Tag Archives: tutor

tutoring

4 Ways a Tutor Can Help

 

In the 2009 film The Blind Side, one of my favorite characters was Michael’s tutor Miss Sue. Played by the charming Kathy Bates, Miss Sue wouldn’t let Michael quit when he became fed up with writing assignments, algebra problems or choosing the best college.

If your son or daughter is already college bound, it probably sounds unnecessary to think about hiring a tutor. After all, they have already made the grades they need. However, there are some surprising impacts which the right tutor can have in your teen’s life. And these unexpected benefits might be just what your family can use during the crazy season which comprises the final years of high school.

So here are 4 reasons that parents counting down till college might want to consider investing in a good private tutor Singapore for their prospective college student.

Tutoring help
Image from thematadorsghs.com

1. Help! I’m Drowning!

In junior and senior years there is an overwhelming process of both beginning a new phase and closing an old one. Usually by tenth grade, high schoolers are already practicing for college entrance exams like the SAT or the ACT. From there on, it’s a mad dash to visit colleges, attend scholarship days, continue doing well in advanced classes, take rigorous tests, fill out applications, commit to a school, graduate and then hopefully breathe.

The calming presence of a tutor can serve as extra help with remembering guidelines and crafting college essays. A good tutor should be able to give useful guidance during this hectic time and help students focus on what is important.

2. Learning  Skills

Another benefit of tutoring for teens is that they provide help with establishing valuable skills before kids go off to college. Organizational and planning skills along are imperative. Enhancing study skills, learning to speed read and ensuring that students write proficiently are also helpful in college.

And if a student is preparing for that daunting SAT exam, then a tutor may be able to offer tips and practice for success while instilling confidence in a seemingly pivotal time when it is easy to feel that the rest of life hangs on the outcome of one test.

3. Stress Relief

Preparing for college is an exciting time. But it can also be stressful as many important decisions are considered and life remains busier than ever. Bringing in a third party who is not quite as emotionally involved as you and your teen are might just be a good way to save your relationship with your child. You can find a tutor here who can help work with a student when your involvement results in tension.

4. Steady Presence

One of the best things about bringing in a tutor is that you can choose a positive influence over your teen in the last years that you have left with him or her. An older tutor, such as a retired teacher, might be able to speak experience into the situation. Younger tutors, perhaps a college students themselves, can have a different but equally beneficial impact as they are able to speak firsthand experience and relate to your child. In either direction, a tutor may be the perfect person to help foster enthusiasm back into your child when the worry of deadlines and decisions detracts from the excitement of graduation and beginning college.

So whether it is practicing timed essays for the SAT or reviewing South University accreditation, a tutor may be just the figure your child needs during the wonderful but challenging season of pre-college.

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This post is brought to you by Jessica Socheski, a freelance writer who specializes in articles on general tutoring.

parenting, tutoring

InstaEDU-Online tutors anytime, anywhere

instaedu

Why was InstaEDU created and who are the creators?

InstaEDU was created to solve two big problems with the traditional private tutoring industry. First, while not every student needs an hour of tutoring every Tuesday from 3-4 p.m., every single student knows what it’s like to get stuff on a tough subject and need a little extra help. And second, private tutoring is prohibitively expensive for many students; in some parts of the country, tutors charge more than $100 per hour, making it difficult for many families and college students to afford. As a result, InstaEDU was launched to make high quality, one-on-one online tutoring accessible to anyone with an Internet connection and a desire to learn — regardless of time of day or if you planned ahead. The company was founded by Alison Johnston, her brother Dan Johnston, and a friend Joey Shurtleff in late 2011; all three went to Stanford University.

Is InstaEDU expensive?

Not at all. Every new student on InstaEDU gets to try the service out for free. After that, tutoring starts at just $24/hour, and it’s billed by the minute. So, if you only need help for a few minutes, you can pay just a few dollars. But if you want to work with your tutor for an hour or more, we want to make sure it’s affordable, too!

How does it work?

Students come to InstaEDU and let us know what subject they need help with. From there, we can get them connected with a tutor from a top college in under a minute. Here’s how it works: When tutors sign up with us, we require them to register with either Facebook chat or GChat. Once they do that, our service can tell when they’re online. So when a student comes to us looking for help with a specific subject, we can send chat messages to tutors who are both experts in that subject and online. If a tutor is available, they simply click on a link to take the lesson.

Beyond our on-demand service, we also know that many students like working with the same tutor on a regular basis — they want the traditional hour per week with a tutor they connect with. We also offer the option to message and set up lessons with tutors. This can be especially useful for students in college who need help with more advanced subjects and want to find a tutor who knows, for example, college-level organic chemistry.

What type of tutoring do you offer?

All of InstaEDU’s tutoring is done online in our collaborative lesson space (it has a whiteboard and document uploader with editing). Students can choose to use video chat, audio chat or text chat — it’s totally up to them. In terms of subjects, we cover all high school subjects and most college level subjects as well. Literally everything from basic algebra to advanced econometrics.

How do you vet your tutors and who are they?

All of InstaEDU’s tutors are either current students at, or recent graduates of top colleges like Stanford, Harvard and MIT. When they apply, we require them to sign up with Facebook — that’s how we can verify they’re associated with the school they say they are. We also have them  do an interview where they tell us about past tutoring and teaching experience, which is required to work with us. After every session, students also have the option to rate their tutors, so it’s easy to see if a tutor isn’t doing a great job; if that’s the case, we’ll determine if they’re a good fit for InstaEDU or work with them to resolve any issues.

How can parents use this service for their high school and college students?

We frequently see parents come to InstaEDU looking for a tutor to work with their student[s]. With high school students, parents can set up an account for their child, and then from the parent account it’s simple to manage payments and scheduling. All the student needs to do is show up for his or her lesson. With parents of college students, what we’ll see is parents turning to InstaEDU when their college student is in over his or her head in a tough course or needs help with a paper. Just like with the high school students, parents can manage the payment aspect of the account so the only thing the student needs to focus on is their lesson.

Is it easy to get started using InstaEDU?

Absolutely. We give every new student on InstaEDU a free trial so they can see how the service works and make sure it’s a good fit. All that’s needed beyond that is an Internet connection and a desire to learn.

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college planning, Guest Posts, parenting

Three tell tale signs that your student needs a tutor

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When is the right time to hire a tutor? Initially, the answer to this question seems relatively straightforward. Many would give the obvious answer: “It is time to find a tutor as soon as my student starts to struggle.” What does that mean? The word “struggle” is relative and carriers many different meanings. A lot of self-discovery comes in the “struggling” moments of academia, but there is a fine line that parents need to be aware of. Parents, you know your child best, and you need to ensure that your child doesn’t struggle to the point where they will give up on academics. If a student reaches this low point, it is easy for them to get discouraged. If a student has experienced enough moments of failure, it is not uncommon for the student to label himself or herself as a failure. Many students have a difficult time compartmentalizing the moments of failure and their entire academic ability.

There are three important scenarios where parents should start thinking about hiring a tutor for their child. It is important to act relatively quickly, and make sure your student has all of the necessary support.

Poor Grades

As mentioned above it is important for parents to respond quickly if their student’s grades are dropping. There are many contributing factors that could lead to poor academic performance, and hiring a tutor is a great way to assess any underlying issues. Tutors have a different vantage point than teachers, and it may difficult for a teacher to assess the situation when they have 25+ students in front of them. Many teachers will work in collaboration with the tutor, but it is the responsibility of the parents to facilitate that discussion. Even though, tutoring is a great tool to use if your student is struggling, it may not be the best thing for your student. Start a dialogue with the tutor, and work towards identifying why your student is struggling. If a student struggles from time management or executive functioning, academic tutoring alone may not help the student long term. It is difficult to define a specific plan of action that all parents can use because all students are different. Each student needs an individualized plan, don’t be afraid to try trial and error in the development process. Eventually you will create a comprehensive plan that is best for your student.

Not Being Challenged

When students are not challenged academically their grades could suffer. Students can become disconnected with what is happening in class because they are bored. If that is the case, parents should communicate with the teacher to develop an enrichment plan for the student. Provide your child with several opportunities to participate in learning outside of the classroom. An expert tutor can take the material covered in class, and adapt it to make it interesting for the student. Adaptations should include facets of information that is not being covered in class.

It’s Summer Time

It’s summer time, and our brains get shut off! Provide your student with something interesting to do over the summer that will help retain the information learned during the school year. Summer tutoring is my favorite because you don’t have to worry about aligning the instruction with the goals and objectives of the classroom teacher.

Below you can find two great resources for summer enrichment:

Summer Math Camps for High School Students

Summer Discovery

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Thanks to Eric Clark, CEO of Quincy Tutoring, an online tutor network based on the South Shore of Boston, for today’s guest post.  Parents can go to www.quincytutoring.com, and search the Quincy Tutoring database for free.  Tutors can also create/manage their own profile for free.  If you enjoyed reading this post, and have questions about how much you should pay for tutoring, click HERE.  If you would like a tutor network for your area please contact Eric today.  You can also follow Eric on Facebook and Twitter.