What do I need to become a tutor?

I’d check with the schools.
As far as teaching (which is what tutoring is) you need to be sure that you understand your subject thoroughly. You need to know far, far more about it than you’ll ever teach.

I received some helpful responses here.

The bottom line is the student will present you with the topic, and hopefully his/her teacher will have given some kind of work or study materials to you or the student. Most of the time you will be helping with homework, or helping them study for tests/quizzes. Most likely you will not be an expert and know far more about the topic than you need to and that is ok, you will relearn whatever they are doing quickly, and than help them out. Once your initial meeting with the student/school happens you can get a jump on the material they are learning. Also as a tutor contacting the students teacher directly really helps cut to the misunderstanding they are having, and you can also ask the teacher for supplemental materials.

In my experience, as a tutor and certified teacher, getting to know the students and working on the motivational issues are the real payoff skills. The material you will find to be easy, especially if you have graduated college. If you are still unsure start with easier grade levels.

Private tutoring is rather different from being a classroom teacher. Classroom management skills are arguably unnecessary if you’re helping an individual child out at home.

If you’re tutoring English Lit., for example, you’ll probably find that you are well aware of the issues covered in the course, even though you may not be familiar with the text.

As for your question about whether or not what you do will help the child, then you need to understand the role that assessment plays. Basically, you can consider that what you’re doing is effective if their understanding of the subject matter improves – this can be through looking at their marks in tests that you have set or, crucially, in the formal assessments that are made at school – do their grades improve in English Lit. tests?

If you’re worried about the content of your students’ papers, then you should look at the curriculum and assessment criteria which should published by the school board (I’m in the UK, where this is common practice) – that should give you an indication of the level of understanding. Furthermore, you should remember that your role as tutor is not to write the papers for them – you can provide critical feedback and make suggestions, but at the end of the day it is the learner’s responsibility to do the assignments themselves – you are only there to support their understanding. You can lead a horse to water, and all that…

You will probably also be able to find companion/commentary volumes for the texts your student is using for the grade they are in, which will help you to understand what they are expected to understand.

You might want to check out WyzAnt – it’s a website that basically certifies you in as many subjects as you want to test for, and then helps match you up with students in your area who are looking for tutors.

The certification tests will help to give you an idea of what students at various levels should be able to achieve, and it’s a good, easy way for a first-time tutor to find students. I think there’s also a way to interact with the other tutors on the site, so you have the benefit of a whole support network, should you have questions about something a specific student needs.

I haven’t used the site myself, but my sister signed up last year, and she’s been getting steady work ever since!

I’m not sure about what you need, but to get business you might want to check out some homeschooling sites to help get linked up with students who need your help.

If you are available during the day, many schools have tutoring programs. You could also ask about Title I aide positions, which are essentially working one-on-one with students in the classroom setting, or pulling out small groups to work on specific skills. You don’t need a teaching certificate, and your degree would make you an appealling candidate. The classroom teacher will tell you what skills need work and what level each student is at.