Guide
How to log tutoring sessions without losing your evening
Session logs fail for one reason: they take too long, so they get written on Friday from memory. A log that takes two minutes at the table survives. Here is what to put in it and what to leave out.
In short
Log five things per session: the date, the lesson or skill taught, minutes, one rating of how it went (Needs support, Developing or Secure), and at most one line of note. Skip narrative. Record it before the student leaves the table. That log produces an instruction log and a progress summary on demand.
The five fields
- Date.
- Lesson taught, by its place in the sequence.
- Minutes, because parents and schools ask.
- One rating for the session.
- One line of note, only when something surprised you.
What to leave out
Narrative summaries, lists of every activity, and anything you would not read again. If a detail will change what you teach next, it belongs in a review item, not a paragraph.
When to write it
Before the student stands up. Thirty seconds at the table beats ten minutes at night, and the rating is more honest when you have just watched the work.
Absences and cancellations
Log them. An absence with a reason is part of the record and explains regressions later. A log with gaps that are not explained looks like a log that was not kept.
In Literacy Trail
Start lesson opens the current lesson; one tap on a rating closes it with the date, and minutes default to the student's usual length. The missed-session prompt records absences from the calendar. The instruction log and progress report are one click each.
Questions people ask
Two taps, and the log is kept
Set up a student and record the next session in under a minute.