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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Tutoring for Students Taking Online Degrees

Tutoring for Students Taking Online Degrees

These days, more and more people—especially those who have already finished a degree in a regular schooling set up—are taking up online degrees because these give them better work options and opportunities. Since they cannot afford to fail in taking online classes, they need all the help they could get in their studies to be able to succeed in school. These days, what better way to get help but to opt for tutoring services online?

The possibilities of online options

Imagine this: if you have an online degree, you can expand your options and you can jump into another career without having to sacrifice in getting another full course in the University. For those who are not seeing any future in your current job, now is the time to think about available options. These options would come easy if you have additional credentials through an online degree.

Nowadays, there are so many reasons why people who want to jump into careers should choose online degrees. The number one reason would be its very convenience and seemingly hassle free set up. In this modern time and age, time is a very important asset.

These people believe that since they can manage their time effectively, thus, they can reach so many goals and can start with new ones in no time. Since getting an online degree involves virtual classroom set up, you can save time alone because there is no need for you to commute or travel all the way from your house or from your office to the University.

Another reason why people opt for online option is the flexibility of schedule in online classes. Majority, if not all, online universities today understand the time constraints that its potential students are having so they provide a very flexible as much as possible. This is to let the students work at their own pace and space without the overwhelming pressure of finishing assignments or attending the class on times that they have work to do.

Many of the online universities offer classes that start usually at night where there is not work schedule for those that work during the day and for those who have nigh jobs, midday schedule is available. Aside from that, you can get all the help that you need since you are getting your class in a virtual setting.

The promise of online tutoring

These people—who have been working all their lives without the definite promise of promotion—also opt for online college degrees because these can enable them to change their work and jump into a career that they want to.

Those who are taking online courses should not worry so much that they don’t have much time and resources in terms of doing their assignments. In fact, they are luckier since they can access any information anytime they want to. In fact, since they spend more time online, they can start with finishing their academic requirements even if they are still attending the class.

Since they have more time being online, there are so many opportunities for them to explore and get information the fast and easy way. In terms of assignments, there are so many help available for the students though online tutoring sites.

Online tutoring sites usually run programs depending on the level of need that the students have. Usually, online tutorials cater to specific levels of students. Majority that are available online are those for grade level students and cover the major subjects such as Mathematics, Sciences, History, and the like. Higher levels also include homework help on Algebra, Calculus, and others.

Tutoring Your Own children

Tutoring Your Own children

Some parents find hiring a tutor for their kids would be the best since they are doubtful of their own qualifications as a tutor. While some parents think that tutoring their own children would be a rewarding experience, since they would have to spend the time together.

As mentioned, there are really some parents who think that they are not qualified to teach their own children. But some experts would say that teaching your own children could be a breeze since parents know their children better. It is also said that parents know their children’s potential, thus they would know what are best for them. Parents just need to have boost in their confidence.

Another common apprehension of parents is that they think that they won’t be able to deal with their children. Parents who do not have a healthy communications with their children fear that tutoring sessions would eventually lead to misunderstanding.

Some experts say that tutoring your own children is a remarkable experience. As a parent, you get to guide your children on their important development years. You just have to be careful to avoid any impression that you are forcing and demanding them to perform well in school and would not expect and accept anything else.

To avoid these circumstances, there are things that would make tutoring our own children a happy experience for both parents and kids.

• Consult with your child’s teacher, first. You would need information about what subjects your child is having difficulty. This would help you identify which field you would be putting more focus and assistance.

• Make tutoring sessions something they would look forward to. Remember that your kids are in school for most of the day. They are just very tired in listening to different teachers giving lectures. You would have to avoid that kind of atmosphere when tutoring them. You could use different education materials that can be used during tutoring sessions. You can buy puzzles, games, stories, worksheets and other materials that would suit your child’s level.

• Get your child involved in the process. For example, determining the days and hours for tutoring sessions. Do not just set it for them. Include them in deciding what days would be suitable and at the same time consider your own schedule. The least that you want is cancelling tutoring sessions just because they coincide with a schedule that could have been avoided.

• Never, ever lose patience with your child just because they cannot understand what you say to them. Most children would avoid tutoring with their parents because they think that they are too strict or pushes them too hard. Praise your children for good things done and use encouraging words.

• Encourage you child to first try to answer their homework or exercise before getting any kind of help. And if they ask for your help, do not just provide the answer. Help them understand how you’ve come up with the answer. This would actually help children in building their academic performance and independence.

• To measure if your children have improved, you could asses it by giving tests and assessments (not too long though) and analyzing the results.

Some parents may fear it, while others may embrace it. Family or parents tutoring their own children have benefits, parents and child would be able to bond together and establish closer relationships with each other.

Whether it is that parents hire private tutors or tutor their kids, is still the same. Parents still want their children to have quality education and a better future.

Tutoring For Kids With Learning Disabilities

Tutoring For Kids With Learning Disabilities

If your kid is falling behind in school work, then tutoring could help in boosting those grades. But if your child has a diagnosed learning disability (LD), then you should have a specialized tutor that can handle the disability.

Children with disability cannot improve on their own, they need somebody to help them and show them how to learn easily. Most people would think that learning disabilities are intellectual defects, but actually is has something to do with how the brain functions. Problems in processing sensory information are reasons for learning disabilities.

The most common learning disabilities are:

• Dyslexia – Children with dyslexia would experience problem in processing language. They would encounter problem in reading, writing, spelling and speaking.

• Dyscalculia - Children with dyscalculia would mainly have problems in math. In general, they would have difficulty in solving math problems, understanding time and using money.

• Dysgraphia – This kind of learning disability could result to problems with writing, spelling and organizing ideas.

• Dyspraxia – This is a sensory integration disorder. Those who suffered this learning disability would have difficulty in motor skills, hand and eye coordination, balance and manual dexterity.

• Auditory Processing disorder- Just the same as its name, it would be about problems in hearing and differentiating sounds which would affect their reading, comprehension and also language.

• Visual Processing Disorder- This is mainly about problems in interpreting and reading visual information like maps, charts, symbols and pictures.

A tutor would be able to reinforce lessons taught in school. A tutor can also help the children develop their study skills which is a positive manner. A tutor would also help the children get as much practice as they need to learn and overcome their disabilities. Surveys have also showed that it a child is tutored, there would be a relative increase in self-confidence ad esteem.

When choosing tutors for children with learning disabilities, we would like to extra cautious. Getting a tutor who cannot understand and cope with the disability, would make the child and the tutor very frustrated on the end of the day. You would have to remember several things when looking for a tutor for kids with LD.

When getting a tutor, you should first explain to your children that it is not about making your child pity themselves. It is to help them cope with their disabilities. You can ask your teacher or co-parent , if they could recommend several tutors that would be able to help.

Once somebody has applied for the tutor position, the first thing you do is check about the credentials, education and training, experience and references. You can check previous clients and see if they are satisfied with the tutoring. Once you meet with the tutor explain clearly the needs of your child and set goals and how to achieve them. Planning is important, you would have to be patient and at the same schedule lessons in a pace that they could easily be comfortable with.

Children with learning disabilities sometimes find it hard to deal with tutoring sessions that comes right after regular classes. The problem is that regular school work can be very much for them, so you could schedule tutoring session times where children are not too tired and are ready to learn.

Tutoring should be an interactive time for you kids. You would have to be conscious about that. If your tutor is still using the same technique used in classrooms, then you would have to notify them. Children with learning disabilities respond better to direct teaching and guided practice. It is also important that the tutor will be notifying you about any changes or improvements

The Wonders of Free Online Tutoring

The Wonders of Free Online Tutoring

Despite the lack of people who are willing to conduct one-on-one tutoring sessions, other options have been paved for those who really need it. This reliable option has been made possible by technology or the Internet to exact. These days, the Internet has really become the instant solution of people in terms of getting information. This is apparent to how fast one can get almost any information he or she needs. In fact, even students are getting benefits from the internet because there are so many free tutoring online available for them.

Online tutoring?

Online tutoring to websites that offer tutorials and other information based on the subject that one needs. More often than not, online homework help is free or paid depending on the extensiveness of the program. Nowadays, more and more sites offer free tutoring online so many students can benefit from them.

In availing free tutoring online, all one needs to do is do find a site and check if the information he or she is looking for available there. The most common fields or topics that are available on these sites include Mathematics, Sciences, History, Geography and others. Tutorials for specific examinations and reviews are also available on some of these sites.

Usually, it takes a click away to access the category and look for specific topics that you need. The most common information on the topics at hand are shown on top of the list. For specific ones, you need to type is the word or phrase itself so you can get more advanced search results and accurate answer on what you are looking for. Since some of the information are heavy in terms of volume, other tutoring sites offer these in downloadable PDF form so you can access it even if you are not online.

Getting the best out of free tutoring online

The advantages of free tutoring online apply to older students—specifically to college students—who don’t have the resources or the time to go to the usual library to do the assignment. However, parents can also benefit from these online sites that offer free tutoring online because they can get instant references for the assignments of their children. Compared to the traditional sources of tutoring content, online sources are better in terms of:

• Accessibility because many people can access it whenever and wherever they are for as long as there is Internet connection. Accessibility is very important especially for those who are working students since time is very important for them. This is also applicable to parents whose children are given sudden assignment that needs to be finished as soon possible.

• Volume of information because they can get as many information from these various Internet sites. They can even get free tutorial on the topic at hand if they were able to find a site that offers that kind of feature for free.

• Charges because one doesn’t have to pay a single cent for any information from sites that offer free tutoring. No additional charges is another major advantage of free tutoring online since you get the opportunity to get as many information as you want without having to spend a single cent for it except if you are paying for an Internet connection in a specific place.

But, if you are accessing free tutoring online sites on your personal computer at home, you don’t have to worry about paying for it. All you need is to ensure that you have fast Internet connection so you can download information the fastest possible way.

Principles of Tutoring

Principles of Tutoring

In tutoring, tutors can employ various instructional techniques but according to Martha Campbell Polson, author of
Foundations of Intelligent Tutoring Systems, tutorial interactions must exhibit three characteristics:

1.) Must exercise some control over the selection and sequencing of material to be presented.

2.) Must be able to respond to student's questions about the subject matter.

3.) Must be able to determine when students need help in the course of practicing a skill and what sort of help is needed.

Tutoring entails tailoring the selection, sequencing, and methods of delivering instruction to meet the needs of the tutee. The problem of developing curricula and instruction for tutoring is therefore, in selecting and sequencing material and methods for presenting the material.

Campbell states that "most approaches to instruction are based on an unspoken "blank slate" assumption. Thus, those students who cannot perform a particular task are viewd as lacking the skill or missing the fact. Although this may be true in some cases, there may well be others in which students possess all the wrong skills or all too much knowledge.

There are various instructional tools used by tutors. Some tutors prefer teaching their students through a body of factual knowledge and the skills required to draw what is called "first-order inferences" from that knowledge, relying so much on declarative knowledge. Tutors who uses this kind of instructional tool are called expository tutors. Their primary concern is on the factual knowledge and inferential skills.

Some tutors, on the other hand, teach skills and procedures. Tutors of this genre are concerned with the procedures that operate on memory. They are called procedure tutors. As a result, they function much more like coaches. "They present examples to exhibit problem-solving skills, and they pose exercises for purposes of testing practice," (Foundations of Intelligent Tutoring Systems, 83).

The most common strategy of automated tutors is to adopt an expert model as the representation of material to be taught. This kind of strategy may be the most appropriate. The differences between the expository and procedure tutoring is that the former uses problems to maintain focus and coherence while the procedure tutors uses additional problems to reflect order.

It is essential to note that one should look more to the overall goal of curriculum construction than to principles for design in some situations. Curricula for tutoring should divide the material to be learned into manageable units. It should sequence the material in a way that conveys its structure to students (89). A curriculum should make sure instructional goals are achievable. And lastly, tutors should have mechanisms for evaluating the student to instruction on a moment-to-moment basis and for reformulating the curriculum.

Tutoring is an opportunity to break into a student's ongoing learning activities. Thus control is very important to maintain to protect a student from inappropriate or incorrect learning. When a tutor decides to intervene he must also formulate the content of intervention. There is no uniform approach to intervention but the most obvious technique is directly correcting the problem that caused the intervention. Tutorial advice should be responsive not only to the student's particular difficulty but also to the student's level of sophistication in the task.

Coach attempts to locate the particular scheme where the problem arose, a neophyte should receive suggestions of a relatively close nature. A more sophisticated student making the error should receive advice of a more detailed nature.

Must-do Practices and Attitudes at the Start of Tutoring

Must-do Practices and Attitudes at the Start of Tutoring

New interaction like tutoring heightens fear and anxiety as it involves challenges, expectations and social complications. "Intricate situations and emotionally taxing incidents can make tutors feel not only helpless, but even a threat to the educational progress of their tutees (Tutoring Matters, 2). The good news is a tutor can adapt to attitudes and practices that can help overcome these uncomfortable feelings. These can help a lot a tutor to build confidence in him and become a better and more open teacher.

1.) Shed expectations - Knowing what to expect at the start of tutoring is normal. "Will my student like me?" is probably one of your first questions. A tutor can worry a lot about how the tutee/student will react to his personality. Unconditional acceptance is very important in this "knowing-each-other" phase. It means accepting other people, suspending hopes or expectations.

When you accept your student unconditionally you will clearly recognize his need/s. Tutoring exist not for your ego or your fulfillment. Shedding your expectations will help you overcome your fears. Approaching tutoring without expectations lets you view certain situations clearly - not clouded with emotions that mostly not real.

2.) Build empathy - Empathy differs from sympathy. Empathy is feeling for someone without necessarily approving for his actions. For example cheating, you do not have to approve cheating of a student but you can try to understand why he cheated. Was he unable to study because of distracting factors at home? By knowing the reason/s of his cheating, you can work with the student and talk about it.

Once the tutee realizes that you understand them and their situations from their perspectives, they will become more eager to work with you and more open to advice and suggestions. As a tutor, being a good listener signals to tutees that they are being understood. Therefore - empathy is fundamental to the development of a strong tutoring relationship.

3.) Practice patience - Each tutoring partnership is unique and you must need an infinite amount of patience to forge a connection between you and your tutee. Patience means being willing to wait, being understanding, tolerant, enduring to problems without complaint and or persevering in the face of adversity.

4.) Being observant and asking questions - You can learn a lot about your tutee just by observing his body language, clothing, stickers on his binders or bags By being observant, you can pick up many details about your tutee that can make his learning experience valuable. Being observant serves as a brick in building a successful tutoring experience.

5.) Treat your tutee as an equal - Interacting with your tutee/s as an equal requires all the attitudes and practices mentioned above. Although equal interaction at the beginning is not an easy task for you as tutor, it pays off as it signifies the beginning of a successful tutoring relationship. As a tutoring relationship grows, tutors are forced to face their own shortcomings. You must learn together with your tutee/s to foster a healthy learning experience.

From the first day of tutoring it is essential for a tutor to open an effective channel of communication. Tutors are on hand to lend answers to students not only about lessons. Tutors are also needed but their students to provide moral and emotional support to ferret out exactly what areas the student needs help in.

What would be a difficult phase between strangers can results to a rewarding relationship between a tutor and a tutee that have come to know and care about each other.

How to Maintain Positive Tutoring Relationships to Adolescents

How to Maintain Positive Tutoring Relationships to Adolescents

Before starting a tutoring program, it is a good idea to talk to your tutee either personally or through phone. Construct a tutoring schedule and explain how much time you are supposed to tutor given your program requirements. You must report to your mentor teacher about the strengths and weaknesses of your new student and assess how you can offer help and achieve goals on developing his or her literacy. Then ask your mentor teacher to introduce you to your new student/s formally.
When you are in the classroom, explain your purpose and ask the students to call you not with your first name. In that way, students will realize that you are a professional rather than a peer. Make notes of your observations in your tutee's class but be sure that you keep your notes to yourself.

According to Cathy Roller, "there are two general principles of effective tutoring: (1) establishing a warm, supportive environment, and (2) scaffolding children's learning. Roller recommends tutors to:

1.) Get to know the learner like his or her interests, strengths, and needs.

2.) Give specific praise as this will increase his or her confidence.

3.) Keep the session moving. Don't focus too long on one activity as it will bore your tutee and make it less that he will want to work with you.

4.) Be a model. Model your own enjoyment of reading and writing. if you demonstrate your engagement with literacy, you let your tutee realize the advantages of improving his or her skills.

You must keep in mind that your tutee has a number of other important activities and commitments in addition to tutoring. You must be aware of, and sensitive to, these activities and commitments. Be yourself and don't try to be a peer to your tutee. See yourself as a professional and not a pal, in that way, you will make more progress and gain positive results.

Gather information about the existing literacy program for your tutee. Examine materials from classes and ask him to explain what is going on in class. His explanation can provide considerable insights on how he perceives both the work he is being asked to do and his own skill levels as a literacy learners. You can also ask his teachers some additional information on what the classroom program looks like and how you could support it. You are better equipped as a tutor if you can understand your tutee's school approach to literacy. In this way, you can incorporate and reinforce learning better rather than distract the existing school literacy instruction of your tutee.

It is very important that when you are doing your first interview to your tutee that you try to know something about your student's hobbies, musical tastes, friendships, sports, family, favorite books, school performance, and career aspirations. In this way, your tutee may come to trust you more quickly. Sometimes it's hard to get young people to open up so you must develop ingenious ways to trade information.

Listen carefully when your tutee is answering your questions. Don't insert your own words and push too hard in eliciting information. Talk about topics your tutee is willing to discuss and then move on. You will learn more over time. Some adolescents need to develop a long-term relationship before they are willing to share too much. Start each session day by asking how is she? But don't spend the entire session discussing personal matters.

Remember, that you and your tutees relationship is basically for learning and literacy and not for counseling.

Effective Tutoring Habits

Effective Tutoring Habits

Tutoring can be rewarding profession. It is a great feeling to be able to help children improve academically and at the same time develop a good relationship with the tutees. But not all tutors can be like that. Some would have difficulty while tutoring. How do you resolve this? Develop healthy habits which can make your tutoring a great experience.

Best practices is important since it would ensure that students would be able to meet, even excel, their goals, improve the student’s self-esteem and feel that they have succeeded something. This would create a very positive outlook in life.

There are different habits and practices that should be develop to ensure success. You would hear a lot of tutors sharing their successful techniques, but not everything can be applicable or would work in all circumstances. Although there are certain practices proven to be effective not only for tutors but for teachers as well.

• Create a proactive environment.
Initiate the meeting. Do not wait for the tutee or the parents, to contact you. Be the first person to contact them, make sure that you would be gathering enough information from the tutees. You would like to make sure that you would know their interests, so that you can make sessions more interactive and they would participate more.

• Proper evaluation.
Always make sure that student’s would receive proper evaluation so that strengths and weaknesses will be identified.

• Effective teaching methods.
There are methods that could explain concepts and ideas better and clearly. Remember that in tutoring sessions you do not repeat or lecture about lessons taught in regular classroom. Tutoring is a supplemental education and for troubleshooting purposes. So, you would need to know what topics or ideas are needed to have further explanation and focus on that.

• Preparation.
There are some tutors that just because it is supplemental education they feel that there is no need for preparation before sessions. That is not how it is supposed to be. Imagine that you are teaching in a tutoring center where you are expected to handle as many as 20 tutees. These students would have different levels and at the same would improve in different rates. You would have to be prepared so that you would be able to adapt to their improvement.

Also, you would have to make learning interactive and interesting. Interactive and interesting activities are things that you have to be prepared to do.

• Open communication.

For me, this is actually the key. Maintaining open and healthy communication with students and their parents would actually resolve any possible conflict in the future. A tutor is not only somebody who helps students understand difficult math formula and science topics. A tutors, as a knowledge-provider, is responsible in helping children develop good study habits. As somebody who works with children, tutors are also expected to help them deal with stress and pressure.

Effective communication would also involve communication with parents and children’s teachers. This way, students, parents and teachers would be aware of any academic difficulties. Aside from they would be able to address expectations issues.

• Building the right attitude

As a tutor, you would benefit if you would be displaying approachability, friendliness and patience. Children are said to respond better in an environment where they feel acknowledged, have the attention, and guidance. A tutor is also a guide.

• Love for the craft.

The best way to be successful in tutoring children is by loving the craft itself. Passion for your work would make sure that every lesson is an experience worth having. Actually, there are studies that showed that if tutors would show more passion for their profession, students would give them the due respect.

Tutoring by Older Siblings

Tutoring by Older Siblings

Experts say that aside from the demanding academic set up, another reason why students—especially the younger ones—get tired of schooling is the volume of assignments given without getting enough help such as tutoring from people around them. This is the reason why teachers as well as other school officials encourage that the family do something to help the child with school wok when at home.

Alternative role

More than anybody, parents are expected to do tutoring for their children. They are the ones who are supposed to monitor the academic status of the child and should also be there when help in terms of homework or projects is needed.

Sadly, many parents are not able to give this kind of help to their children because majority of them is working. Due to lack of time and hectic schedule providing for the family, they tend to neglect the needs of the children in terms of schooling such as tutoring the child in finishing his or her homework or understanding the lessons that have been recently taught in school.

Although this case could be inevitable, it doesn’t mean that there are no other people to take on that role of tutoring the child when at home. For parents who are torn in between working and their role in helping their child in school, the best way to go about it is to think of options where to get help such as asking help from older siblings of the child. Many parents do not realize it but an older sibling helping a younger one in tasks like homework will strengthen their bond.

Convincing siblings to extend help

In the beginning, this set up might not work since older children are busier ay school and even with their social lives. In fact, it might be hard to convince the older one to render help, enough and elaborate explanation might convince him or her to do so. But this doesn’t mean that you cannot ask older siblings to so some tutoring.

For parents to convince older siblings to tutor the younger ones at home, make the tutoring session appear as the best "bonding moment" for both of them. At times, siblings may tend to fight with each other when they are at home. Despite that, they still love each other no matter what.

For the older sibling to be convinced in providing homework help to the younger one, convince him or her that tutoring the younger child will serve as a way to lessen their fighting incidents. You can also tell him or her that the child will be endeared to him or her if the older one is willing to help in minor tasks such as helping the latter in his or her schoolwork.

They can also explain to the older child that you are helping not just the younger child but you as well. Older siblings are expected to understand that you are not giving him or her the responsibility of tutoring the younger child because you want to but because you cannot do it due to the fact that you are working for the entire family.

If you explain very well how much you appreciate the help such as this coming from her or him, the older child will feel his or her worth to the family.

Tutoring Tips: Handling Parents

Tutoring Tips: Handling Parents

If you are tutoring, then definitely you would’ve experienced high-pressure parents. There would be times when parents tend to be more difficult to handle than children. Tutors would tend to be stressed out, not from the tutees, but the parents of the students that they handle.

As a tutor, you would have to realize that giving tutees their lessons and helping them catch up with regular classes, are not their only responsibility. It is also the responsibility of tutors to help children come up with study habits and skills that would help them ease out the pressures of having high academic standing.

Children, mostly, would feel the pressures from their parents. As tutors, you could also help the tutees manage stress and deal with the pressure. You are not just providing supplemental education. Because you are dealing with children, it is necessary to provide support especially if there are tell-tale signs that children are struggling with stress and pressure.

As a tutor, you could also do some ways of handling stress of your own. High-pressure and overbearing parents could be a really stressing sometimes. There are ways which you can handle parents of your tutees.

• Set expectations and goals in the beginning.

When setting expectations, make sure that it is something that both child and parents participate and agree on. Parents want to see their children excelling or performing well and above average. That is why they hire tutors, you will be providing supplemental information therefore increase the depth of the child’s knowledge.

But you would have to manage these expectations. You need to help parents set realistic goals. Coming up with realistic goals will actually eliminate any future conflicts. When setting goals, you would need to base it on the status of the child and how fast he can improve or progress.

When meeting with the parents for the first time, show them how you will be handling their child’s lessons. Inform them about your method and style of teaching. This would also avoid any misunderstanding about your methods in the long run.

To check on the development of the child and if the goals are being met, you can schedule regular meetings with the parents. During these meetings, parents should be informed about the status of their children, any difficulties or challenges the child is having, and any changes about how or when the goals will be accomplished.

• Communicate plans to the parents.

Some tutors would actually maintain a healthy working relationship with the tutees teacher. This would make tutoring sessions in sync with the regular classes. This would also allow children to have same educational goals inside and outside school. Then it is important to communicate regularly with the teachers, there are many forms of communications anyway, like email, phone calls or personal visits.

Hearing these plans is very important for parents. This would actually signify how serious you are in helping their children improve academically. This would also make them trust you more and provide better references in the future.

• Overall healthy communication is important.

Communication does not only involve goal-setting and updating, once a while. You do not just convey and teach lessons. There are studies that showed that children that receive attention, support and guidance are less likely to develop stress. You, as a tutor, would need to talk to your tutees about their feelings and help them in dealing with it, if possible.

It would also be great to inform parents about the stress that you are detecting from their kids. Parents, because of busy work schedule and responsibilities, tend to oversee their children’s stress. This is why it is necessary to inform them about any stress or problems that they may have.

In tutoring, it is unavoidable that you would be dealing with different kinds of parents. There are parents that are easily satisfied, while there are others that would be extremely demanding. Everything just comes down to a single effective method, that is open communication.

Tutoring Business Opportunities

Tutoring Business Opportunities

Academic tutoring is now among those services experiencing an increase in demand. More and more parents are finding that getting academic tutors, whether they are traditional or online, would be able to help children hone their academic skills. Increase in the demand of academic tutors is actually relative to the increased expectations in school.

Too many students in a classroom, makes it difficult for a teacher to focus on the students. College entrance examinations become more difficult since kids are not getting enough from classroom instruction. Because of these factors, parents realize that after-school and personalized academic attention. This is where tutors come in.

This is why starting a business or profession can have a promising future. Tutoring services have many aspects, you can focus in academic tutoring and even entertain other fields like music, arts, and sports. At first, tutoring services would get known by word of mouth. There are ways that would hep you ensure that you will be starting your tutoring business on the right track.

The first step that you should do is get a business license. You would to sort out legalities to make sure that your business is operating according to government rules and ordinances. You could get it from the local county courthouse or government office. Since you are starting, you would have to make sure that you have processed your business account and at least two sources of funds, business and personal funds.

If you have decided to offer tutoring services at home, then make sure that your home is organized for that kind of task. Allot a portion of your home strictly for tutoring, make sure that you would have the proper equipment needed: computer, business phone, printer, at least get a credit card machine, especially if clients would be using that kind of payment. You would also need to be updated with textbooks that your student are using. This would give you an idea and at the same time, follow the school syllabus.

You could be the tutors, or you could hire qualified tutors. When hiring tutors, make sure that they have the proper credentials and have the proper degree. Most students would require assistance in technical subjects like math, chemistry or physics. So make sure that the tutors you’re hiring fit the description.

Another good idea when hiring tutors is come up with a plan that would define your course offerings. For example, you could have tutors that would handle Math since they teach and are good on the subject. While you could have other tutors focusing or handling students on other subjects. You could even divide the subject into different levels. Like math subjects, you could have those that specialize in elementary, junior, high school math. If you could not handle the range, then you can just define first what would be your teaching field. You can think about expanding later on.

You tutoring business’s success relies, of course on the scope of your marketing. Word-of-mouth is your best help in promoting your service. There is a concept widely used in the business world nowadays, they employ a basic concept. Imagine this, a satisfied customer would spread the news of the good service, while an unsatisfied customer would talk about their bad experience with others, twice as much as the satisfied customer. This could also be your guiding principle in promoting your tutoring services.

Other marketing strategies could include posting on school bulletins, local grocery stores, or you can post it other after-school venues, like dance, gymnastic schools or parks. There are different places to put your credentials and course offerings. Make sure that your flyers and posters would include your teaching experience, subjects you would like to tutor and contact number.

You could also notify the school of your services. You could inform school staff or teachers about it. It would be best to provide your resume so that they will know that you are keen on offering quality tutoring service.

The Power of Parent Tutoring

The Power of Parent Tutoring

For children, schooling can challenging these days because of the harder subjects and demanding time. This fact makes them feel that school work is nothing but a tiring task that they should complete. When kids are not helped as soon as possible through tutoring, they have greater tendencies to stop schooling earlier.

In order to avoid this, experts say that they get help from people around them—teachers, classmates, parents and even siblings—when it comes to their school work. Getting help and support such as regular tutoring at home is very important for the kids because they will feel that they can lean on people during their tough times. Helping them with their assignments will also show how much they are loved and supported by the individuals around them.

Who should take the lead?

Experts say that if there are two people who can greatly help kids when it comes to their school work, it would be the mother and father or the parents. This is because they are the ones who their kids trust the most when it comes to dealing with problems in school such as assignments and difficulty in catching up with the everyday lessons.

Although parents should be the ones who can tell if their child is having a hard time in school or not, there are also times when they themselves couldn’t not tell what they kids go through in school.

If you are one of those parents who would want to help kids achieve their maximum potentials in the future, you should be starting as early as now. How? By taking the time off to help them with their school work through constant tutoring.

One of the wonders of parent tutoring in kids at school is that the kids feel more secured in performing academically. To make sure that parent tutoring could help you and your child achieve long term goals, it is best if you always ask the child about his or her day in school each passing day. Before asking what the assignment is, it is best of you ask the child how was his or her day at school.

The answer of your child will determine how you will go about the assignment. If the child has a bad day at school, it is best to calm him or her nerves down a little by letting the child do what she or he wants to do like watching television, sleeping or eating. Once the child was able to do something that she or he really wants, the child will be more open to suggestions and may even be enthusiastic when you help him or her out with the school work.

Tutoring could be more effective if the parents are more sensitive to what the child can and cannot do. Experts say that there is no such thing as an idiot child when it comes to school. It’s just that his or her intelligence may lie some field else that he or she and even the parents themselves have yet to discover. When you do help your child with school work, be sensitive to what she or he can attain.

Don’t force the child do understand or do something that he or she really doesn’t know or cannot perform. Never tell the child that he or she is never good enough because the child will believe it and he or she will no longer exert effort to try harder.

Peer Tutoring, Anyone?

Peer Tutoring, Anyone?

Okay, we have heard about tutoring centers, one-on-one tutoring and online tutoring, but students can also be tutors. Peer tutoring is about training students to assist younger students or students of the same age in academic lessons.

There are studies conducted that showed that peer tutoring can improve academic learning and understanding among students compared with teacher instruction. It showed its benefits whether it is in small groups or part of the class. Peer tutoring can be used in different subject areas and showed significant results in mathematics, reading, spelling, comprehension and writing.

The reason why peer tutoring can be successful is that students feel more comfortable with each other. They interact with each other more openly and also help in improving self-confidence and self-efficacy. Aside from this, peer tutoring also allows both parties, the tutors and the students, to widen their academic knowledge. They would be able to support and promote development for both parties.

In peer tutoring, tutors would be able to earn a salary and at the same time provide assistance to their friends. Tutors would also be able to have a deeper understanding of the subject and topic they would be teaching.

In one-on-one peer tutoring, both parties would be meeting at least once a week, so that they would be able to fit tutoring to their class schedules. Schools that would have peer tutoring programs would usually have the sessions outside the classroom but still inside the school property.

Another kind of peer tutoring is the class-wide. Since there are a lot of students inside a classroom, teacher find it difficult to focus and help each student. The class-wide program pairs every student with each other. They would be given lessons and one student is asked to tutor the other student while the other one will answer the questions about the topic.

The reason why class-wide peer tutoring works is that student are more comfortable asking questions to a classmate than to a teacher. Most students would fear asking questions because they are afraid of getting embarrassed. Peer tutoring would also allow students to be resolved of their confusion immediately, since they could ask their partner right away.

If you think that peer tutoring would work for you child, how would you be able to ask or look for one? The place to go is the student counselling or guidance counselling office and ask if they would have peer tutoring programs.

Parents should make their children attending peer tutoring be aware that it is important to attend sessions and avoid being late. Aside from that, it is also important that students would be attending their regular classes. Tutoring sessions are not intended to be substitute for missed classes. It’s a refresher and troubleshooting class. Meaning, things that you are unable to understand in regular class are made clear in tutoring sessions.

If your child wants to be a peer tutor, then all you child has to do is inquire about it in guidance and student affairs offices. Most of the times, student who would like to be a peer tutor needs a faculty member endorsement and are required to attend training sessions.

Peer tutors would also have to learn giving positive feedback. It is encouraged that tutors praise their charges especially if they are making progress or correct answers. If the tutee is experiencing problems understanding, then provide time for the tutee to practice and at the same time correct the mistakes without sounding patronizing.

But peer tutoring is not always picture-perfect. There are times when tutor and tutee cannot work well together or sometimes techniques and style of teaching learned in training is not effective for everybody. Technique for teaching effectively would be developed during the sessions. What needs to be remembered is that peer tutoring cannot replace regular classroom instruction, but this can be a great form of supplemental education.

Important Things to Consider When Tutoring Adolescents

Important Things to Consider When Tutoring Adolescents

Success in school and beyond is important to majority of adolescents. This is the reason why they consider tutoring a big help to them. However there are still some who struggle accepting tutors despite of the difficulty they are encountering with their studies. For these teens, working with a tutor, violates their sense of "cool." If your a tutor and you pull your tutee out of a class to work with him, this may cause him embarrassment and thus it is likelt that you might encounter resistance from his end.

The best tip that you should take as a tutor is "never take it personally." You should be prepared for such reactions, however, be persistent. By keeping a positive attitude - showing up every week and planning literacy activities - will most likely break his resistance. Deep down, whether they evidently expresses it or not, most adolescents are happy to have someone spend uninterrupted time with them and tailor instruction to their needs and interests.

Some tutoring programs have designated locations while some lets the tutor and tutee find their convenient place. There are complicated consequences with both push-in and pull-out tutorials. Some students who are pulled out of their classroom publicly feel excluded from the community. This affects their self-esteem and their relationships with other students.

Push-in tutorials on the other hand, cut down the stigma for students and may allow you and your tutee to work with his or her peers. However, some tutees prefer pull-out tutorials to avoid embarrassments (especially if the student don't want to show his peers that he is seeking help). Thus, as a tutor, your student's profile largely affects the choices you make regarding the program.

Classroom organization can also affect your decision. Some classrooms have students coming and going all the time and students can leave without much notice. This type of classroom organization gives the advantage of students leaving without much notice. So if your tutee opted the pull-out tutorial, it won't be hard for him of her to leave anytime of the class.

Other classrooms are set up in workshop style. "That enable students to make individual choices about reading and writing activities and to pursue those activities at various times," (Tutoring Adolescent Literacy Learners, 30). This type of classroom organization might allow you to tutor undisturb in one corner of the room. While some have a combination of activities and a number of helpers present. This makes your presence not mean anything exceptional.

Productive sessions can be made in various areas of school like library, cafeteria, or a small part of auditorium. It is also important to pick a place where other adults are present to have someone to turn to for help.

There are three formats for tutoring; one-to-one, pairs, and small groups, each has their respective advantages and disadvantages. One-to-one tutoring enables you to have his or her undivided attention. In this way, you can address his or her specific needs. You can also easily assess his or her progress over time through one-to-one tutoring.

Tutoring in pairs makes it easier for you and your tutee to establish rapport. Paired tutoring is perfect for adolescents as many teens and preteens thrive on interactions. Among the formats for tutoring, Kelly Chandler-Olcott says that small groups are considerably the most problematic. It is often difficult to find multiple students with exactly same needs.

Also, multiple tutee may be easily distracted that is most likely to create management problems. Third, a larger group is more inclined to stray from agenda as tutees can talk with each other.

Finding Fun in Tutoring

Finding Fun in Tutoring

With the fast-paced environment that people have today, it is only common for parents to have lesser time for their students who are in school. Not because they want to, it's just that the busy and competitive office or corporate world forces them to. Little do parents know that their office environment is not the only one that is getting more and more stressful—it’s also the school. Why? Because students are given tons of assignments without tutoring to back them up.

At home, parents are the ones who must take in this responsibility of helping kids with assignments. Since they are older and more mature, they are expected to know more things. However, the traditional techniques and strategies for tutoring might not work in all types of kids. There are those who get easily bored and would just not listen. There are also those who would get easily distracted by the things inside the house and would not pay attention to what the parents are talking about.

Parents who have these kinds of kids, the best way to go about it is to be more creative in making tutoring sessions a fun-filled activity. If things are presented in different and fun ways, the kids will be more interested and enthusiastic all throughout the tutoring session.

How to make tutoring an enjoyable experience

For those who would really want to help their kids who are having trouble in doing and finishing their assignments should find ways to be more creative. If the kids see that the tutorials are presented in a different manner—aside from what they see in school—they will be more cooperative. If parents want to help their kids in completing academic requirements through tutoring, they should:

• Think out of the box. If you are tutoring your child in a certain topic or assignment, it would be best if you use different approaches so he or she won't be bored. You can present the discussion in a different manner that he or she will enjoy. Out of the box would mean that you are willing to go out of your usual way just for the child to pay attention to what are you teaching.

• Exert more effort to engage. Students—especially those who are young—enjoy activities that are fun-filled and engaging. If you give them help in their assignment, make sure that your attention is one hundred percent with the topic so the child will pay more attention. Remember, if the child sees that you are not really into what you are doing, he or she will also think of other things. When the child is distracted, it will be more difficult for him or her to absorb any information or learn anything.

• Nurture their freedom to learn. Many students get easily stressed out if the tutoring sessions are too strict or rigid. If this is the set up in tutoring at home, the tendency of the child is to pay lesser attention, thus, making them more frantic and could not wait for the time that the tutoring to finish. To avoid this scenario, try to provide a venue where they can be more relaxed. Also, give them ten-minute breaks where they can do the stuff that they want to do.

• Always be creative. This could be best exemplified by using props which usually aid kids that are visual learners. Tutoring could be more effective is the students when they are shown materials that can easily relate them to whatever it is that this being discussed. While holding tutoring sessions, parents could use props such as toys and other materials for each respective subject.

Choosing The Right Tutoring Services For Your Kids

Choosing The Right Tutoring Services For Your Kids

Parents are now making better choices for their children, whether it is about the food that they eat or items that they use at home. Now, most of the parents are facing a different kind of decision, choosing the right tutoring services that would fit the needs and abilities of their children.

There are numerous centers, individuals, and groups who are offering tutoring services. Based on the increasing demand and pressure that students experience in school like higher grade requirements for college entrance exams and an increase in the number of students, parents feel the need for supplemental education. For some parents, they could provide this kind of help to their children. But most parents have to deal with busy work schedule and other responsibilities, thus, finding tutoring a difficult task to do.

As a parent, we would like to be sure that our children are in the right hands. How do we know or choose the best tutoring service out there for our children? Here are some tips that we could bear in mind while looking for the best for our children.

• Learn about the tutoring services. There are different kinds of tutoring services, individuals, centers and groups could offer services. There are certain websites that would inform you about the pros and cons of each kind. There are even on-line tutoring which can also be an option for you if you are looking for more flexibility.

• Aside from the internet, talk to your child’s teachers what subject is needed to improve on. You would need to have an idea on what subject tutors would need to focus on. Once you have identified the areas to improve on, you can set realistic goals with your tutor and kid. You would need to understand your child’s needs to better be able to provide for them.

• You can also ask the teachers if they would have any tutors that they can recommend. You can also ask co-parents if they can recommend tutoring services.

• Check for the tutors’ credentials. Aside from training and education, you could also ask about the previous experiences and references. If you are checking out online announcements and advertisement, check the testimonials. Just be cautious because there are tendencies that only good things about the program listed there. You could start checking the references to verify information.

There are many that should be considered when choosing the kind of tutoring that would benefit the kid. You should consider the style, like there are tutoring centers that would have as many as 20 students in a room, while there are also tutors that offer one-on-one sessions. Most of the times, parents would opt for one-on-one sessions since these would allow tutors to have more time to focus on the child.

Some parents discovered that children found it more difficult to adjust in tutoring centers. It would take several sessions before they would be able to be comfortable with the style and at the same time, with the people they are with in the center. That is why parents are opting for one-on-on sessions and online tutoring.

Another thing that you consider is the location. Tutoring centers would sometimes be pit of the way. This is why parents are also taking advantage on e-tutoring or online tutoring. This is less hassles since kids do not have to travel, time is more flexible and at the same time payment friendly, since it is done over the internet too.

Aside from what the teacher would say about your child’s performance, tutoring centers and services should provide evaluation and assessment exams for free. This would enable them to get familiar with the kid’s level. So make sure that that is included in the service offerings.

Parents choose to have tutoring for their kids for different reasons, it could be because their children would need more help in school work, it could also be because children are gifted and advanced for their class and would like to have education matching to their gifts. It could also be because kids have learning difficulties. There are many reasons. But all parents agree that we want the best for our children.

Therefore, it is important that we are making the right choice when choosing tutoring service for our children.

Why Tutoring at Home is Important

Why Tutoring at Home is Important

Through the years, the academic setting has become less and less friendlier for students, especially for children. Although today, there are far better classrooms, more skilled teachers, and even tools like such printed materials, these—oftentimes—are not enough to change the fact that there is more pressure on the kid's shoulder. This is why it is very important to supplement this setting with tutoring as early as toddler hood years in school.

Today, many parents as well as teachers—probably because of very busy schedule and lots of work that need to be done—tend to become less observant to the child's behavior when it comes to their academic life in school. In fact, up to now, many of them still do not know the reason behind the steady loss of children's interest in their studies—too much assignments and less tutoring.

Many experts believe that assignment is one of the things that the students—especially the younger ones—hate the most because they feel that they no longer have time to enjoy and have fun inside the house. For parents, this is the time to take a good look at your child's behavior when it comes to school or to doing assignments because this will enable you to help the child the soonest possible time.

Seeing the signs

For you to know if your child or your sibling needs tutoring at home, the best is you confirm that the child is somehow suffering from what is commonly called, "school fatigue" due to tons of assignments. Any student who show three or more of these signs need immediate tutoring sessions especially when they are at home so they could easily catch up with the lessons that they might have been missing. Experts say that the child needs constant tutoring if he or she:

• Manifests persistent frustration. This is the major sign of kids who are losing interest in school due to lack of academic help from people around him or her. At first, this may be vague and can be mistaken to tantrums—especially to younger kids—but eventually, this behavior will become more and more noticeable because it will manifest in other things as well as places not only at school but inside the home as well.

• Is too much overwhelmed. This sign can be easy to distinguish in a child especially to those who usually don't get overwhelmed in other things. You will know that there is decrease in academic interest when a child starts to complain about assignments and other school work even if these has not been explained by the teacher fully.

• Fails repeatedly in completing any assignment or a school project. This is a very alarming symptom for the child because this shows that the problem affects his or her everyday function in school. If nothing is done the soonest possible time, it may manifest to his or her other behaviors later on in life.

• Intends to ignore distractions. This leads to the child to juggling two or more tasks in one time without having to finish anything. If ever there one would be finished, it will be haphazard or dissatisfactory.

• Experiences head on struggle to staying in one task. There is no available tutoring help for the child if or her she manifests this symptom. This is because the confidence of the child is greatly affected, thus, disabling him or her to complete anything thinking that he or she will not be able to do it the right way.

Tutoring as a Bonding Time for the Whole Family

Tutoring as a Bonding Time for the Whole Family

Tutoring is very, very important for especially for younger students because this will somehow ensure that they are not alone in the academic world. For parents as well as siblings, helping the child out in accomplishing his or her assignment properly will give the child a sense of fulfillment that he or she could turn to the family members when he or she needs help in studying.

How can members of the family get involved in tutoring?

Now, more than ever, the school has become a stressful place for students because they feel constrained and pressured by academic demands. This is the reason why it really helps if any student could get as much help and support especially inside the house.

Although parents are also stressed and busy these days, it doesn’t mean that the parents should sacrifice the amount of time that they are giving to their kids especially those that are in school. If workload and busy schedule don’t permit them to provide help—through tutoring—the child who is in school, there are some other ways that this can be done.

The ideal option for busy parents is to make tutoring sessions a bonding time for the whole family. Experts agree that this is one creative and practical way to go about this situation. It doesn’t mean that the family members have to be complete at all times. What is important is the member of the family are willing to share some of their time to the child who needs help in doing his or her school works.

Setting the tutoring session's time and venue can also help. Making tutoring as a family thing is something that would make the child happy. This is because he or she will feel that he or she is important since almost all members of the family talk about his academic difficulties. The most common venue and time is over mealtime, say lunch or dinner. You can also make use of the TV time to help the child with his or her assignment.

Delegating a certain member of the family about a specific lesson or topic taught in school might also help. Since not all members of the family are on call when the child needs some tutoring, it is best if parents will delegate a specific member, say for a day or for a particular topic. This can be very helpful because the siblings as well as the parents can chose a subject where they think they are good at. If there is only one child, the parents must divide the topics amongst themselves to tend to the child's queries.

Other tutoring options

Aside from making sure that the child gets all the help and support he or she needs when completing school tasks at home, there are also other things that parents can try as well as other members of the family can do such as meeting with the child's teacher where a free-wheeling discussion about the child's progress in school.

Apart from the academic status of the child, meeting with the teacher can also be the best time to talk about tutoring options that could be arranged within the school or after school hours. One great way to go about this is to ask the teacher to group children and assist or help each other for a specific assignment. This might work because children can complement each other's weaknesses.

This can also help boost the confidence of the child because he or she gets help not from an adult but from his or her fellow student.

Tutoring For Kids

Tutoring For Kids

Tutoring, whether it is traditional or online, is slowly experiencing an increase in demand. A lot of parents are already hiring tutors for their kids, it is all because of continuing increase in academic demands. There are more students inside a classroom and teachers are finding it difficult to help all of the students.

Busy and working parents, find it more convenient to enrol their children in post-school tutoring whether it is traditional and face-to-face or in the more flexible online tutoring. Other parents would prefer to tutor their own kids.

Whether you have professional tutors or doing some tutoring of your own, they all seem to agree that teaching kids can be challenging sometimes. What are some tutoring tips that you can use to make tutoring your own kids or other people’s children easier?

• Build rapport and communication.

Children are already inside classrooms and listening to teachers most of their day, the least that they would need is somebody who would meet them after class and sound like their classroom teacher. The clear difference is, tutoring is not classroom instruction. Tutoring is a positive reinforcement of what children learned inside the school.

Aside from teaching and discussing lectures, you would also need to give an ear to the children. How would you know where exactly they are having problems, if you do not even bother listen to them? It would be great if children would be able to ask you questions, make mistakes and correct them in a relaxed manner. Children find it easier to open up once they realized that their tutor is actually somebody they could talk to and not somebody who would intimidate them.

If you are tutoring your own kids, then make sure that they are involved in the process. There are times when simple and decent talk with our children is very tiring and difficult, what more on making them sit for few hours to get some additional instruction? If you are a parent tutoring her own kids, then try using words that would give positive disposition and encouragement.

If you are tutoring for somebody else’s kids, make sure that you have a healthy and steady communication with the child’s parents. Tutors would find handling parents to be more difficult than handling the kids. To make sure that you are communicating with the parents, you can start in the beginning.

Some tutors would update parents about the sessions daily or every two days. This would help the parents understand the children’s academic strengths and weaknesses and get their expectations straight.

• Structure and time management

Make a structure or a plan for the children. You can give the children exercises or homework which do not demand too much time. You can give them easy writing exercises or practice exercises. Remember that they also have school homework to do but you do not want them to disregard tutoring sessions easily, too.

Since, you are dealing with children, it is absolutely necessary to give them time to breathe for awhile. Children have short attention span, you could not contain them for such a long time. You can try giving them fun exercises and homework to do. Just do not make it too frequent, you want to avoid being somebody who spends most of the time playing than tutoring.

Tips For Tutoring Adults

Tips For Tutoring Adults

When we hear tutoring, the first thing that comes into our mind would be children and tutors. Contrary to what we commonly know, adults would also undergo tutoring of their own. it could be to improve their English language skills, literacy and writing skills, or about improving knowledge in general subject areas like mathematics and science.

Common thinking is that teaching adults is much easier than teaching children. Unfortunately, it is not how it is. Yes, children could be out of hand sometimes, but it could be more difficult to get the attention of adults.

When tutoring adults, there are some basic things that you should know to be able to provide better and effective supplemental education. First, try to connect the lessons to personal or life experiences. Adults have more experience and you can bring learning closer to them by associating it with their experiences.

Just don’t get too involved with their personal issues. There would be times when adults would tend to discuss their unresolved personal issues too much. Just take in mind, that you are a tutor not a trained counsellor. For personal issues and problems you could refer them to professional counsellors which you can ask about from people staff members of the tutoring institution.

If you are tutoring adults in a tutoring center, then encourage them to participate in the class. Aside from that encourage to actively participate and get involved in preparing for the class, like methods of feeding information to students.

Aside from being participative in classes, adults can be very vocal of their opinions. So be conscious of that, solicit their feedbacks. They would be happy to offer advices and suggestions. Aside from getting feedback, acknowledge their developments too. Everybody would like to get hear something about their development and improvement.

Keep your students motivated, focus on your student’s interest and goals. It is important that they are part of the process in the start of the program, these would help them get involved with planning the lessons based on their needs and interests.

Be particular in your student’s needs and level. Some adults will learn faster compared with the others. So make sure that you as a tutor would be able to cope up with this improvement. You would also have students that have limited education, it would be best to be prepared to help these kind of students.

There are times when the students would have other problems aside from literacy and academic ones. As tutors, we may not be prepared to address these kinds of problems. Do not be afraid to refer them to other professionals. Their academic issues can be root from psychological and mental problems like hyperactivity, inability to concentrate and focus. But before you refer them to other professionals, make sure that this is the real reason and not just some excuse to escape difficult students.

Another common problem would be when adult students bring their children in classes. This is not encouraged since both students and tutors are unable to concentrate throughout the session. Since tutoring is more flexible than regular class, you could suggest that they take sessions when somebody could take-care of them while you go to tutoring sessions.

When tutoring adults, you would be facing entirely different problems than when you are tutoring children. You have to be prepared for that. But the best method would be maintaining open communication between student and tutor, so that the student would be able to further their education without sacrificing too much.

The Best Online Tutoring Option for Students

The Best Online Tutoring Option for Students

The competitive and tougher academic environment has led to the increase in dropouts of students not only in the United States but to almost all countries in the world. The reason for this is that the students don't get enough help at school such as tutoring. Another reason would be the increasing expectations also push students to lose interest in studying and pursuing higher education.

Going online

Online tutoring help is a very big help not only to students but to parents who don’t have much time to spend tutoring their kids at home. Today, there are so many tutoring sites that provide information about specific subjects. There are those that offer these pieces of information for free but there are also those who are asking for charges for individualized programs that are create for them.

These days, nothing is impossible with the Internet because it makes access to information easier to people regardless of age or status in life. Young kids who are taught how to use the computer as well as the Internet are now having easier way of going about their assignments because they can get the information that they want at anytime of the day.

For parents who are seeing signs that their child might be having difficulties in school, now is the best time to get other options aside from your own tutoring. Many parents don’t know this but there are actually tutoring sites that can enable kids to arrive at school with an assignment which are already correct and complete.

Although most of these sites that provide individualized programs offer charges, these can be minimal if it means that your child would be given utmost attention. More and more parents will eventually realize that what they have paid for will be worth it once they see the improvements on the child's willingness to learn and finish homework on time.

Finding the best option

For parents who are looking for online tutoring services, it is best to conduct a simple research first. After that, you can cut down your options. The most important part of finding the right tutoring provider is to consider the needs of the child. In finding the best online tutoring option for your child, make sure that you look for those that:

• Help the child to catch up on any missed skills. This is very important because it will ensure that even if the child missed something on school, there would be something that would remind him or her about the topic. Since it can be presented on a one-on-one basis, there are greater chances that the child will understand the topic better.

• Give extra instruction. A good online tutorial site should give extra instruction when it comes to school materials as well as concepts. This is very important to ensure that there would be more opportunities for learning and understanding for the child.

• Improve the child's organizational skills as well as his or her study habits. This is a very important qualification because it ensures that the child will be able to develop good study habits and acquire new skills even if the program is finished.

• Have trained teachers who can help the child with his or her homework. This is also another important factor in looking for the best online tutoring provider because good and patient teachers will ensure that your child will learn something at the end of the day especially in finishing his or her homework independently and on time.

Online Tutoring: The Both Sides

Online Tutoring: The Both Sides

Online tutoring is all about using web services or the internet for tutorials or tutoring activities. Students would be learning from their tutors through the use of internet. Online tutoring or e-tutoring would need certain applications and programs, like instant messaging that would make discussions possible. Aside from discussions and lectures done through internet and web conferencing, quizzes, exam results, and recommendations are also done through the internet.

For some parents, it would be better to get regular and traditional tutors that would teach their children face to face. There are some parents who are wiling to avail online tutoring services because their children seem to be more productive. But online tutoring is not totally beneficial, it would have its disadvantages too.

Disadvantages

If you are a tutor planning to offer online tutoring services, then it would be totally important for you to have access to a reliable computer equipment, internet connection, tutorial applications that would help children with their tutoring session. Sometimes, there would also be bandwidth speed requirements so that the applications would work efficiently.

Preparing the lessons would take much of your time, which is why online tutoring is also demanding. Online teachers are needed to prepare or answer customer support and feedback. Aside from that, teachers would also have to prepare different materials like whiteboard and this could entail a lot of time.

Since, lessons are not face to face, there would be times when students would lose focus faster making it hard for tutors to teach the lessons effectively. There are too many distractions, like television, radio and other websites that could divert your student’s attention. Teachers find it more difficult to build rapport with their students when teaching online.

Advantages

We could say that online tutoring benefits could outnumber its disadvantages. The best thing about online tutoring is that it is flexible. The child would be able to identify what kind of help and how much help is needed from online tutors and tutoring groups. Regardless of the time, a child would not have trouble looking for help. He can do homework while seeking additional help from the online tutors.

Parents and children would also be able to set coaching sessions on the most convenient time. Parents would be able to fit it to their busy schedule, while children can still continue in participating in extracurricular activities. These schedules are agreed before sessions start. Just make sure that you would be abiding to these schedules. You could also easily have coaching sessions since you just need to have internet access to connect with the online tutors.

It is typical for some parents to find it difficult to leave their children in the custody of tutors. Of course, parents would always worry about their kids’ safety during private sessions. For some concerned parents, getting good tutors and educational support without sacrificing their children’s safety could be answered by online tutoring.

Some parents also find that getting online tutors is more affordable, especially those that have computers and internet connection at home. Paying online tuition is also hassle free, since you do not have to bring the payment to the tutor’s home or to the tutorial institution. Aside from that, online tutoring allows a tutor to focus more on the child and handle academic difficulties.

How Can Kids Benefit from Tutoring at Home?

How Can Kids Benefit from Tutoring at Home?

With the more competitive—not to mention more stressful—academic environment today, more and more students are having a hard time keeping up with the demands of the school. Experts say that one of the major reasons why students—especially the younger ones—get tired or bored schooling is that they are given many assignments without somebody who finds time in tutoring them.

Recent studies show that lack of help is one of the major reasons why students—especially those in the middle grade—lose interest in studying. This is because they feel that they should be having fun at this stage but instead, they are bombarded with lots of work at school that push them to the limit. To avoid more complicated problems, now is the best time to opt for tutoring options at home for children who are having "school fatigue".

What does tutoring do?

Students—especially those who are not academically inclined—easily get overwhelmed with tasks they are given at school. Most often that not, they tend to be below average that to be labeled as "low IQ" student. The same scenario happens during checking of homework. There are kids who choose not to show their assignment and be given zero as a rating than to face humiliation once he or she did not get the correct answer or weren’t able to complete the school task.

These scenarios at school can be prevented if people inside the house—parents, siblings and even immediate relatives—would take the time to give some guidance and help to the child who is having problems at school work.

Many teachers as well as school officials agree that students who get tutoring at home show better academic performance than those who are not. It shows that kids gain not only knowledge when tutoring sessions are done at home but he or she also gains self-confidence which is very important in making it in school.

Another advantage of tutoring at home is that the child feels secure. If the child feels that there is somebody that he or she can ask for help when it comes to assignment, it will be easier for him or her to open up about the other difficulties being experienced at school. A child who is having problems in school work may hesitate to ask for help by him or herself thinking what the perception of other people on him or her. The tendency of is, more often than not, the child gets the wrong answer because he or she was anxious while doing it.

Experts say that making the child feel that he or she can ask for help to people around will boost the confidence he or she has. Being confident in his or her capability and skills is a very important foundation so he or she could accomplish goals and dreams in the future.

If the child is able to recognize who are the right people to turn to for help in completing his or her academic requirements and tasks, he or she will know that no matter how hard the these are, there would be always somebody to guide and teach him or her how to do it the proper way.

Aside from building the good foundation, providing help—through tutoring sessions at home—will also make him or her understand what are the areas that need improvement. These may pertain to subjects taken in school or certain topics that need reviewing.

Effective Tutoring Strategies That Parents Could Use

Effective Tutoring Strategies That Parents Could Use

Parenting is indeed one of the most difficult yet rewarding experiences any person could ever experience in his or her lifetime because the future of any child will greatly depend on what kind of parenting his or her parents practiced. Experts say that good parenting is equally important especially is the child is ready for schooling since parents would be expected to be involved with activities such as tutoring them.

If you are one of those parents who are having a difficult time in helping their kids with their assignments, the best way to go about is find a schedule solely for this activity. This is very important for kids because if they know that their parents would take a tine off just to help them out with their homework, they will gain more confidence in doing their future homework on their own.

Setting academic goals at home

Majority of the parents who have school-aged kids would agree that the number hindrance for them to help their kids in their assignment would be lack of time. This is because majority of them are working to make both ends meet for their respective families. However, this economic struggle does not serve as an excuse not to help the child in his or her schoolwork.

For parents who would want to help their kids on their schooling despite busy schedule, one of the best strategies that might work when you are tutoring your child at home is by asking him or her to summarize the lessons and the homework after school hours.

This is important because you are not only training your child to put things in order but you are also making the task easier for the both of you. Try to ask the child to summarize her or his homework before you get home after work so you can read it as soon as you get to the house and attend to it. If you already have a summary of the assignments of the child, it will be easier for you what to look for. This will also give you more time to research when the homework is quite technical or needs further explanation.

Another strategy is to get the child's understanding of the list of homework. To avoid spoon-feeding of information when you help your child do his or her schoolwork, try to get the child's understanding of the assignment. Through this, you will know where the child should improve on in terms of looking at situations in or outside the school.

You can also allow the child to finish an assignment on his or her own first. This is very important so the child would understand that although you are tutoring him or her, it doesn’t mean that you will be the one who will do the assignment and finish them for the next day's class. It is very important to make the child understand that you are just there to provide help or assistance and she or he must be the one who will do the bulk of the homework and not you.

Lastly, make sure that you have breaks during or in between tutoring sessions because some kids get easily tired if they are bombarded with so many information at school and even at work. To avoid the child from getting bored when you help him or her on doing the schoolwork at home, give breaks at least every 20 minutes and let the child do what he or she loves to do.

Can One-on-One Tutoring Helps a Struggling Reader?

Can One-on-One Tutoring Helps a Struggling Reader?

Reading problems can be prevented if the indicators are detected early and intervention is implemented immediately. Tutoring can be one of the options but it can be critical. Tension among tutoring elements might cause positive or negative results on the learning process. All beginning reading instruction should contain a balanced oral reading for fluency, alphabetic and comprehension according to a study. Effective tutoring needs carefully graded materials as it allows children to be placed according to their instructional level.

Another important factor to look into is the frequency and duration of tutoring. According to Susan B. Neuman and David K. Dickinson, "reading recovery" lessons tutoring program for example, should be done in 30 minutes and continued every day from 12 to 20 weeks. The routine can only be stopped when they reach a level of performance consistent with their classmates in the middle reading group or when they already show characteristics of problem solving with new words and independent processing of texts.

Further, they cited that in "Success for All tutoring" program children are given 20 minutes daily in 8-week cycles tutorial classes. Then, their improvement/performance is observed within that period. Depending on the results, children are assessed whether they may be circulated in or out of tutoring. In "Success for All" tutoring, it is important for children to be tutored as long as they need it. In contrast, "Success for All" tutoring is only given 2 days of training along with all other beginning reading teachers in the school.

In tutoring programs like "reading recovery" tutors are basically mentored for a full year by a "reading recovery" trainer. Through the one whole year, tutors are taught to make ongoing decisions about tutoring tasks that are responsive to the knowledge and interests of the child. In essence, success depends on the acquired knowledge of the tutor who is especially trained to perform a daily changes in the response of the child.

Within the school environment, assessment and instruction must be coupled to advance student achievement in reading. When classroom teachers only use advance student advancement, it is probable that valuable instructional is lost to over testing. Communication is restricted by the lack of common parlance and the connection gets misplaced in the shuffle. Consideration must be given to the student like using common assessments to inform teachers to determine whom to serve with which intervention and where and how.

Tutoring plays an important role to children who are struggling to read. Research shows that by continuing them to support with additional reading instruction across the grades, the current proportion of children with reading difficulty can be reduced to 5% or less.

One on one tutoring can provide direct, systematic, intense instruction that is responsive to the knowledge and interests to the child. Researchers on reading difficulties concluded that the only way to provide opportunities for some children to acquire normal reading is to provide one-in-one instruction over a significant period of time.

Building on rich interpersonal relationships, reading tutors can provide individualized, elaborated and specific instructions on the right level, time and child -- a task that is often difficult to achieve in a classroom setting. "By enlisting the human resources inherent on every home, school, and community, we can ensure that every child learns to read, one child at a time (469).

Saturday, March 26, 2011

While Tennis Apparel Choices Sizzle, Eyes are still on the Game

While Tennis Apparel Choices Sizzle, Eyes are still on the Game

Clean-cut garments continue to be popular in the court. Well known players in the sports garment industry like Nike and Adidas agree. Items like Nike’s Serena Day Dress—with its bold color, lean waistline, and pleated bubble skirt—are a perfect example, showing polished elegance with clean lines.

Other great choices for tennis apparel this summer is the Neon Yellow shirt in the Adidas Competition Line, with its ClimaCool technology that’s set to wow more than a few fashion conscious tennis fans and players alike. Both clothes though, aside from setting function over fashion, also point to essentially the same thing: it’s not the clothes, it’s the player.

However, since the news announcing plans of Ralph Lauren putting up a retail store underneath the Louis Armstrong Stadium circulated, some say change might just be in the air. The talks and rumors have already started. And it doesn’t seem all that likely they’ll end any time soon. The move, after all, is not only guaranteed to raise eyebrows but also to put small vendors on the alert.

The contract, a four year arrangement, is part of a new sponsorship deal that makes Polo Ralph Lauren the official apparel sponsor, replacing Fila. Widespread on-court branding is expected to be one of the perks in the bag.

The company says it will outfit all court personnel. This means fans can now look forward to seeing umpires, ball people and other staff sporting Polo’s all-too-familiar logo. Line judge stand-in boxes will also be expected to bear the company’s logo. Judging from this, it’s clear that the transition has already started.

Not to say that Scott Oudsema, US Open’s young tennis sensation, is also set to model and promote a number of Ralph Lauren tennis apparel and products. It’s safe to say that the company has its hands full these days.

"We do very few events, only in an upscale way. The clothes will be refined," remarks David Lauren. Lauren manages the marketing as well as in-house advertising in New York. "There'll be some nice surprises—fresh takes on the high-tech performance gear inspired by our RLX line. It'll be Polo, but with a modern, performance-oriented twist."

Chief business officer at the United States Tennis Association, Pierce O'Neil, termed the pact "a powerful statement regarding the vitality" of pro tennis. "[It] creates a natural platform for the integration of design, fashion and sport."
The remark is one way to ensure that objections from “purists” are addressed.

After all, while tennis buffs love to see their favorite players striking wins in court—decked out in stylish threads—overt brand commercialism is not a very good way to win their affection. Tennis, with all the brands, all the sponsors, the clothes, is still about the game, about the players, about the sport. It’s about the sweat, rage, joy in court. That’s the blood and bone of the game. Anything that takes away from that isn’t likely to make the company a winner for a number of tennis enthusiasts.

It’s like what they say: what next? Choices for tennis apparel these days run to tight and stylish sets, to cool and comfortable dresses in bold colors, to separates that allow ease of movement and cover very little. That’s what we have right now.

With Ralph Lauren in the court, are we going to have to look forward to fashion shows in the US OPEN now? Is couture tennis apparel going to be the norm very soon?

Many, if not probably most of us, hope not.

Tips for Buying Tennis Apparel

Tips for Buying Tennis Apparel

Tennis has been around for a really long while now and with that length of stay and popularity, there had been multiple fads and trends that came with it. When it comes to tennis apparel, there had been countless style changes, fads, revolutions and innovations over the past years and it shows no evidence of stopping any time soon.

So the long and short of it is that when it comes to the kind of tennis apparel you should buy, the possibilities are endless and you can be that trendsetter or the innovator or the revolutionist or simply the person who is in style. No matter how you see yourself and what you are wearing there are still some good tips for buying tennis apparel out there.

What you should consider

The most important thing that you need to remember when buying tennis apparel is that it's like buying equipment as well, the amount of attention you give the little details. You need to remember that those little details are as important as the bigger details and the big picture itself.

Talking about details what are the bigger details that we have to look into when buying tennis apparel. Number one is gender; this is the first consideration because being male or female dictates the kind of apparel you will buy. If you are a man then definitely you are looking into shirts and short pants or jerseys.

On the other hand if you are a woman tennis aficionado then you may be looking into skirts, sports dresses and the like. This factor is one the of the very first things you have to look into because you may be good but if you are a man into a woman's tennis gear then it's a bit off foot.

Next thing you have to look into is comfort. it's very important that a player woman or man be comfortable in the gear they wear. This is because discomfort during a game can give you disastrous results. Anybody remember the Pacqiuao fight where he got a bad blister in the foot just because he wasn't wearing his brand of socks. Some may think of it as being too prima dona but when you think about the fact that most professional athletes share the same sentiments as he did that time.

You need to be comfortable with the gear on your back so you can focus on your game. If the shirt is too tight or too itchy then you have to think about that as well as thinking whether to throw back a lob or a drive. Another thing to consider is the price. A lot of people can wish all day long on getting the latest signature tennis shoes or the latest in Nike's tennis wear collection but the bottom line is that it would be just too much for a minimum wage earner.

The price of the tennis apparel that you are thinking of buying is important because it may be too much for a C type of game. When buying tennis apparel you need to remember that you need to be wise enough to know than not everything that's expensive is the best quality. Remember all of these things when you are looking into buying tennis apparel for yourself or even for other people.