This article was written by one of the Stepping Stone Tutors Reading Tutors. If you know of anyone who might be interested in reading tuition, please do get in contact.

Illiteracy, according to the United Nations, is the inability to read and write simple sentences in any language. In 1998, figures showed that 16 per cent of the world population is illiterate (Using the UN definition)

In 2009, 14% of Americans were illiterate. That’s 1 in 7. In a country as rich as ours, with a huge amount of wealth that overshadows the rest of the world, this figure is inconceivable. That is, inconceivable, but true. True, but horrifying.

• Imagine not being able to count the dollar bills in your hand
• Imagine having such little comprehension of safety, and hygiene, as you’ve never been able to understand those signs and warnings we see everywhere
• Imagine not ever being able to express yourself clearly
• Imaging never truly understanding the benefits that come through education so that you may pass this down to your child
• Imagine not being able to sign you name
• Imagine never being able to read the news, or check for dangerous ingredients in your food

These are just some of the effects that span from illiteracy, which feed into deeper issues such as;

• Low self-esteem
• Low self-worth
• Criminality
• Violence
• Drug Abuse
• Prostitution

Granted, not all people who cannot read suffer from any of all of the above, but there’s a massively strong trend. A trend that we must work hard in order to halt so as to bring those who were needlessly thrust into a lesser life than they hoped for as a child into a life that they are more fully able to live.

“The poor and the affluent are not communicating because they do not have the same words. When we talk of the millions who are culturally deprived, we refer not to those who do not have access to good libraries and bookstores, or to museums and centers for the performing arts, but those deprived of the words with which everything else is built, the words that open doors. Children without words are licked before they start. The legion of the young wordless in urban and rural slums, eight to ten years old, do not know the meaning of hundreds of words which most middle-class people assume to be familiar to much younger children. Most of them have never seen their parents read a book or a magazine, or heard words used in other than rudimentary ways related to physical needs and functions. Thus is cultural fallout caused, the vicious circle of ignorance and poverty reinforced and perpetuated. Children deprived of words become school dropouts; dropouts deprived of hope behave delinquently. Amateur censors blame delinquency on reading immoral books and magazines, when in fact, the inability to read anything is the basic trouble.”  Peter S. Jennison

 

We at Stepping Stone Tutors would love to talk to you or anyone else who may be unable to read to a standard they are happy with. We have online and offline tutors who’re dedicated to helping you read at any level, and for any age. If you think we might be able to help you, please, get in touch.

This article was written by one of the Stepping Stone Tutors Writing Tutors. If you know of anyone who might be interested in writing tuition, please do get in contact.

An important question to ask, and another point to raise to tutors- if schools are killing creativity, is it your responsibility to reintroduce this into your pupil’s education?

This article was written by one of the Stepping Stone Tutors Study Skills Tutors. If you know of anyone who might be interested in study skills tuition, please do get in contact.

Every parent can remember and appreciate the feeling of the last day of school. That day is normally not so much about new learning but instead revolves around the promise of the coming summer vacation, the impending freedom of days spent outside and homework-free nights. While this downtime is a somewhat of a yearly rite of passage for students it can also be a time of learning loss.

What We Lose During the Summer

Teachers and homework are not the only things lost during the summer for the average student. There has been many a study that has confirmed that the summer break can result in a devastating loss of information for students. Without the introduction of new information or review of previously learned concepts most students have lost the vast majority of what they learned the year before by the time the new school year begins. And because many subjects, such as reading and numeracy, tend to increase in difficulty building from concepts already learned over the years this can have a horrid effect on a student’s ability to learn in the new year.

In-Home Tutoring to the Rescue

In particularly for students preparing for the SAT or GED exams time and information are priceless. Because these tests cover a wide range of concepts learned over years of schooling studying can be difficult, especially only short term cramming prior to taking the exam. Summer in-home tutoring or online tutoring can help students adequately review information commonly seen on the test as well as keeping them engaged in learning and ready to begin again in the new school year.

Whether your child is simply preparing for the next grade year or studying for the important GED or SAT exams summer learning is a great stepping stone to success. With the improved subject retention and continued acclimation to consistent learning they’ll see better test results and you’ll see an even brighter side of your rising star.

Today’s tough job market has left many an otherwise valued employee beating the classifieds in search of a new prospect. People who have worked loyally for companies for decades are suddenly finding themselves without jobs due to budget cuts or outsourcing. For some the next logical step seems to continuing their education in hopes of making themselves a more valuable resource to their next employer, but many are left wondering how on earth they will pay the ever-increasing costs of higher education. The following might provide some answers:

1. The Old Standby- Student Loans

Student loans have always been an option for any student who wishes to further his education by attending a college or technical institute. The downside is that, of course, these loans must be repaid whether you graduate or not. This option might seem especially unappealing for non-traditional students who have just found themselves out of work with mounting bills and in some cases mounting debt. For those with no other options, however, they do remain a surefire way of paying for your education.

2. Scholarships

Scholarships are often thought only to be given to students who are just graduating high school and entering college or technical school. To the contrary there are scholarships and grants available to non-traditional students who have been out of the realm of academia for some time, such as the Adult Students in Scholastic Transition (ASIST) scholarship. There are a wide variety of websites dedicated to helping students from all walks of life find scholarship and grant programs that will help pay for school.

3. State Programs

In light of the recent trend of more adults looking to get back to school or training many states have developed programs to help non-traditional students obtain a degree or certificate. Check with your local Department of Labor to see what programs they might offer for persons in your industry or for anyone looking to learn in general. Some states also offer industry-specific training programs or opportunities that aid students in their pursuit of higher education.

Going back to school is a scary experience in and of itself without then being concerned over how you’ll ever afford it. Fortunately the above referenced options offer the possibility of education to any potential student.

This article was written by one of the Stepping Stone Tutors Study Skills Tutors. If you know of anyone who might be interested in study skills tuition, please do get in contact.

Scott Young started his blog 6 years ago while a student. Since graduating though, his interest in building skills and further education has only been heightened. We recently posted on our Facebook 

page a link video that Scott recorded detailing his latest challenge: to complete a 4 year MIT course in Computer Science in just 12 months (see the video here).

But just today we came across an audio interview Scott had with Corbett barr of Expert Enough- a site we love over here at Stepping Stone Tutors! But what I wanted to share were a couple of points Scott made in that interview that should be of value to you, as someone who’s looking to improve their knowledge, whether you’re using one of our online or in home tutors, or simply self-studying online.

Scott often refers to the way people who learn fast are able to effectively link the data and knowledge they’re processing  together, which therefore generates a much more deep rooted understanding of the topic being taken on. This is an alternative to simple ‘rote memorisation’, where students are challenged with the almost impossible of simply learning a ton of facts only to regurgitate these when asked about them. This ability to link things together- to understand in a much fuller way is what he calls ‘holistic learning’.

A method that’s often used to utilise this method of learning called the ‘Feynman technique’, which is an informal philosophy of how we can learn something deeply. As an alternative to rote memorization, which could take hundreds of hours for some subjects, the Feynman technique can be applied effectively to almost any subject. The video below will explains exactly what this is, and how you can apply this to your own studies, whether that’s for your upcoming ASVAB test, GED classes, K-16 classes, or test preparation (read about how we can help with this here) and revision.

The reason this technique works so much is because most people simply don’t know what it is that they’re trying to learn. They don’t understand which bits of a subject they need to expand on in order to full understand what it is they’re dealing with. The Feynman technique, however, highlights the exact aspects of each subject that you need to look into more in order to holistically grasp any topic you like.

The purpose of education is something I often ponder over. Rather than the ‘how’ of providing knowledge, the ‘why’ interests me something rotten.

Why do we share knowledge? Why do we set aside so much of our GDP to education? What is our motivation here? This may seem like a ridiculous question at a first glance, but when we consider the possible ‘why’s’ of providing education, such as

• ‘to create fresh generations of non-questioning employees’
• ‘to build a tolerant and creative society’
• ‘to develop the skills that will continue to raise money in our country’
• ‘to instil a strong moral dimension to our children’.

The possible reasons for ‘why’ we educate are huge, many of which are mutually exclusive (while others are compatible), and so for teachers, in home and online tutors, as well as students and pupils, this is an important question to consider- why are we doing what we’re doing, and to for what eventual purpose?

The following articles (and video) are fantastic starting points for considering this question. Please let me know what you think…

• What is the Purpose of Education in 500 Words of Fewer?
• Martin Luther King on the Purpose of Education
• ‘”The purpose of education is to develop a creative society that will ask difficult questions.”
• The Purpose of Education: Social Uplift or Social Control?

This article was written by one of the Stepping Stone Tutors Study Skills Tutors. If you know of anyone who might be interested in study skills tuition, please do get in contact.

In the past few decades there have been drastic changes in the education system in the United States. These changes far outreach our grandparents’ stories about walking 8 miles to school in the snow (uphill both ways of course) and have spilled over into the actual instruction itself. Class sizes are larger, we grapple with overcrowding in many heavily populated areas, and graduation rates have slipped drastically. Currently the United States is ranked 51^st in the subjects of Science and Mathematics worldwide. So one must beg the question: are we getting soft on education? I would like to precede this discussion by disclosing that I am not an educational professional but only a student, worker bee and mother with an opinion.

Having no school aged children of my own I’ve heard horror stories from my friends and colleagues who do have children in our local public and private schools. Among the most disturbing changes that I’ve encountered has been the introduction of calling math problems math “facts”. The word “problem” apparently is considered to have too negative a connotation. For as long as I can remember in my education and professional life I’ve been weak in the subject of math. I could pass the subject but it required immersion in it, finding a way of solving the problems that I could wrap my brain around. I simply don’t “think” that way; I can’t reason it out for some reason. So for me, a math problem is most definitely a problem. But it seems illogical to me that dressing it up with a nicer, gentler name would have made me embrace it more easily. I feel that by giving difficult subjects or problems a more politically correct or easier to process name in effect we’re sheltering our children. What happens when they do become old enough to go out into the world where there are problems and that’s exactly what they’re called? Will they be searching for a softer way of looking at the issue in order to cope with it? What does this mean for their reasoning skills?

The second most disturbing trend I’m hearing about in schools is awarding each and every student for something, no matter how mundane the achievement. I’ve even heard of students as young as kindergarten age receiving an award on a monthly basis. As parents we all want our children to feel special and successful, but is celebrating mediocrity the way to go about that? What does that say for the future of work ethic? If each student comes along knowing that no matter how poor their performance they’ll be rewarded for something it seems to me that they have no incentive to work hard. If they become appeased with mediocrity beginning at such a young age they’ll know that it’s okay to slide by.

Coupled with softening the terms we use for difficult subject matter this new advent in education equals what I predict will be a much softer generation of people, unaccustomed to facing and overcoming challenges and complacent in their mediocrity. United States students performed better on the world stage in the past where problems were called problems and rewards were given only to those who worked hard to achieve something. If the system worked so well back then with regard to these two topics, why fix what isn’t broken?

This article was written by one of the Stepping Stone Tutors Study Skills Tutors. If you know of anyone who might be interested in study skills tuition, please do get in contact.

Our last post discussed Richard Feynman’s study method (the Feynman Technique), which involves writing out a lecture to yourself, explaining in simple terms the topic you’re working on. As you’re working through this, you’ll reach points where you stop and become slightly confused, or unsure about something. At these points, you know you need to brush up your knowledge in these areas. By the time you’ve finished writing your lecture, you’ll have a far fuller understanding of the topic than hours and hours of rote memorization could produce. To read what we wrote about this, see here.

As a way to build upon Richard Feynman’s teaching and learning philosophy (especially from 40+), we came across the following video, which we’re sure you’ll benefit hugely from watching.

As parents we tend to get very touchy about the subject of how our children are disciplined, fed, taught or treated. To keep it simple you might just say that most parents are touchy about their children in general. So when it came to light recently that a school replaced a child’s home-packed lunch with chicken nuggets it should come as no surprise that the wagons were circled (don’t worry, our in-home tutors or online tutors would never do such a thing!)

Earlier this year a preschool student in North Carolina brought from home a lunch consisting of a turkey sandwich, a banana, chips and apple juice. A state inspector determined that her lunch did not meet nutritional guidelines and replaced it- with chicken nuggets.

In my opinion there are a number of factors awry here. First of all, the concept of declaring a turkey sandwich, banana, chips and juice to be less nutritious than what were surely fried chicken nuggets is beyond my cognitive grasp. Perhaps the least nutritious part of the original lunch were the chips, so if that is what flagged the inspector then why not simply remove the chips from the lunchbox and send the child on their way with the remainder? I could understand if their lunchbox contained nothing but M&M’s, chocolate milk and Cheetos, at that point it could be argued that chicken nuggets carry more nutritious value.

Then we must weigh the question of whether or not schools or the government should be dictating what we feed our children. Isn’t that perhaps getting just a little too intrusive into the parenting choices of Americans? My original inclination before hearing a story such as this one would be sure they should begin inspecting lunches; I would imagine that there are plenty of kids that go to school with ridiculously unhealthy lunches not unlike the horror that I described above. But then I hear something like this scenario and I’m reminded of how our government, however well-meaning they may be, has a tendency to take things too far. If I’d sent my child to school with the lunch in question and found out that they were instead fed chicken nuggets I would be furious for obvious reasons. For one thing I can only assume that they threw away the contents of the original lunch, a complete and ridiculous waste of money that I worked hard to pay for, not to mention woke up early, put together with a preschooler getting ready (any mother with a young child knows the terrors of the morning routine), and got them to agree to eat. Secondly I return to my earlier point that I have a hard time grasping how chicken nuggets are more nutritious than a turkey sandwich, banana and juice. Then I take into consideration the recent news about the “pink slime” beef being considered for school lunches and I find myself completely turned off as a mother from allowing my children to consume school-provided lunch.

If it could be trusted that situations such as this one, which is completely ridiculous in my opinion, would not happen and that our government would never feed our children the pink slime we’ve seen in the news, I would be all for the inspection and replacement method in school lunches. Until that day comes, however, I pity the fool who takes my kid’s sandwich.

It’s a tale as old as time for teachers: the struggle to keep students’ attention. Whether teaching in a one-room schoolhouse or a massive public school in modern day America the myriad number of reasons why students don’t/can’t pay attention has been an ever-growing problem. So how do you spark the interest of an otherwise disinterested pupil? Here are some things that I learned from being a student and looking back on my extensive learning experience. Lessons I learned that will come in handy for online and offline tutors and students alike. no matter what you’re studying, whether that’s GED, K-12 or ASVAB.

Everyone Loves a Good Game

I hated math in school (and still do to this day). Keeping my attention in a math class from kindergarten to college required no small Act of God. But when I was in second grade I remember that we played a game using the multiplication tables. The teacher would begin in the front of the class, the row closest to the door, and the first two students would stand up. She would hold up a card with an unsolved multiplication table on it and the first to solve the problem got to advance. The student who failed to respond quickest took their seat. As much as I loathed math, I loved this game. It kept me engaged throughout, and I learned far more from that game than any other tool used by my teachers to beat math into my stubborn artistic brain. The game was constant during the class period; it was interesting and competitive, which held the attention of each and every student. Breaking from lecturing or note-taking with activities such as this one can help you keep even the most Attention Deficit student in the learning loop.

Get Physical

Activities that get kids moving are sometimes a great way to keep them engaged. It’s hard to zone out when you’re clapping your hands, repeating a rhyme and trying to keep time with your fellow pupils. Introducing this type of interaction also makes it easier for students to remember facts and lesson material. Not to mention that getting all that blood flowing is a whole lot more engaging the listening to a lecture.

Keep it Challenging

Think about the last meeting you were in where someone stood at the front of the room and lectured about a topic that you were already well versed in. Adults get bored and disengaged when we do not have to try very hard, and students are much the same way. Being able to breeze through simple subject matter leaves them with a feeling that they don’t need to pay attention or focus on the task at hand, because they know (or at least think) that they can handle an upcoming test with ease. Making your class activities too easy isn’t doing anyone any favors. Even if it’s a game, keep it challenging. Vary rhymes or physical activities such as clapping or snapping every few minutes to keep them guessing and focused, use unusual factoids in your lesson and expect them to remember them. Perhaps most importantly, vary your test types. I can remember from school that after a while it became easy to detect a pattern in the way a certain teacher tested, what type of questions they would ask, etc. It meant that I was able to pick and choose through the material what I would need to retain and leave the rest, which meant that I only learned a finite amount of the lesson (in hindsight, something that did me no favors). One of the greatest teachers that I ever had was my U.S. History After 1877 teacher in college. All he did was lecture, that was it, which would normally have put me straight to sleep. But he introduced all types of little strange facts about history as he went and touched on pieces of history that other teachers would have never paid credence to, and they were on the test. In point of fact, you never, ever knew what to expect from his tests. It was impossible to ignore any part of his lecture because you were so feverishly concerned that the one thing you missed would be on the test, and usually it was. While it was the hardest class I ever took, it was also the one that I retained the most information from.

Keeping your students engaged may seem like an impossible act, but with some creative lesson planning and activities you might find yourself surprised. Some of your most difficult pupils may just be awaiting the right stimuli.
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One thing that’s been intriguing me lately is the use of blogging in education. Not just in traditional ‘classroom’ situations, but also for online and offline tutors.- the use of blogs to spark discussion, reinforce lessons and extend on topics that there wasn’t time to extend on in situ.

The past decade has brought so much of our world and our daily lives online. The world wide web and good ole’ fashioned reality collide in these days of social media and Google searches. One of the newest forms of online communication and expression is blogging. This platform can be used in several different ways, with some opting to utilize it as a publicized online journal and others using it to voice their opinions. Blogs can be informative, enticing, entertaining and occasionally… well, boring.

With much of the rest of our existence taking place online it was always a matter of time before we began to ponder online education platforms. These days students respond more to their Facebook status updates than to their teacher’s droning lecture (not that students were ever more apt to pay attention to a teacher than the not-so-private lives of their friends). As students become more stimulated by online media and platforms, some educators are reaching outside their classroom boxes and stretching their muscles online. But can blogging be an educational tool?

Blogging and other online educational tools could have what I call the “cool effect”. Students tend to respond better to technology that they know and use when outside of the classroom. It’s similar to the effect of rolling a television into a classroom: it may just be an educational film, but students are more likely to be engaged by it than a traditional lecture. Watching TV and blogging are “cool” for use in their free time, so utilizing it when they’re at school feels less like conforming to antiquated learning methods and more like learning on their own terms. Much like other forms of online education blogging makes it possible for students to interact with other peers across the globe, a feature that could be immensely useful for cultural or foreign language studies. Most blogs can also be pretty well controlled by an administrator (or teacher), even to the standard that comments cannot be published on the blog until approved by them. Blogging could also be highly effective in spurring discussion about topics that may even continue after school hours.

So outside of the possibility for foul play on the blog (which can be very well managed with platforms such as WordPress), it seems that educational blogging could provide a stimulating and modern way for students to gain, share and expand on their knowledge. If utilized correctly I believe that blogging could open up a whole new world of resources for educators and young minds alike.

Just today I came across Jonathan Martin’s posts detailing the “Open Internet” tests that he’s piloting with some teachers at St. Gregory School, Arizona, and I’m just loving the thinking. One paragraph truly stood out at me:

‘We know that content memorization must no longer be the goal of our learning programs; what our goal must be is that students can make the most sense of the voluminous and fast-accelerating quantity of information which will forever be at their fingertips, and about which they must be able to think critically, to select, to evaluate, to apply, and to amend as they tackle challenging problems. So why shouldn’t our school-tests evaluate our students ability to do exactly this? Why not structure tests appropriately, and then invite and welcome (and require) our students to use their computers on their tests? Isn’t this real world, and real life, preparation?’

The thinking behind this idea is, I feel, spot on. Although we’re still deep within the rote memorization aspect of education, in the future- that fast accelerating future that’s heading toward us at an alarming rate- what does that hold?

For sure, it must necessarily hold education, examination, coursework, homework and teaching which takes full advantage of the powerful tools at our fingertips. At Stepping Stone Tutors, we’re already doing this, providing online education for ASVAB, K-12, K-14, SAT etc tests. But we’re massively excited to see where these more modern forms of education might go.

We imagine a world where test are not based on mere memorization and writing ability, but that use the Internet, smart phones, laptops and the like to place students in like-working-environments, where they can use the knowledge they have gained in simulated real-life scenarios. Surely this would be a more telling, less ‘monotonous’ way of testing?

We also see places where where lessons are held online, with feedback being streamed through Google Hangouts, or Twitter Streams. We see children using interactive materials (ebooks, interactive PDFs), which use entertainment and interactivity to the best advantage whereby knowledge retention is hugely increased, compared to simple ‘paper-based’ learning.

The possibilities are simply Amazing, and we’re delighted to be a part- if only small- of this shift.

This article was written by one of the Stepping Stone Algebra Tutors. If you know of anyone who might be interested in algebra tuition, please do get in contact.

Many of us grew up seeing Mathematics as a field only the gifted can enter. While the geniuses have fun with numbers, the rest of us wade through them either in hazy stupor or in mindless fear. The most we could do was pass the quizzes and exams that our teachers would give so we can move on to the next grade and finish our years in school. If we are lucky, then we’d land a job that requires minimal exposure to mathematical tasks.

However, there is no need to develop an adverse reaction to anything mathematical. The beauty of Math can be seen beyond what the numbers foretell, but how they configure the patterns in nature, and even, inside our bodies. Seeing the symmetry and harmony of patterns will show the presence of the divine and the essence of beauty as human beings see it.

A movie inspired on numbers, geometry and nature, by Cristóbal Vila. Go to www.etereaestudios.com for more info: theory behind, stills, screenshots, and tutorials.

There is a story from many years ago of a primary school teacher. Her name was Mrs. Thompson. And as she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children a lie. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same.

But that was impossible because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.

Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he didn’t play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. And, Teddy could be unpleasant.

It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X’s and then putting a big “F” at the top of his papers. At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child’s past records and she put Teddy’s off until last.

However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise, Teddy’s first grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners…he is a joy to be around.”

His second grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle.”

His third grade teacher wrote, “His mother’s death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best but his father doesn’t show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren’t taken.”

Teddy’s fourth grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is withdrawn and doesn’t show much interest in school. He doesn’t have many friends and sometimes sleeps in class.”

By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful paper and tied with pretty ribbons, except for Teddy’s. His present which was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag.

Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one quarter full of perfume. But she stifled the children’s laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, “Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my mom used to.”

After the children left she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, and writing, and arithmetic. Instead she began to teach children.

Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her “teacher’s pets.”

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he’d stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor’s degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer – the letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.

The story doesn’t end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he’d met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit in the place at the wedding that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course Mrs. Thompson did.

And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. And she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together. They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson’s ear, “Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference.”

Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, “Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn’t know how to teach until I met you.”

NOTE: This story has an unknown author. It has probably been shared many times in blogs and websites, but it really is a very inspirational story that novice and veteran in-home tutors, private tutors, student teachers, professional educators, and even informal mentors will surely appreciate.

Sources: The Best Teacher Ever and A Teacher’s Story.

This article was written by one of the Stepping Stone Study Skills Tutors. If you know of anyone who might be interested in study skills tuition, please do get in contact.

UBC’s Learning Commons diagram has expanded on David Kolb’s Experiential Learning theory to include new factors in learning brought about by online technologies we use today. The integrated theory now includes Honey and Mumford’s experiential learning theory, which follows the same pattern as Kolb’s.

Similar to Kolb’s learning theory, Honey and Mumford view the learning process as a cycle that includes four phases, which also matches four learning types. These learning types include Activist (prefers doing and experiencing), Reflector (observes and reflects), Theorist (wants to understand underlying concepts, reasons and relationships), and Pragmatist (likes to try things and see if they work).

All these theories were incorporated into a flow diagram found at the UBC Learning Commons post. According to the diagram, the learning cycle consists of four quadrants divided by two types of learning activities: perceiving and processing. The upper right quadrant consists of Diverging Processes, which makes use of both concrete experience and reflective observation to create a myriad of experiences, which the in-home tutor creates through field trips and actual demonstrations.

Learners draw information from those experiences during the processing in lower right quadrant, which consists of Assimilating Processes. Assimilating consists of reflective observation and abstract conceptualization. This phase usually requires advice, guidance or support from the in-home tutor.

A student learns when the concepts gleaned from assimilating information from experiences are tested and proven true. This occurs when abstract conceptualization meets active experimentation. The results of the Converging Processes in the lower left quadrant lead to validation or approval from the in-home tutor, the parents, the teachers and the society, in general. This is the reason why scores and grades greatly affect a student’s performance in school.

The upper left quadrant seals the process of learning since it requires Accommodating Processes that encourage the student to repeatedly apply, tweak and improve on the skills and knowledge gleaned from previous processes. Whatever the student learns has to be adapted to the way society functions. Thus, it is not enough that a person learns something new, but that person has to develop a depth of knowledge that society expects him or her to possess after a certain period of study.

This article was written by one of the Stepping Stone SAT Tutors. If you know of anyone who might be interested in SAT tuition, please do get in contact.

Although in-home tutoring is commonly used to augment the school work of your kids, a one-on-one process for teaching children can also be an advantage when they need to take a crucial exam, which will determine their academic future. For example, grade school and high school children sometimes take entrance examinations to prestigious schools or qualifying exams for a high school or tertiary education. In-home tutors can help your child study for exams, cope with the pressure, and answer the exam as clearly and calmly as possible.

Study skills for school work are similar to studying for exams, but the latter requires students to absorb a huge load of information in such a short time that the students may experience mental fatigue. Mental exhaustion deters, rather than helps, learning and developing the right study habits.

The use of in-home tutoring is not new to the academe. In the United Kingdom, students enroll in cramming schools to learn all they can before taking the A-Level and the GSCE exams. India and Hongkong also have cram schools that not only help their students enter university, but also cope with strict academic requirements.

In the United States, the term “cramming” has a negative connotation. The word may mean studying too much information for too short a time, especially the night before, to pass an exam. It conjures nights of deprived sleep and too much caffeine. Because of this negative perception, cram schools in the States call themselves tutorial schools or tutoring agencies. They not only offer one-on-one tutoring or in-home tutoring, but also classes and study groups.

If parents choose to hire an in-home tutor for their children, then the in-home tutor should incorporate those methods used in academic coaching and mentoring. Instead of directing the child to the right answers, the in-home tutor teaches your child how to look for answers. For example, the in-home tutor teaches your child how to use a library or the Internet for research.

In addition to hiring an in-home tutor, the parents themselves should learn to apply mentoring and academic coaching to their children. These techniques make use of emotional support as motivation for the child to achieve his or her goals. Emotional support comes in many forms, such as understanding, patience, soft encouragement, and positive reinforcement.

An in-home tutor can act either as a parent or as an older sibling to build an emotional bond with the child, but this kind of relationship is often discouraged because it may become a liability in the future for both the in-home tutor and the child. The participation of the parents, therefore, is crucial in building a child’s confidence, interest in learning and motivation for excellence in every endeavor.

Tutoring and academic coaching both aim towards improving a student’s knowledge and skills. As proof of this improvement, the student’s grades pull up. This boosts the student’s self-confidence and motivation to learn more.

However, tutoring differs from academic coaching in application. Tutoring is often applied when the student has difficulty in one subject area, such as Math, Science or English. The tutor’s expertise with a particular subject is very beneficial in this case.

Academic coaching works better when the student has difficulties in multiple subjects. It incorporates tutoring, which focuses on specific goals, such as finishing homework on time, achieving a certain level of reading comprehension or increasing grades from C to A.

Academic coaching also works towards those goals, but the in-home tutor who practices academic coaching goes beyond simple tutoring. The best tutors work with parents and teachers in creating a strategic plan for improving a student’s academic skills as well as life skills, such as time management and goal setting. In effect, a good tutor to hire is someone who knows academic coaching. This person is responsible for teaching your child how to read for retention, how to break down projects into components, how to do quality control, and how to take notes effectively.

Aside from the professional credentials, such as degrees and certificates, you should look for other qualities, such as trustworthiness and reliability, in an in-home tutor. However, we do not easily see these qualities in a person when we first meet them. The best way to find evidence that an in-home tutor has these desirable qualities is to look for the following telltale clues:

• They attract the best students. They often have a full schedule as well as a waiting list of students.
• Their junior colleagues praise them. Good tutors help their fellow tutors, especially the beginners. They act as mentors to other tutors as well as to their students.
• They have strong referrals from parents and previous students. Testimonials have a strong effect on people. If these parents and students think this particular tutor is the best there is, then they may be right. There is no reason they would be lying, right?
• Their students are at the top of their class. This is, perhaps, the best proof of a tutor’s skills in sharing knowledge and developing skills. If that person can deliver excellent results, then he or she is surely one of the best.

Your tutoring agency also matches your child’s personality with the tutor’s personality. Share with your agency your child’s needs and preferences. They will make sure you will have the best in-home tutor for your child.

A tutor of the opposite gender as your child raises concerns in some parents. Currently, parents can never be too careful with a stranger taking advantage of their children. The possibility of misdemeanor or abuse strongly exists, which prompted many tutoring agencies to perform thorough background checks, including an FBI sex offender search, on all their professional tutors.

However, this concern may be needless. Focusing on the tutor’s gender prevents you from seeing the other good qualities of a tutor. The strict selection of in-home tutors assures parents that tutoring companies always hire reliable, well-trained and highly educated employees. When you really think of it, the worst that can happen is that your child will develop a crush on his or her tutor.

A good tutor will know what to do with a schoolgirl crush. A professional tutor will never encourage the infatuation to bloom. When you hire a tutor, check his credentials. When you meet him in person, your instincts will tell you whether that person is trustworthy or not.

Dyslexia is the most common cause of problems in writing, spelling and reading. About 20% of the population has some language learning disability and about 80% of them have dyslexia.

Children with dyslexia often have a high level of intelligence, but they were often mistaken as slow learners because of their condition. They lag behind their classes. This builds frustration within them and changes their attitudes towards school. They lose their interest, which greatly affects their academic performance.

Dyslexia can take many forms at different intensities, which makes a correct diagnosis of dyslexia difficult. Some children with dyslexia do not receive the proper attention for their learning problem.

Indirectly, in-home tutoring helps children with dyslexia, although it is not part of therapy. A correct diagnosis should always come first. From this, educators and parents can create a learning program to help dyslexics cope with school.

If the problem is indeed dyslexia, then there are professional tutors specially trained to teach children with dyslexia. They have specialized modules and learning materials that make learning fun and easy for any child.

Tutorial modules for children with dyslexia involve sensory activities. Since they have trouble reading texts they can learn through the other senses like through listening to music. Most children with dyslexia can do easy reading of very simple text, but have trouble with higher level reading skills, such as paragraphs.

In-home tutors can help the child improve reading and writing skills by giving various exercises that gradually develop the child’s confidence. The child eventually succeeds in learning along with classmates in a regular classroom setting.

Teachers teach a class, but tutors facilitate learning. As learning facilitators, tutors are more effective than teachers. Teachers usually teach up to 30 children in one class. The group setting most effective for learning should only have up to 15 students in one class. A tutoring session, on one hand, usually consists of one tutor to one or two students, which is an ideal set up.

Tutors, especially summer tutors, bridge the gaps in learning in a classroom setting. Summer tutors focus on their students’ needs more than a teacher can do in the classroom. Students who enroll in summer classes benefit from this one-on-one guidance. Tutors closely monitor their progress and immediately apply interventions.

Several reasons for summer tutoring exist. Since the teaching set-up is one on one, the lessons focus on the child’s needs. A summer tutor pays more attention to the child’s learning process and can attend to the child’s weaknesses. Aside from that, summer tutoring address the child’s learning style and matches it to the pacing of the lessons.

In the classroom set-up, the teacher attends to an average of twenty to thirty students. Naturally, students learn at different levels and speed, and using different styles. Some students need lengthy discussions and more time to digest the lesson, while others read the materials and study on their own.

If the majority of the students understood the lesson, then the teacher moves forward, leaving behind one or two students in the process. In-house tutors help these children catch up with the rest of the class.

A summer tutor also makes it easier to diagnose learning problems. Although tutors are not expected to diagnose and correct these problems, they may give advice or refer the child to the proper professional.

For parents who cannot find time to help their children with homework or projects, summer tutors act as substitutes. Children can easily manage schoolwork while parents get the assurance that their child’s needs are met.

A sudden drop in the grades of your child indicates a disturbance in learning, but it does not necessarily mean your child needs tutoring. Disturbances, such as a death in the family, a long period of illness or a sudden change in the child’s home life, can affect the child’s grades.

Another factor contributing to low academic performance could be the absence of challenges in school. The child might be a fast learner who finds the pace of regular classes boring. The teacher and the teaching method also affect a child’s performance. Changes in the child’s social circle also affect the child’s attitude towards school and learning.

While most children easily cope with demanding schoolwork, some kids lack the intellectual stamina to keep up. A pattern of low grades and lack of initiative to participate in school show a set of alarming behavior in children. These children need more attention and help from someone who understands their difficulties in learning.

A teacher can help, but the rigid schedule at school, and the strict rules of some schools in disallowing tutoring jobs for their faculty, restricts the capacity of a teacher to tutor students beyond school hours. Hiring a professional seems a better alternative, aside from parents putting in time helping their children with schoolwork.

In-house tutoring, as opposed to online tutoring, provides more than academic assistance. Another human being who does not appear to be on the same level of authority as teachers eases the flow of learning. Pressure from maintaining good grades, getting high scores in exams, and competing with other children do not exist in in-house tutoring.

The most important basis for hiring an in-house tutor answers the question: Does your child actually need tutoring? Observe your child’s attitude towards learning. Is your child showing distaste to studying? Does it affect your child’s self-esteem? If the answer to these questions is yes, then you should consider in-house tutoring. If he or she remains curious and exhibits a desire to know, then the problem could be in school.

Some parents prefer to give their child a chance to recover from low grades. However, if you see your child try his or her best, and yet grades remain low, then it would be better to hire an in-house tutor.

Most of the time teachers take a proactive approach and recommend tutorials to students who seem to require some help. The teachers usually call the attention of the parents and discuss with them how to help their child cope up with schoolwork.

Peer tutoring is not new to the world of education. Having students help their fellow students learn the lessons was a serendipitous innovation developed by Mr Andrew Bell of England in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Andrew Bell primarily wanted to save money by using trays of sand as writing materials at the Military Male Asylum in Egmore. To make sure the sand trays were being used, Bell used some students as monitors, which were children who taught other students using the sand trays.

Later, Bell realized the use of having students teach other students in class has its benefits. The students were segregated into two types of classes: the well performing students and those who were struggling with their lessons. The achievers were utilized as peer tutors to their under-performing fellow students.

On one hand, the teachers and their teaching assistants worked in “helping children, monitoring the tutors and quizzing students to make sure the teaching system was working,” as described by Brendan Dabkowski in his paper, The History Of Peer Tutoring. This systemic approach to tutoring was adopted and later expanded by Joseph Lancaster in his school.

Lancaster’s peer tutors were provided with detailed teaching materials and answer keys for testing students with their knowledge of the lessons. All these was done while the teacher was focused in one group of boys in a class of hundreds.

William Fowle, another educator who embraced this system, conducted studies on peer tutoring and found that the children were able to teach their fellow students more effectively than adults could.

The ideas of these men spread to the United States, where few teachers worked. The educational system was still developing and financial support was hard to come by. The teachers relied on the better students to tutor their peers.

Source: Dabkowski, Brendan. The History Of Peer Tutoring. http://wrt-intertext.syr.edu/VIII/dabkowski.html. 2000

Stepping Stone Tutors, a home tutor service specializing in matching students with local tutors announces a new milestone, six years in business. In addition to hiring mostly credentialed teachers and professionals with graduate degrees, Stepping Stone Tutors, since its inception, has never required contracts and conducts a 50 state criminal and sex offender background check on every applicant.

Bend, OR (PRWEB) January 27, 2010 — Stepping Stone Tutors, a company specializing in home tutoring for K-12 subjects, including test-prep for the ASVAB, GED, SAT, and ACT announces a new milestone, six years in business.

“The down economy has definitely increased the number of tutors looking for jobs which is great for us because we have an excellent pool of very experienced tutors to choose from” says Cogen. In addition to hiring mostly credentialed teachers and professionals with graduate degrees, Stepping Stone Tutors, since its inception, has never required contracts and conducts a 50 state criminal and sex offender background check on every applicant.

Stepping Stone Tutors

Stepping Stone Tutors, a home tutor service specializing in matching students with local tutors announces a new milestone, six years in business. “When we first started out, the company was actually called ‘Book Worm Tutoring’ but right up the road in Carlsbad, CA (we were in San Diego at the time) there was another service called ‘Book Worm Tutors’ so within the first month of being in business we had to change the name. The funny thing is that I don’t even think the other company is still in business. After building a website I realized ‘well I should probably go hire some tutors now.’ I’ll always remember sitting down with the first group of Stepping Stone Tutor applicants at Cafe976 and hiring the first 6 tutors. You know after that, you go back to the office and more or less wait for the phone to ring” said Andrew Cogen, CEO of Stepping Stone Tutors. And the phone did ring (and ring, and ring) until a small operation of a handful of tutors morphed into a network of more than 150 tutors throughout the West coast and Southwest.

With Stepping Stone Tutors, students are able to request an in-home tutor for their location and within 24 hours (or less) start working on current assignments or get ready for an upcoming test. The company provides home tutors for nearly every grade level and subject matter. Students are able to meet with tutors face-to-face as frequently or infrequently as needed and are able to develop long-term relationships that can pay dividends later on.

“Aside from a ton of repeat business from returning customers we have recently started to tap into social networking to spread the word about our tutoring service” says Cogen, “We now maintain a blog or you can follow us on Twitter.”

About the Company: Stepping Stone Tutors was founded in 2004. A home tutoring service, it has matched thousands of students with home tutors in more than 18 cities nationwide.