

There are many paid and volunteer tutoring opportunities for students of various ages at SFU. These positions often extend beyond the semester, which means you can have consistent work or volunteer experience for a long-term period.

• Academics First is a tutoring program for student athletes that looks for tutors with a CGPA of 3.5 and above. Tutors assist other students in courses in which they received an A- or higher.
• Based out of the Faculty of Education, the Friends of Simon program is an opportunity for you to tutor students in kindergarten to grade twelve on the SFU Burnaby campus.
• In addition, there are volunteer opportunities to become a Learning and Writing Peer Educator or an English as a Second Language Peer Educator with the Student Learning Commons.

With so many great opportunities on the SFU campus, tutoring is both a convenient and rewarding job that can actually help you achieve your own academic success. 

About the Author:

Alexandra Petryszak is a recent graduate from SFU with a BA in English. She has a passion for literature, writing, and tutoring. 

Photo credit - Lead image: Steven S.’s flickr  “Studying.”