How much time is too much or not enough for a tutoring session?
What is the minimum amount of time a tutoring session should take? Is an hour really enough? What about a half an hour? Or even ten minutes? And, what would be considered as too long, especially when the lessons are in front of a computer screen? An hour and a half? Two hours? What can a tutor accomplish in a limited amount of time?
One hour is the industry standard. I always prepare an abundance of materials, so I am ready to teach well beyond the one-hour mark. One company I worked for allotted 50 minutes with a 10 minute transition between lessons. Personally, I feel like I hardly have enough time to teach anything in 60 minutes, particularly for a newer student. Once I have had several sessions with a student and we have developed a rhythm together, it is easier to get into the work and for the student to pick up newer concepts. However, in the span of one hour, I find I never have enough time to work beyond two new concepts.
This is, of course, also dependent on the student's age. For a younger student, if we are working on written composition, for example, I find we can barely write a paragraph in the span of an hour. With a high school student, we might be able to accomplish more, perhaps getting into the critical analysis of a short story together. High school and university students can also focus for longer during a tutoring session; I have had sessions of 90 minutes to 2 hours with these students and gotten quite a bit accomplished. For younger students, many become distracted close to the one hour mark and are unlikely to retain further new knowledge.
Teaching in Double Time
For a 30 minute session, the purpose is absolutely not to teach new concepts. The one student I worked with in this way came specifically for homework help. And, I had to do preparation beforehand as well; I had to familiarize myself with her assignment before our session so I could help her immediately. And, after the 30 minute session was over, she finished the assignment offline and asked me to take a final look a couple of days later. Clearly, the 30 minutes were not enough to get the work done.
Speed Reading
One company I worked for would book 10 minute sessions. These students were ESL and making their way through a workbook. My job was to hop online with them and read with them from the last page they left off for 10 minutes, before leaving a note for the next tutor to read with them for 10 minutes from where we left off on another day. I'm not sure what improvement is expected within those 10 minutes, but perhaps just reading for 10 minutes a day is enough, any assistance from a tutor notwithstanding.
In any case, I am always hesitant when a student asks for two half hour sessions rather than a single one hour session. I ultimately agree, but I have my doubts on whether any work can truly be accomplished. Moreover, many tutors may not consider it to be worth their time, since they are only paid for the half hour, but from the perspective of income, the rest of the hour is forfeit.
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