Ahdoot, Robert. One-on-One 101: The Art of Inspired & Effective Individualized Instruction. New York: Morgan James, 2016.

Weighing in at a tidy 120 pages, One-on-One 101 is equal parts how-to manual and manifesto. The author, Robert Ahdoot, is best known as the creator of Yay Math, a highly popular video series in which zany costumed characters introduce concepts from high-school mathematics. (Here’s the “Mathemagyptian” explaining inscribed angles.) Ahdoot’s prose, like his YouTube persona, exudes a warmth and enthusiasm that are downright contagious. His unconventional path to a teaching career (“my job found me,” he explains in the preface) has given him a unique perspective on today’s educational system — one that will resonate with tutors, coaches, and others working outside the traditional classroom format.

The basic premise of One-on-One 101 is that teaching individual students is an art, one for which subject matter expertise is necessary but not sufficient. Individualized instruction, as Ahdoot notes, is on the rise, filling a void created by ever-increasing class sizes and passively consumed curricular media. But simply knowing the material isn’t enough to make one a good tutor, or, to use the author’s favored phrase, “One-on-One artist.” Much of the advice in One-on-One 101 seems designed to close the gap between “well-meaning expert” and “professional educator.”

Another commonality between Ahdoot’s videos and his book is his fondness for bold, quirky imagery. For the most part, Ahdoot’s snappy metaphors work well; I found the seeds-soil-sun paradigm introduced in Chapter 8 to be especially … well, illuminating. On occasion, though, I wondered whether Ahdoot’s idiosyncratic vocabulary was embellishing his argument rather than clarifying it; the unconventional use of “tangible” and “intangible,” for example, left me a bit puzzled. I also found myself shaking my head at the suggestion to drop buzzwords like “swag” and “dope” into interactions with students. (To be fair, Ahdoot points out that this technique won’t work for everyone.)

These are small quibbles, though. On the whole, One-on-One 101 presents an excellent balance of practical tips and high-level perspective. The former include ideas on communicating clearly and empathetically, dealing with difficult students, and modeling good organizational habits (hint: hole-punch anything you want your students to file). As for perspective: Ahdoot describes the student-teacher relationship using a host of analogies, but the central concept is that of a “sacred apprenticeship bond.” That may seem a bit lofty for someone whose students just want to boost their GRE score, but it remains an admirable ideal.

In fact, that may be the most important thing that One-on-One 101 offers: a sense of the tremendous value that the best tutoring can have. In an age of MOOCs, YouTube, and Khan Academy, it can sometimes be hard to make the case for involving one more professional in a student’s learning process. One-on-One 101 reminds tutors of the life-changing potential of their work — then challenges them to live up to it.