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A Systematic Analysis Of One-On-One Teaching And Learning And The Significance Of “Role Continuity”

In “The Roles a Tutor Plays,” Muriel Harris, an education professor, asserts that “tutoring is…the best or the only real form of instruction…that idyllic setting in which the teacher is perched at one end of the log and the student at the other” (62). I plan to argue that this form of teaching distinguishes itself from that of the traditional classroom through a series of factors, each of which plays a critical role in the development of the relationship between the student and the teacher and its eventual outcome. In order to assess examples of one-on-one teaching from both literature and film, I have designed a systematic process that each one should follow in order to be beneficial for student and teacher alike. The first step is to have a peer relationship of some sort, either being of the same age or having a similar background. This characteristic constitutes the necessary foundation for a successful one-on-one teaching experience as it provides some sort of common ground on which to build a connection between the teacher and the student. In addition to there being a type of peer relationship, each work that I will refer to contains a teaching experience, which is unique from conventional schooling in that there is no true curriculum, no textbooks, and they take place in an informal setting. I believe that these differences from a normal classroom coupled with the peer relationship provide a more informal, intimate setting and may allow for a friendship of some sort to occur, which is the next necessary step in the development of a successful one-on-one teaching and learning experience. If the two characters are able to form this type of bond, as not all of them do, then this connection facilitates a reciprocal desire to teach and learn, arguably the most critical part of the student-teacher relationship, such that the student and teacher will reverse roles. This fluidity in roles is what psychology professor K.J. Topping calls, “role continuity.”...