Module 1 · Your role and relationships

About 20 minutes · Competency domain: Relationships · competency model

Objective

By the end of this module you can: run the first three minutes of a session so that every student is greeted by name and hears one specific reference to their previous work — behaviors R1–R2 in the competency model, scored in rubric Domain 1.

Scenario hook: Diego’s first session

Diego, 20, is a sophomore tutoring his first group of three Grade 7 students. He prepared hard. He walks in, sits down, opens the worksheet and says: “Okay! So today we’re doing two-step equations. Let me show you how these work — first you subtract the constant, then you divide.”

Two students follow. One, Amara, puts her head down. Diego talks at the group for 25 minutes, answers his own questions, and never learns that Amara failed the same quiz step twice last week — because nobody told him to look.

Nothing Diego said about math was wrong. The session still failed, because a tutor’s first job in the room is relational, not informational. The National Student Support Accelerator’s definition of high-impact tutoring starts with “relationship-based” — and that is a trainable behavior, not a personality trait.

Key idea: four behaviors students can feel

The competency model defines the Relationships domain by what an observer can see:

1. Greet every student by name in the first minute (R1).
2. Reference the previous session at least once — their exit ticket, a problem they cracked, a mistake you already worked through (R2).
3. Spread attention across the group — every student speaks or works with you at least once; no one is carried, no one is left (R4).
4. Keep and use progress notes — names of effort, not just scores (R3).

Why it matters: tutoring works through a consistent adult who knows the student’s work. The State of Tutoring 2026 analysis found students in district programs kept the same tutor all year 84% of the time — versus about 4 in 10 in state-led and vendor-led programs. Consistency is the asset; the relationship is how you compound it.

Model: the first three minutes

Verbatim excerpt from Transcript T1 (fictional, constructed for training), the session’s first exchange:

Nina: Welcome back — Amara, Jayden, Luis, same seats. Amara, yesterday your distributive step finally clicked; that’s where we start today. Luis, last week you told me negative numbers were “out to get you,” and then your exit ticket disagreed — so I’m watching you today. [R1 + R2, specific]

Amara: The one with the parentheses?

Nina: That’s the one. Warm-up’s on the board — three problems like yesterday’s exit ticket, solo start, two minutes. Timer’s running. [R4: everyone has a job within 60 seconds]

What to notice: the references are specific and public but never embarrassing — Amara gets a win named, not a failure. Every student is individually addressed inside 60 seconds.

Practice with feedback

Your turn (3 minutes): You inherit a group you have met twice. Amara’s last two exit tickets: solved 3x + 5 = 20 fine, then wrote 2(x − 4) = 2x − 4 (distributed to the first term only). Jayden aced both. Luis missed the sign when moving terms: wrote x − 4 = 10 → x = 6.

Write your first three sentences to the group. Then compare:

Strong example: “Welcome back. Amara, yesterday you fixed the parentheses problem yourself — that’s where we start today. Jayden, I’ve got a challenge problem with your name on it. Luis, before we begin: walk me through what happened with that minus 4, because I think it’s easier than it looks.” Why it works: every student is named (R1); two references tie to recorded work (R2); the “challenge problem” pre-empts Jayden dominating (R4); Luis’s error is framed as tractable, not as a deficit. Weak version: “Hi everyone, ready for math?” — no names, no history, no plan. It costs nothing and buys nothing.

In your next session, try…

1. Write each student’s name + one true sentence from their last exit ticket on your session plan before you walk in (session plan template).
2. Say both out loud in the first three minutes.
3. Mark an attention tick next to each name when they speak — at session end, no name without a tick.

Reflection

After your next session, answer in the tutor self-reflection form: Which student did I address least, and what did I miss as a result? Bring the answer to your next coaching conversation — it is a standard opener in the coaching conversation guide.

Check yourself

• A student says “I’m just bad at math” in week 1. Which of the four behaviors is your best first response? (Reference their previous work — R2. Concrete past evidence contradicts the identity claim better than reassurance does.)
• Your strongest student finishes early and starts answering for the others. Which behavior are you protecting? (R4 — spread attention. Redirect: “Amara, what do you think of Jayden’s first step?”)