One to One: Part 2, Principles of Tutoring

I've always held that it's the personal aspect of tutoring, real tutoring, that makes it work.
There was a time, prior to free public education, that only truly wealthy folk could have tutors. This they did almost exclusively for an education. [Of course, you could get a doctorate in 4 years back then, too..just sayin'..]
Since then, we've had, and continue to have, the factory model of education: large, regimented groups of passive recipients of knowledge. This has been proven in endless studies to be one of the least effective ways to learn, as well as a wellspring of ADD problems, misunderstanding, and frustration for both teachers and students.
I don't wish to expound on the weaknesses of the mass-class system, nor do I disparage any of the hard-working people who do their best to make it effective. Heck, I grew up in a family of teachers, principals, and other public school workers. You all have my admiration, students, teachers, and administrators for making the best of an often-difficult arrangement.
I only wish to take this moment to strongly endorse an idea of individualized learning. This has been explored and practiced in various forms from time immemorial. My own high school experience was with a Carl Rogers-based curriculum which was way ahead of its time, and I found it inspiring.
On a more practical level, our present times call for more creativity within the confines of prevailing educational theory, budgets, and politics, just to name a few of the strictures.
This is where I believe professional tutoring can play a tremendous role. Professional tutors are very flexible, soundly based in learning theory, and can offer one of the key elements missing in standard education: human contact.
Though robots, online beings, self-teaching packets, etc. have been suggested as replacement teachers, an actual human being who can listen and guide and question specifically for the student, has no substitute.
Think about it: how you and people you know learn things, understand and think analytically (and with feeling) is the strongest foundation to the growth of your mind and being.

Tests, tests, and more tests

How do you prepare for a test? DO you prepare for a test? I'm still surprised by some students who don't have a fundamental plan for test and quiz prep. My theory is that they either think that if they done the homework they are ready. Or better yet, if they don't bring it up, the teacher will forget to give you the test. Well, of course these never happens, and all a passive approach will do is decrease the chances of doing well on a test. Using your time wisely will save you from rushed mistakes and peressure. Here are my top five test preparation strategies:

• Ask the teacher WHEN the test will be before they bring it up (unless they gave out syllabus which I find many high school teachers don't do)

• Ask WHAT will be on the test. Get as many specifics as possible. A study guide or practice test is ideal, but those aren't always offered either

• Ask HOW Long the test will be, and WHAT TYPE of questions (e.g., multiple choice, short answer, etc.) it will have.

• Set up a plan to study for the test, and not by just reading your notes. Include re-writing your notes, memory drills--a study partner is great for this), reviewing handouts and previous assignments.If you find there's something you didn't understand in the first place, get some help from the teacher or your tutor. It's way better to figure this out before you are sitting in front of the test staring blankly at the page!

• Spend at least 20-30 minutes a day for three or four days reviewing your materials, and make up some practice questions to quiz yourself. This should be enough time if you've kept up, since "cramming" doesn't work anyway.

You'll arrive rested and ready for your test if you follow these simple steps. Since tests often heavily weight your grade, you will see an improvement when you score well because your effective study plan. Good luck!

Understanding Tutoring 101

Principles of Tutoring: First in a Series

What is unique about tutoring?
How is it different from teaching?
If someone knows how to teach, they can tutor, too, right?
I often hear these questions--or assumptions based upon on them--and I like to have the opportunity to answer them.
A very common misconception is that tutoring and teaching are interchangeable. Actually, tutoring is very different from teaching. Teaching is more focused on instruction and presenting new information to students. Tutoring, on the other hand, uses the one-to-one relationship of the tutor and tutee (hey, that's a great word!) to guide the learner to full understanding and interaction with what has been taught. It is more like apprenticeship or coaching in that the individual's pace and learning style are fully incorporated into the process. Further, skills such as critical thinking and study habits are emphasized in a way that is difficult to do in a classroom setting. With the distractions of others in the group, competition, challenge of authority, and inattention to individual needs removed, a student can focus in a very different way on learning.
This is not meant to be a criticism of classroom teaching, either, just to be clear. Tutoring and teaching can be very complimentary in development of successful education. And each role, that of a teacher and of a tutor, requires specialized training to be highly skilled in either practice. Students who make the most of access both teachers and tutors find greater benefits for their education.

Write, write, write!

I've encountered more students than not who haven't had the pleasure of creative writing guidance. I say this because among a number of "superfluous" school classes, writing to simply express oneself (as opposed to persuasive essays, book reports, etc.) has been dropped or at least given short shrift in its importance.
So I urge everyone, regardless of whether you think you have anything worth writing, or can't spell, or whatever stops you, to get to the keyboard or pen and have at it. A journal, 2-paragraph rant, blog, cartoon word balloon, whatever format you want: jump in! The water may seem cold, or filled with Ghosts of Writing Assignments Past (reference Charles Dickens), but will soon become your own. Your experiences, ideas, passions, humor, anything you want can be put into words; and believe me, once you really get going, you'll find a voice you never knew.
I look forward to reading your future work!

Mapping your College Plan

Spring comes along, and your school year seems to pick up momentum. A little over 3 months may seem like a long time until summer, but if you're as busy as most high school students are, those months move by pretty quickly.

It's important to not get too caught up in the swoon of spring fever, and keep your eyes on your road to post high-school plans. There are a plethora (look it up!) of options including colleges and universities, community colleges, gap-year programs (a year off before going on to higher ed.), military enlistment, to name a few.

Most juniors gearing up for a four-year college should have their game plans laid out, with the help of parents, guidance counselors, and plenty of research (check out http://www.collegeboard.org if you haven't already.) Considerations for early admissions, familiarity with credit requirements and a number of other basics can make your process smooth and organized.

Seniors should be well on the way to having applications in and plans for financial aid. Final college visits can be helpful if there are still choices to be made.

This can be a nerve-wracking, but also exciting time of life: you have a the big Move ahead, but with planning it will be one of the most fulfilling times of our life! Best of luck!

Happy Winter Break!

After all the parties, last minute quizzes, perfomances, and general anticipation of a couple of weeks off from school, everyone is pretty darn ready for Winter Break. You may be travelling, spending time with family or just sleeping in a lot. This is a good thing! In his book Seven Habits of Highly Succesful Teens, Sean Covey would call this "Sharpening the Saw." That is, giving your brain a rest so you can be ready to go when January rolls around.
So enjoy your time off, have some good time with yourself and those close to you, find a new book to read, and maybe a new mini-adventure of some kind. Happy holidays!

Already we're past mid-quarter and coming up on the first grade period of school.
How naturally we dive into the accomplishments, expectations, and shortcomings of a new school year.
Is this one different from the last? Are you getting your homework/ tests/ papers done? How does your GPA look so far?
These are not insignificant questions, but what if the questions were: Are you learning new things? Do they interest you? Have you explored beyond the parameters of assignments, just because you want to know more? Is your future taking shape in your mind?
Yes, your perfomance in school will impact what comes next, and your GPA can influence where you might go to college. But what is going to stick with you? The teachers, classes, disoveries; allies, mentors and resources you find along the way; they will be the foundation of your further ventures.
Keep your eyes and mind open. This is YOUR life, your education. It will serve you in ways you may not imagine, at times that seem unlikely. Take it all in, don't settle for mediocre when the richness of your knowledge and imagination are the fuel for your life to come.

Making summer count (and still have fun!)

"Studying? During Summer?" The usual reaction I hear from students when they first are offered/suggested to have summer tutoring. But for sure, I hear a whole different response when the school year begins: "Wow! I felt so much more prepared when school started this year..."

Summer is a great time to catch up, move ahead, or spread out in new directions academically. For many years I've taught a study skills workshop in August which is always well-received (and fills up) with students who realize the value of learning some new tricks during the low-pressure time of summer break. [In fact, this summer's workshop is coming up in just a couple of weeks; more on that in the next post..]

The season is also a good time to recover high school credits, raise your GPA, or take a class over a more condensed period of time rather than sitting through months of normal school-year class time. Some folks like to try on community college or distance learning at this time, too.

Best of all, you can pursue some interests with more freedom from time demands, e.g., creative writing, reading/research in an area of your choice, study for a driver's licence, travel, or volunteering and internships to try on a workplace experience that you may not have time to do otherwise. All of these pursuits will broaden your future options, while fending off boredom and hours of TV drivel.

Keep an open mind; watch for some opportunities to do more than just hang out. You'll be glad you did!

Part 3.a: Note-taking Basics and Tips

Forget the spiral. Use loose leaf (like the papers in your binder) to take notes on. You can get access, reorganize the order and have the flexibility that a spiral notebook does not have.

For free, pre-formatted Cornell note paper (and many other useful templates) try
http://www.printablepaper.net/preview/Cornell_Notes-letter

Also, highlighting is good in limited form. Get only the WORDS or phrases that are pithy and convey key ideas. A highlighter pen will not serve you if it is your only tool. I’ve seen countless sources with consecutive paragraphs underlined/highlighted. How can this be helpful?

Edit and summarize as you go, since you will be using this as source material for your own written notes. You will also be framing the information in your own way, and not just copying.

[BTW: sorry for the long break since the last entry; got too many irons in the fire!]

PART 2: the Format

I like the Cornell system. Developed by Walter Paulk of Cornell University (duh) who found that students retained at least twice as much of their studies if they wrote and reviewed their notes in concise, organized fashion. This website:
http://coe.jmu.edu/learningtoolbox/cornellnotes.html gives step-by-step instructions very succinctly and usefully.
It’s very straightforward and easy to use. There are numerous other sites that provide the template for you to download and print.

Taking Notes: a Three-Part Series

Introduction

How do people usually learn to take notes? Often by trial and error, or the occasional teacher who gives a little guidance. Yet for students coming out of high school and going on to college, good quality notes can make or break you for important reasons. First, the act of writing notes helps you learn/remember more than by simply reading or listening. Also, your notes are an invaluable study tool to review for tests, compile your research, and record source information to write papers.
Following is a 3-part series on note-taking, in which you will learn the how-tos of creating useful notes from various sources.
First, a brief overview of the features of good, useful notes.
• they are concise and summarize all key information
• they are written in an abbreviated form to save time
• they are well-organized

Follow some basic steps, and you’ll find success by efficient note-taking.

College and Athletic Success for a Former Tutee..

I often wonder what direction the kids I tutor end up going when we finish our work together. Sometimes I find out about them when I run into their parents; this one went to Mt. Holyoke College, that one is a famous sous-chef, one is a semi-famous actor, another joined the Air Force. They may be leading more ordinary but fulfilling lives, which is good, too. I feel a little pride and a sense I helped make a difference in their lives. If I guided them to build their success, opened their eyes to the value of education, goals and resourcefulness, well, I've done what I love to do: make a difference.
If you follow college football, you may have heard of one of my former students, Ndamukong Suh. I tutored him for a short while in fifth grade, and was impressed with his motivation and his family support. He went on to be a top athlete (earning his own entry in Wikipedia! see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ndamukong_Suh ) and many awards and honors. He also decided to stay and finish out his senior year at Nebraska, rather than quit to go into the NFL draft. I can't imagine him doing anything else (or his mom letting him!)
The kind of work I get to do with young people is rewarding in itself. When I find out my students have followed their dreams, my passion for tutoring and hope for the next generation is renewed. I'm grateful to do what I love, and learn from my students as they learn from me.

YOUR GRAPHING CALCULATOR: VALUABLE TOOL OR FALSE HOPE?

You’ve just gotten your new “big screen” calculator. You know, the kind that shows more than one line of entries, does graphs, tables, and a whole bunch of functions you haven’t the foggiest notion about (and you probably never will. I figure there’s around 20- 40 % of functions on a calculator that you’ll never learn, much less use. But hey, you never know.)
In mathematical aids we have evolved from an abacus to a slide rule to calculators. Now that you have one, you think you’ll never have to think so hard, or get the wrong answer again. Our tendency is, as human beings, to accept answers as correct if the generating source is a calculator. You soon find out this isn’t the case, however. You get error messages, weird-looking answers, and you still have to know how to do the math.
Even so, a calculator is pretty much indispensable in most math courses. So you have to remember that you have a brain and the calculator doesn't. Therefore it is only as smart as you and the numbers entered into them are. To make the most of your calculator, follow these rules of the road:

• get acquainted with a minimum of functions (and know them well) by reading the manual that came with it. No, you don’t have to read every page. Just the ”Getting Started” chapter will usually do. The rest you can learn as you go. (If you ever lose the manual--and who doesn’t--you can usually find it on the manufacturer’s website.)

• ALWAYS write the steps of the equation you are trying to solve as you go, even if it seems redundant. This includes each of the answers you get on the calculator. That way, if you make a mistake you can easily trace it back without having to start from the beginning.

• Do as much in your head as possible. I’ve seen students calculating 4 x 2. The more times you have to push buttons, the more possible errors/ typos you can make.

• There are a lot of good uses for your calculator you may not have thought of. For example, you can check fractional answers or radicals. You type in one fraction and change it to a decimal number, then the other and compare whatever weird decimal number you get to the first. It doesn’t matter what the number is as long as they match.

• Break the equation into chunks (after you’ve done all the figuring you can on your own). Be liberal with the use of parentheses, so the calculator will only do what you tell it to do, not what it think you should be doing. A long string of computations, if not meticulously entered, will default to the order of operations if you don’t break it down.

Follow these simple guidelines, and your calculator will be your best friend in math. Next to your tutor, of course!

tutoring: guidance for your mind

I get to work at what I love to do: help others enjoy and succeed at learning! Build your knowledge of the world around you, know how to think and truly understand, and best of all ask the right questions.

Socrates (see www.philosophypages.com/ph/socr.htm) was one of the best masters of tutoring in history. "The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being" is how he describes the importance of wisdom through discovery. Become all the wiser, every day, and keep learning...

tutor and apprentice

Apprenticeship was the traditional way to learn a trade. At the same time, the relationship with the master was what developed the apprentice's skills. 

The same is true of tutoring. Many people mistake it for teaching, which is different; mainly it is not as interactive. Both are important, but tutoring can deepen your relationship with what you want to know, and be able to use it more completely.