Creating An Effective Workspace as a Tutor

Getting starting as a tutor? Or perhaps you have been tutoring a while but are looking to optimise your workspace? English Tutor and part of the Admin team at Titanium Tutors, William, shares his wisdom from years of tutoring remotely in a range of locations!

I don’t know about you, but I like tutoring from a study desk at home in my London flat. It’s in an old apartment building I suspect was built in the early 1900s: the auburn bricks in the walls are crumbling, and on the ground floor, where my room is, the window by my desk has a view of a well-planted courtyard that all the neighbours take turns to tidy, watering potted plants and trees bursting with rich, vital colour now that the summer has finally arrived. 

For me it’s the opportunity this affords, to glance up from my laptop, tired-eyed and stretch my gaze for a moment, admire my natural surroundings, before diving back into another round of lesson planning, essay marking, and Teams calls with students.

But this is by no means the only place I’ve tutored. With the advent of online learning, tutors can teach from anywhere, even on the move. I once gave a Mock Oxbridge Interview to a Sixth Form student from an airport lounge in Toulouse. Whilst I was studying for my Masters degree in New York, I would rise at 5am to tutor students back home in the UK with a hot cup of coffee to wake me up; the A-train making its sleepless groan through the subway tunnel across from my apartment building.

What’s important is not necessarily where you are when you’re tutoring, but how effective that space is for teaching. Putting just a little thought into creating an effective workspace to tutor really pays off. Once, early in my tutoring career, I needed a change of scene from my university accommodation and skipped out to a local cafe to Skype with one of my regular students. The headphones I’d packed with me were fine in the quiet of my own study space, but did nothing to cancel out the hum of noise around me in a busy coffee shop. My poor student heard nothing. 

This taught me (and my billable hours) an important lesson. The spaces we choose to work as tutors can’t just be effective for us, but just as importantly: for our students as well. This means ensuring we have a strong WiFi connection, and back-up options–for instance a phone plan that allows hot-spotting if we have to migrate our data source in a hurry–, so our connectivity never interferes with the quality of the instruction we’re providing.

We should also think about investing in a good set of noise cancelling headphones or—perhaps more affordably–adjusting the audio settings on our video software to dim the background noise so if we are on the move – or unable to find a quiet place to work – we can at least replicate the peaceful, focused setting of a quiet meeting room.

But just as we should ensure the environment is as comfortable and practical for the student, we should also ensure the same for ourselves. After all, we teach better and communicate more effectively when we’re relaxed as well.

Which brings me back to the study desk in my flat. I have this old hand-me-down swivel chair that I use to… well, swivel… whenever I pause to think through a question I’m asked in a lesson; or think how I might imaginatively explain a tricky concept to a student. 

What’s your answer to the third-hand swivel chair? 

It could be a favourite pencil you rotate in your fingers, a stress toy you’ve kept hold of since making it through your final exams in one piece. 

It could be anything. 

Just remember to keep hold of those things that make your workspace more comfortable, serene and efficient. Your students will thank you for it.

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Blog Post Crafted by Will

William read English Literature at Cambridge University. He wrote plays for the ADC Theatre, winning the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Other Prize in 2015.

He studied for an MSt in Creative Writing at Oxford University, before moving to New York City, completing an MFA in Fiction at Columbia University as a Chair’s Fellow.

Passionate about literature, Will loves to share his passion for reading and writing with the students he tutors.