Where Is My Tutor?

Where Is My Tutor?As a child I always wondered where my tutor went. The office where she had to work for the day seemed to be the only place for me to go. If she went home too she wasn't really a person, just a number.Tutors get away from us. We're responsible for teaching them, but it is them who learn. Their job is to learn and teach. This does not mean that the assistant should be so utterly dependent on their teacher that they accept any instruction provided.If there is any concern with the assistant's performance, let it be their responsibility to ensure the teacher's performance has not been affected. It is very easy to point out a mistake, but impossible to point out a problem until the teaching has been completed. Let them have the last word.My tutor often said that if I was in her shoes I would probably have behaved differently. I agreed. In my case it is my mother, who always made me feel better, that could see the harm done.My mother believed I should behave as if I were t he teacher and should simply go through the motions. She thought I should go along with the programme that our school board set up for us. That left me feeling inferior and that would have undermined my ability to learn.My tutor, who had been my teacher, never came close to those beliefs. She had a deep understanding of learning, but did not hold me back. She understood that to have a strong teacher you must have a powerful pupil.Perhaps there are lessons that could be learnt from the relationship between the assistant and the headmaster. As parents we sometimes try tomould our children into what we want them to be, but if they learn from teachers how to become teachers themselves, then perhaps it is not necessary.My parents probably encouraged my education because they knew they were taking care of me all the time. Whatever teaching skills my tutor provided for me, they were hers and she gave them freely and well. They never let me feel like I was a slave.