The Art of Tutoring

These past two days I was on a tutoring spree. Yesterday I gave a tutoring session on Theory of Computation, and this afternoon on Data Communications, Database Management Systems, and Compiler Design. The afternoon session was especially great! I think it was the best tutoring session I ever held. Although only 6-7 people came, compared to about 30 people like usual, it was a very good experience. Previously, tutoring sessions were held right before exams (because we tutors were only prepared then), but this semester I re-scheduled my life, so I was prepared enough to tutor on the spot, covering the latest lectures.

What’s special about this session, I think, is that I was able to present my ideas more naturally, as if it’s from within me. Although I didn’t prepare any examples in advance as I used to, while I gave my talk, examples came to me just like that! It was most wonderful, because those instant examples were very well suited to the thoughts that my friends and I were playing with at the moment. And because the subject matter just flowed into me, I was completely relaxed. All I did was simply to transmit whatever that flowed into me to my friends.

My friends were also very attentive, and seemed to catch on almost all the while. They were a good interactive audience. If I left any gaps in my reasoning, I would soon hear a question, or see question marks on their faces. This made for a wholesome session that enriched the audience and the speaker at the same time.