Kids aren’t born knowing how to blow their noses. I realized this when my daughter’s teacher sent home a handout on teaching kids how to be independent. It had never occurred to me that I needed to teach her this skill; it wouldn’t just come to her. This simple idea applies to so many aspects of our children’s education, and parents need to work with their children and tutors in order to see results. If you’ve decided to invest in a private Nashville tutor, here is what you can do to ensure success. Whether she’s an elementary student with a reading tutor or a high school junior doing ACT prep, she can only benefit from being prepared.

Before Your Nashville Tutoring Session

It’s 4 p.m., and Johnny has recently gotten off of the bus. His one-one-one tutor arrives for their first session. Just as they sit down at the kitchen table, he realizes that he’s left his homework folder at school. Not only that, but he’s starving! This sort of scenario leads to wasted time. And we see it a lot.

  • Get prepared. Students should have their notes, materials, and assignments on-hand before their tutor arrives. They should have a computer nearby with good WiFi access and passwords into online school portals. Also make sure that they have snacked and wound down from the school day. This is especially true for younger kids.
  • Assess your goals. Younger students need help figuring out where they struggle. Go through the material ahead of time so you can get an idea. This will save a lot of time during your tutoring session. It’s important to have the class schedule as well so that your tutor can help prepare for upcoming assignments and tests.
  • Make a list of questions. Ask your child to create a page in their notebook called “Question for my tutor.”  Then whenever they think of something during the week, they can write it down. They can present their questions to their private Atlanta tutor during their sessions. This habit is an important organizational skill; as the saying goes, a short pen is better than a long memory.

Making Your Sessions Work With Your Private Nashville Tutor

I recently provided SAT prep tutoring to Marcus, a high school senior. Marcus liked the math section but struggled with English. As we studied the uses of commas and the pitfalls of misplaced modifiers, he got frustrated, grilled me for better explanations, and demanded to see other examples. Marcus may turn out to be an amazing attorney one day.

This might not sound productive, but Marcus’ score actually increased dramatically. He had taken the SAT for the first time a month before we started working together. After three weeks of sessions, he went from the 49th to the 91st percentile in Writing. He went from the 51th to the 70th percentile in Reading.

  • Active participation is key. This brings me to my first point: it is so important that private Atlanta tutors and their students engage actively. They need to cover material that isn’t too easy or too hard. For you as a parent, this might mean sitting in on the first session. It might mean talking to the tutor afterwards to get a good feeling for how things went.
  • Tutoring comes with homework, too. I had a private art tutor in middle school who tried to teach me how to draw cartoons. He was a successful cartoonist who had worked for Saturday Night Live. The problem? I didn’t like drawing cartoons. The afternoon of our session, I would scramble to throw some sketches together so that I wouldn’t be completely empty-handed. Now, as a tutor myself, I see this behavior a lot. Whether it’s SAT practice or an essay assignment, kids often procrastinate or simply forget to prepare.
  • Talk to your tutor. Like most educators, our personal tutors  get a special thrill from helping kids succeed. Don’t feel inhibited when it comes to asking a lot of questions about your child’s progress.
  • Explain your thought process and problem-solving approaches to your tutor. This can help your tutor to understand where you have obstacles as well as helping to identify your learning style.
  • Address important issues first. If you address your main concerns early in the session, you can ensure that you don’t run out of time before those issues are addressed.
  • Speak up. If you don’t understand something or you feel confused, don’t be afraid to stop your tutor and ask questions.  Never forget that it’s the tutor’s job to help you understand – you never have to pretend that you get it if you don’t!
  • Take notes during tutoring. Write down the new methods and strategies that your tutor teaches you during the session so that you can apply them to future assignments and continue to integrate them into your learning approach. Take notes in whatever format is most helpful to you.
  • Be aware of how your tutor approaches problems.  Observing the strategies your tutor uses will give you hints on how to tackle a new task when your tutor is not around. Asking yourself what your tutor would do in a given situation may help you to find an answer to your problem.

In-Home Tutors provides experienced, college-graduated tutors at reasonable rates. Call us at 615-823-1619 for a free consultation. Your first session with your one-on-one Nashville tutor is guaranteed!