𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐇𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐫

The ability to write well is an important lifelong skill and many students can benefit from writing coaching in order to improve their school performance.

However, there are at least three situations in which I 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 advise hiring a writing tutor.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭. If the student doesn’t want to make an ongoing commitment to working with a coach, the experience will be unpleasant for all involved, no matter how supportive the parent and expert the tutor. As much as we tutors believe in the value of our services, working with a student who doesn’t want to truly engage with a tutor makes no pedagogical or financial sense.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐬. Students experiencing an acute or ongoing health issue simply may not have the capacity to take on another commitment. Similarly, students affected indirectly by a change or challenge in their lives may need extra time or different resources to cope with and respond to it. I have certainly worked with students under these conditions, and I always recommend that the student focus on improving or mitigating the pressing situation at hand before adding writing support to their commitments.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭’𝐬 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲. All of my students are super busy; sports, extracurriculars, work or caring for family members in addition to completing hours of nightly homework. For students who are so busy that they have to sacrifice virtually all of their leisure time and cut off needed hours of sleep in service to their commitments, adding tutoring may not achieve the desired results.

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 some of the above scenarios exist now does not mean they will be permanent. Seasons and situations change. That eighth-grader resistant to writing coaching may reconsider their need for writing support sometime during their first year of high school. Happily, many health crises or personal issues come under control or resolve themselves. A student’s schedule may free up from one semester to the next.

There is always an opportunity to revisit whether writing tutoring might make good sense in the future, when the time is right and the student is ready.