Tutor Blogs

It has been a very different school year, especially in New Jersey since the devastation and heartbreak caused by Super Storm Sandy. I am extremely proud of all my students this year, many of whom had to contend with the impacts of the storm. All of my students have done very well this year, both in their scholastic work and in their standardized test preparation. They have overcome personal adversities and disruption in their routines, and have maintained their focus by keeping their ultimate goals for their futures in mind.

I hope all my students read this post, because it has been a joy...

The first attribute of good teaching and what may be my best is classroom management. I have experienced almost every situation in my short time in teaching. I have learned that anything can and will happen and that I will never truly be prepared for every situation. The key is to have a level head, treat the students with respect and process every situation with them when it is over. The students will respect the fact that you are consistent and are willing to stand up to them to ensure a productive environment. The students also will respect you for processing your decisions with them even...

The type of problem that has a missing factor (missing-factor problems) has a certain way to be solved. The path to solution can be expressed in a 12-word sentence which young students can count out on their fingers: "To find a missing factor, divide the product by the known factor." Twelve little words which are not hard to commit to memory. Why is this important? This is important because very many word problems can be solved by setting up an equation into a missing factor problem. Working with this skill puts some emphasis on vocabulary in math -- because the student must recognize...

WyzAnt wants to know:

If you could go back in time and give your younger self one piece of academic or professional advice, what would it be?

If I could go back in time and give my younger self one piece of academic or professional advice, I would tell myself to study more, get involved in more school activities and be more social and motivated to achieve something special. I started going to school in NYC as a High School freshman and had to adapt to many new things in my life, both academically and personally. When I think about my HS years now, I always wonder why I didn’t study harder...

I totally believe that we are teaching Spanish wrong in the school. I think the right way to start a language is learning the phonic of that language. That is how I learn to read and grammar in my own language, first I learn to say the word, pronunciation is very important, after that I learn to recognize the sound I can read and write. The grammar and leaning vocabulary comes along.... Just my opinion

I had my first visit with a new student today. She seems like she is a lot of fun, she is worried about her ability to speak and write in English when she begins classes in the fall. She has good articulation though her sentences run together and could be difficult to understand. We are working on the th (voiced and voiceless), z, v, ae and ou sounds to help increase her intelligibility to unfamiliar listeners. We are also going to be working on her ability to write in English based on scholarly research articles which is what she will be required to do in college. She is interested in mindfulness...

My approach to working with students who have difficulty with reading is 1) to build their confidence, 2) relating what the student is reading to a common interest, 3) knowing when or not to help a student, and 4) be creative when helping a student understand what they are reading.

The way I go about building a students confidence is by not approaching them with a "I am better than you" or "I know what I am doing, you don't !!!" attitude. As a tutor it is my responsibility to build the students confidence, not my ego, by not reacting to a students mistakes as if you are disappointed in them...

SUMMER OPPORTUNITIES

Now that students, teachers, parents and tutors have had a chance to catch their breath from final exams, it's time to make use of the weeks we have before school starts back. Consider all that could be accomplished in the next few weeks:

• Areas of math that students NEVER REALLY GRASPED could be fully explained. This could be elementary skills like adding fractions, middle school topics like systems of equations, or high school areas like sequences and series.
• Students could have a TREMENDOUS HEAD STARTon topics that will be covered in the first few weeks of school. Imagine...

A narrative frame or story frame is commonly found in fiction with these elements:

1. Characters: Characteristics of main characters in a story

2. Setting: time, place, and context in which story takes place

3. Initiating event: the event that starts the action rolling in a story

4. Internal response: the main characters emotional response to the initiating event

5. Goal: planned solutions of the main characters as a result of the initiating event

6. Consequence: how the main characters attempt to accomplish the goal or resolution to the initiating event

7. Resolution: Solution or end...

The question that I was asked to answer today was if I could go back in time and tell my younger self a piece of advice what would it be.

I would tell myself to let it go.

What exactly do I mean? Well, a natural propensity among almost all law students is our drive for perfection. We are so used to being the top of the class, the leaders, and the ones getting the recognition. During law school, we quickly realize that everyone sitting in class with you we're the top of their classes so suddenly you are fighting for the top again. Maybe you accomplished it, maybe you were high up in the class...