Online Tutoring

As mentioned in previous articles, online tutoring can sometime be demanding. Having said that I would also like to add that once a tutor starts understanding the behavioral patterns of child, online tutoring ceases to be a complex affair. There is one skill that can make online tutors get closer to their pupils. Yes, you guessed it right. I am talking about ‘Patience’.

Children do not think the way we think. Let us get this fact in our heads once and all. Expecting them to match our level of thinking is a waste of time. Children live in their own world. They would interpret a given scenario in their own ways.

Children would make the same mistakes again and again. Getting irritated would do no good to them. Tutors should be prepared for all types of weird questions and mistakes while teaching children using the Internet. If children will not make mistake, who else will?

There is nothing called perfection in the field of online tutoring. Tutors should be relaxed while teaching kids online. Let us understand this concept with the help of an example. For this we will talk about two tutors. Let us call them Jim and Jane.

Jim and Jane, both are experts in online math tutoring and homework help. They have been assigned the same student Bob, of grade 7. And they are asked to teach Bob the meaning of percentage. Here is the scenario.

Jim: Hi Bob! Today, I will talk about percentage.

Bob: (not showing interest) Ok…

Jim: do you know what does ‘percent’ mean?

Bob: No…

Jim: 13% = 13/100 = 0.13 do you understand that?

Bob: No

Jim: Thirteen percent is the same as the fraction 13/100 and the decimal 0.13

Bob: I don’t understand

Jim: (getting irritated): What is there that you do not understand?

Now consider the interaction between Jane and Bob:

Jane: Hi Bob! Today, I will talk about percentage.

Bob: (not showing interest) Ok…

Jane: do you know what does ‘percent’ mean?

Bob: No…

Jane: 13% = 13/100 = 0.13 do you understand that?

Bob: No

Jane: Thirteen percent is the same as the fraction 13/100 and the decimal 0.13

Bob: I don’t understand

Jane: That is ok. Let’s suppose your daddy bought you 100 chocolates

Bob: Vow

Jane: I know it’s amazing. You love chocolates?

Bob: Yeah, but Mom says I should not eat them a lot.

Jane (smiles): Now out of those 100 chocolates, and you eat 87 of them in 2 weeks. How much would you have?

Bob: 100 minus 87….so I will have… (Uses his calculator) 13

Jane: Great Bob…you did this well

Bob: Thanks

Jane: so Bob, PerCent mean per cent or per 100. So 13 Percent would mean?

Bob: 13 per cent

Jane: Right. Or 13 per 100…we can call it 13%.. (And the session continues)

What we can deduce from these two different stories is that the same concept can be taught in a fun way without letting the child getting bored. Here, for example, Jane talked about chocolates that kept the interest alive in the child during the online math tutoring session.

Tags: online tutoring, tutoring essentials

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 10:11 am and is filed under Online Tutoting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.