Many students feel intense pressure around their academic success, and without guidance or support, small setbacks can lead to massive shifts in mindset. It is easy to begin comparing yourself to others, and sometimes it takes a person longer to reach their goals than anticipated. You may feel like it is too late to chase down your academic dreams or improve your grades. But here is the good news: you don’t have to do it on your own!
A savvy and empathetic tutor can help boost a student’s self-esteem and confidence in majorly impactful ways. Sometimes, the difference between a successful and unsuccessful student is strong self-esteem and steady confidence. If you are a student who finds themselves being overly critical of their work, or if you are someone who is holding back on their journey to success for fear of failure, consider how working with the right tutor can set you on track to reaching your goals.
If you are insecure about your academic performance and want to become more confident, it can be difficult to know where to start. A great tutor has all the tools to help. An empathetic tutor creates a safe space for students to ask questions and talk about the support they need. They will guide their students to focus on the positive, learn from their mistakes, and celebrate their successes along the way.
Focusing On The Positive
Many students go to a tutor to focus on their weaknesses and areas of improvement, but what they may not realize is that a great tutor is able to recognize your strengths in a big way. A great tutor will help you highlight the tools you have and use them to your advantage.
Sometimes a tutor can help you maximize the strong analytic skills you already use to thrive in your science classes to become a better writer in your English classes. Your tutor can help you make connections between the problem-solving skills you hone in your Math class to navigate a difficult chapter in your Physics class. If you thrive talking about World History, you may already have the foundational skills to dissect important details you learn about in your Biology class. Some students have amazing memorization skills that they can utilize in ways they didn’t realize. Others naturally make real-world connections in Science or History courses that they didn’t realize could come in handy in their Math or English classes.
Ultimately, tutors and instructors who are able to look at the big picture can offer perspective and insight that a student may not have about themselves and their skills. A confident student believes they have the tools to succeed, and an empathetic tutor is able to focus on the positive, recognize those skills, and teach students how to use them to their advantage in new ways.
Learning How To Come Back From Your Mistakes
A great tutor teaches students how to turn every mistake into a learning opportunity. If your confidence takes a heavy hit after performing poorly on an exam, your tutor can help you pinpoint your weaknesses and come back from your mistakes with new tools and strategies for the future.
By focusing on finding your weaknesses, you can zero in on the exact skill or concept that you misunderstood, so you do not make the same mistake twice. A great tutor is able to guide students through this process and give them opportunities to learn from their mistakes. Opportunities to understand your performance habits are very useful.
You may learn that you missed a question because you were rushing. You may have scored poorly on an essay because you didn’t understand the prompt. Maybe you made mistakes in your Chemistry lab because you did not have the tools you needed. Perhaps you weren’t paying attention on an important day in class. All of these mistakes are not defining moments, and your confidence can be restored by figuring out where you went wrong.
Sometimes, all it takes to boost your self-esteem is a little support in finding out where things went wrong. If you have a habit of rushing, you can work on your time management with your tutor, and feel confident that during your next exam you have the tools you need to succeed. If you struggled to understand the essay prompt, you can work on slowing down and focusing on answering every detail with your tutor, so your next essay scores are better. If you were unprepared on your Chemistry lab day, have confidence that your organizational skills can be improved, and the next lab offers a new opportunity to show your hard work and dedication. If you struggled to pay attention in class before an exam, your tutor can help you review the chapter before the next test to be sure there are not any gaps in your studies.
Be confident in knowing that each mistake is a learning opportunity to grow from and be better in the future. An empathetic and savvy tutor will support you through these failures to ensure you come out of them stronger, with tools to problem solve and succeed in the future.
Acknowledging Your Successes and Being Proud
With your sights on the future, it can be easy to get caught up in large academic end goals. Constant questioning and self-doubt can take over for students with big goals in their academic careers: Will I get into the college I want? Am I participating in enough extracurriculars to stand out as a college applicant? Do I have what it takes to succeed in the major I want? Do I know what kind of career I want to land after college?
Sure, these are all important questions to ask yourself on your path to reaching your goals. But, it is important to also take the time to acknowledge your successes (big and small) along the way! If you struggle with confidence, an empathetic academic tutor knows exactly how to highlight your wins and boost your self-esteem.
Many students are unable to see the improvements they are making when they are caught up in achieving their goals. But a tutor can call out the moment when you finally solve a trigonometry problem without having to ask step-by-step questions along the way. They can point out the first time you write a perfect introduction paragraph to an essay and celebrate the writing skills you have worked hard to improve. Your tutor will notice when you show up to a session with all of your geometry formulas memorized. They will notice when you manage your time and get all of your homework turned in on time. They will notice when you reach the small goals you set, and recognizing these wins is a big part of growing your self-esteem as a student!
Small wins and small celebrations will make a huge difference in a student’s confidence. If you can perfect your skills in executing a perfect narrative essay, then the next time you face a challenge in your English class, you know that you have the experience and the skills to succeed. Any time you are able to start with a goal, make a plan, problem solve, study, practice, and work hard to achieve that goal, you should be proud!
Ultimately, students who feel like their successes are acknowledged and celebrated thrive knowing that their hard work has not gone unnoticed. Facing a challenge head-on is difficult. By working with an empathetic tutor who acknowledges all of the work that it took for you to land in a successful place, you gain the confidence to take ownership of your work.
No matter how many times you stumble on your way to improving your weaknesses and reaching your goals, the moment you achieve your goal should be celebrated! Work with a savvy and empathetic tutor who is able to guide you along the way and pause when it is time to reflect on your work and be proud.
Why Does Confidence Matter?
By building up a student’s confidence, a great tutor aids a student’s willingness to keep going when things get hard. Motivation to work hard in school comes and goes, and motivation is difficult to come by when a student feels like they aren’t capable of reaching their goals. By giving students the guidance to identify their strengths, learn from their mistakes, and celebrate their successes, an empathetic tutor sets their students on track to trusting their capabilities and believing in themselves. A confident student knows they have the skills to succeed, trusts their problem-solving skills, and is willing to try again when they fail.
If you are a student struggling to believe in yourself, you are not alone. With intense pressure around academic performance, many students struggle with their self-esteem and confidence. Tutorly’s tutors are dedicated to helping you reach your goals. All Tutorly tutors are highly trained, experienced, and empathetic. We are dedicated to providing safe, comfortable, and encouraging experiences to all our students. Whether you are looking to improve your grades, seeking homework support, or needing a boost in confidence, your Tutorly tutor can support and guide you along the way!