As you start a new school year, it’s time to set goals for your child’s
academic performance. Knowing where they are going is half the battle
for most students. If the prospect of academic goals fills you both with
dread and causes tension, it may be time to call in a little help.
After-school tutoring is still a relatively new concept for most parents.
Families in Asian countries have been doing it for decades and you can
see the incredible results in the world academic rankings, but the system
still has its drawbacks. You see, most of the after-school instruction
happens in classroom situations with all the same disadvantages that this
system brings with it. The new wave of after-school learning is a one-to-one
tutoring model where students get individualized lessons.
Everyone can Learn
Each of us has a unique brain that learns in its own way and at its own
pace. When teachers present a lesson in the classroom, they have to teach
to the middle and you’ll find that they are working at a pace that
only suits a small number of students.
What one-to-one tutoring does is work at the pace that suits your child.
Tutors will check for understanding at every step and they can go back
and explain concepts in different ways until the student has mastered
them. This is especially important for those students who are ahead of
the class. Since they grasp concepts really easily, they get bored and
stop paying attention. This lack of focus means they end up missing out
on important work.
One-to-one tutoring works at a pace that suits your child, the tutor is
able to fill in missing building blocks and add supplemental materials
to keep bright students busy.
Learning Styles
When information is presented in a classroom, it is usually in the learning
style that makes most sense to the teacher. This means that those students
who have a different learning style won’t be able to assimilate
the information as effectively. A one-to-one tutor can assess your child’s
learning style and will present information and concepts to them in the
most efficient way. They will also teach your child to convert information
that is presented in other ways to their own learning style so that they
can be independent learners.
Non-academic Skills
Classrooms are full and teachers rarely have time to teach students HOW
to learn. That means that most students are perfectly capable of achieving
their academic goals, but a lack of organization and focus results in
poor grades. Tutors should teach students how to be great learners. This
means imparting executive skills like task initiation (no more homework
nagging!), sustained focus, time management, organizational skills and
other skills necessary to be successful learners.
Imagine what your child could do if they left enough time to study for
exams, never forgot an assignment and did their homework every day?
