Step 1. Selection of tutoring pairs, or "dyads": This step involves putting students together into pairs. Dyad selection does not have to be structured at all; kids respond well with peer tutoring regardless with whom they are paired, even if high achievers are paired with low achievers. The only really important guideline in dyad selection is to avoid putting best firends together, as well as pairing "worst enemies" together. Students are less likely to be productive in these cases.

• Students may be paired with peers who achieve at levels the same or different from their own. However, if you are concerned with pairing based on achievement, a good method of pairing is as follows:

       - List the students in your class from highest to lowest          achievers. This does not have to be very precise, just a
         genreal ranking.
       - Divide the list in half, now giving you two groups of students.
       - Number each group. For example, in a class of 28 students,
         you will now have two groups of 14 students, ranked lowest to
         highest. Number each group, which means you will have a 1-14          group and a 15-28 group.
       - Pair the highest student with the lowest student for that
         group. For example, students 1 and 14 will be paired, 2 and 13,
         3 and 12, 15-28 group.and so on. For the other group, students          15 and 28 will be paired, 14 and 27, 13 and 26, etc. If you have          a class with an odd number of students, never fear! It is ok to          have one group of 3 students. Furthermore, you will likely have          at least one absentee on a given day, and in this instance you
         can “mix and match”.

• You should change the dyads every 2-3 weeks to prevent the students from developing patterns of behavior or responding. Additionally, changing dyads allows for a “fresh start” and can provide the opportunity for a student to become better acquainted with someone else.

Step 2. Task Structure: Deciding How and When to Use Peer Tutoring: Even though peer tutoring can work for a large number of lessons, academic activities, and skills, there are some instances when peer tutoring may not be the best instructional strategy.

• Peer tutoring is well suited for the review and practice of previously learned or familiar material. For example, an excellent time to use
  peer tutoring would be following a teacher-directed lesson on the civil war. Following the lesson, the students would get into their tutoring pairs and review the facts presented in the lesson.
• Peer tutoring is particularly well suited for tasks and activities involving a lot of structure. For example, reviewing or learning math facts, spelling words, vocabulary words, and factual questions pertaining to a lecture (i.e. “What year did the Civil War end?”) are excellent activities to use for peer tutoring because they involve the simple presentation of discrete information, with “right-or-wrong” answers. An example of a more unstructured activity in which peer tutoring may not be the best option might be asking the class to generate expressive thoughts relating to a chapter they have read. Peer tutoring works best when the material is concrete (i.e. math facts) and/or factual (i.e. questions have a right or wrong answer).
  In these cases, material does not always have to be familiar or previously learned. In the case of peer tutoring in spelling, math
  facts, or vocab words, students can introduce new material (i.e. new spelling words) as long as they are competent with the peer tutoring procedure.
• Good peer tutoring programs are “reciprocal”, meaning both students
  in the tutoring pair have the opportunity to be the tutor and tutee in the same tutoring session. Typically, one student is the tutor for the first half of the tutoring session, and the other student is the tutor for the second half.

Step 3: Conducting Training Sessions
Successful peer tutoring programs depend on well trained students who know exactly what is expected of them BEFORE they do it.

• It is good to conduct 4-8 training sessions, 15 minutes each, on the peer tutoring procedure before they begin tutoring.
• Training typically begins with the teaching of the Feedback/Error Correction procedure (see next step!)
• Demonstrate how peer tutoring will look. Go through a lesson with another teacher or a student as the tutee. Be sure to “model” appropriate tutor AND tutee behavior.

Step 4: Preparing the Tutoring Materials
Peer tutoring will go more smoothly and students will learn more if they have clear, simple materials to use. Usually, this can simply be a prepared worksheet or a deck of flashcards.

• When you would like your students to tutor each other on factual or comprehension questions, a simple worksheet like the one shown below might work best. Each question you would like the students to ask/respond to are listed. There are columns to mark correct and incorrect responses (which will be discussed further in the error correction procedure step). The correct answers to the questions are listed at the bottom.
  
  

  	Question	Correct	Incorrect
  1	Who was the first President of the United States?
  2	Who was president of the United States during the Civil War?
  3	How many years in a row can a person be president?
  4	True or False: You can be president if you were born in Canada

  Answer key (don't let your partner see the answers!) 1. George Washington 2. Abraham Lincoln 3. 8 4. False. Only people born in the United States can be president.



• While tutoring, the tutor would cover the answer key with his/her
  hand or a post-it note.

Step 5. : Teaching the Feedback/Error Correction Procedure

The Feedback/Error correction procedure is perhaps THE MOST IMPORTANT PART of the peer training program, because this is what ensures that the tutoring “flows” along smoothly, while ensuring that learning will be maximized through reinforcement and immediate error correction. But don’t worry, its simple!

• Here is how it works:
  (refer to the worksheet on presidents in step 4)
         1. Tutor reads the question to the tutee. Or, when doing math           facts or spelling words, the tutor presents the problem on a
            flash card or says the word.
  
         2. The tutee responds.
  
         3. If the tutee responds correctly:   
         
                 - Tutor checks the "correct" column next to the question
                    or word.
  
                 - Tutor says "You're right!"
  
                 - Tutor awards the appropriate amount of points
                    (see "reward system" )
  
                 - Tutor goes on to next question
  
         4. If the tutee responds incorrect:          
                 - Tutor checks the “incorrect” column
  
                 - Tutor repeats the question and provides the correct                   answer (note that the tutor DOES NOT say “nope” or                   “you’re wrong”. He/she just simply repeats the question
                    and provides the answer).
  
                 - Tutor asks the question again
  
                 - Repeat procedure until tutee responds correctly, then
                   move on to the next question.

Step 6: Develop System to Request Help

Sometimes students may get stuck on a question. It is good to, prior to starting peer tutoring, decide on a way to request help from the teacher. This may simply consist of having both tutor and tutee raise their hands. Or, tutoring pairs could be provided with red “help” cards to hold up when they need the teacher’s assistance. Whatever the signal you chose, make sure it is reliable in getting the teacher’s attention and it is consistent so that students remember it. Remember, the sooner the students get help for a question or confusion is clarified, the faster they can move on to the next question.

Step 7. Behavior Management and Reward System

• Appropriate behavior management begins with specifying clear rules and expectations prior to peer tutoring, and rewarding positive, cooperative, and appropriate behaviors during tutoring.
• Make sure that the material the students are tutoring each other on is well within the students’ instructional level. Material that is difficult may give rise to problem behavior due to frustration. Likewise, material that is too easy may give rise to problem behavior due to boredom. Thus, material should be challenging to the students, but not too difficult. The advantage of peer tutoring is that you can tailor the difficulty of the material to the achievement level of the individual dyads.
• During training sessions, be sure to demonstrate appropriate behavior. Also, demonstrate rewarding the “models” for their appropriate behavior during the demonstration
• Effective peer tutoring procedures use points students can earn toward rewards. It is best to reward students with points for following the tutoring procedure and working cooperatively, not necessarily for getting correct answers to the tutoring questions. Bonus points can be given for performance on the material being tutored.
• A point system can be a part of the tutoring, based on performance. Here, tutees earn 2 points for a correct answer on the first try,
  and 1 point for a correct answer after an error.
• When the timer goes off, have the students switch roles.
• Students are highly motivated when a game format is used.
         - Once the students are in their dyads, divide the entire class          into two teams.
         - At the end of the tutoring session, have the dyads tally the
           number of points each had earned, both for their responses to
           tutoring items as well as points for following the procedure.
           The point totals for each dyad go into their team score.
         -The team with the most points wins a reward!
• A “Mystery Motivator” reward system can be a very effective way of increasing motivation. Using this strategy, the teacher, front of the class, writes a number on a slip of paper (without the students seeing the number), and seals it in an envelope. The envelope is then placed in a prominent position (i.e. taped to the blackboard, on a bulletin board, etc.). At the end of the tutoring session, the dyads tally the number of points they earned in their tutoring performance, as well as the bonus points they earned for following the procedures. The teacher then opens the envelope and reads the number. The dyads that achieved that many or more points than the number get a prize.
• If problem behavior arises there are a number of things teachers should evaluate. See the “troubleshooting” section for ways to determine the causes of problem behavior, and ways to address it.
         - Often, a simple “time-out from reward” is effective in
           problem behavior. Note this does not mean time-out from the
           activity, but a suspension of the rewards given for
           appropriate behavior and good performance. If the students
           are motivated to earn the rewards, only a short 3 minute
           time-out should be effective.

Step 8. Close Teacher Monitoring

• You will find that when your students are in their dyads and are using the peer tutoring procedure, you will have more free time on your hands! However, teachers should avoid taking this opportunity to catch up on paperwork or do other activities unrelated to the student activity. This time should be spent by “floating” around the classroom and monitoring the students while they tutor each other. Teachers can take this time to reward pairs that are working cooperatively and following the procedure, answer questions, and provide corrective feedback.
• Use a timer. Typically, peer tutoring sessions are best when they are 15-20 minutes in length. Set the timer for half of the total time. When the timer goes off, have the students switch roles (tutor and tutee), and continue until the end of the tutoring period.