Hear from a tutor
Hear from one of our star tutors, Giorgia Hart, and find out what it’s like to Volunteer with foster children in Australia. Giorgia explains some of the best practices she uses to help get students back on track.
Hear from one of our star tutors
Find out what its like tutoring with Foster the Future and what some of our best practices are…
Fulfilment is the act of doing something that you find necessary. Whilst fulfilment can be achieved in many different ways for many different people, it was a concept that just seemed foreign to me as I was just breezing through the groundhog days. After having this feeling for a few months, I decided volunteering with Foster the Future would be a good way to shake up my routine, learn new things, meet more people and contribute to an organisation that is genuinely trying to better the social and educational outcomes for some of Australia’s most disadvantaged youth.
Needless to say, this opportunity did not disappoint.
Volunteering my time each week has brought about a new sense of purpose and satisfaction that has given me a pep in my step at work and other areas of my life as well as becoming something I look forward to each week!
It can be a daunting privilege to be trusted with a young person’s education. However, you’d be surprised at how impactful the little things can be towards contributing to a student’s overall educational and social outcomes. I am a huge advocate for positive education and ensuring the skills learnt in tutoring can be transferrable to other aspects of life and school. Below I have included some of the strategies that have helped set up a positive tutor-student relationship with my student:
Having a ‘goal’ conversation
This is valuable to have with the student’s carer and even with the student themselves. It provides a space and voice for everyone involved to express their expectations of the tutoring sessions. Having goals in place is also a great way to give students something to strive for and gives more purpose to the sessions.
Ask how their day is
Part of our tutoring routine is to set aside the first 5 minutes or so from the lesson to talk about our days. I always ask how my student’s day was and what they have learnt this week. This gives the opportunity for the student to perhaps teach me something I didn’t know and builds curiosity and interest around their learning. Asking someone how their day is can also be an effective way to build reflection skills, memory and rapport as there is genuine interest around their wellbeing.
Setting up an achievement document
This may be the most critical strategy for setting up your student for success yet. This document contains 4 main categories; what we plan to do, what we did, student comments and tutor comments. Working together on filling out the plan of the lesson helps the student feel included in the session and like they have ownership of their education. The comment section provides the opportunity for the tutor and student to write what went well, what was challenging and what they liked. This trains the brain to find the positives in the session, which helps create a mindset that is transferable to all other aspects of life. The Foster the Future team believes that developing a strong mindset is just as important as the educational content itself.
Timed activity
Everyone loves some healthy competition once in a while! If the student has learnt a new skill, put it to the test! I ask my student how confident they feel about the ‘mini test’ before embarking on it which can be a massive win for when they say they feel confident. The act of the student declaring their confidence can be a really empowering thing. I also ask them to set their own time goal so they are competing against their own expectations.
Follow up communication
I like to leave some time for the student to potentially engage with the carer about how the session was so after an hour I will send a text as a ‘wrap-up’ of the session and ask them to check out the achievement sheet. I enjoy highlighting the achievements of the student and areas for improvement when necessary, engaging with the carer is of paramount importance so they feel included and involved in the process.
It is a wonderful sense of satisfaction being a member of the Foster the Future team. By giving only 1-2 hours a week I can assure you that you will find yourself with more time back in your day, having a greater sense of enjoyment and purpose in your own life. I encourage you to get in touch with the Foster the Future team and to become involved in this journey by visiting the Volunteer with Us page - I promise you it will be a good one!