Natalie B.'s Blog at WyzAnt.com

A Matter of Perspective

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Natalie B.

Recently I had the opportunity to meet with a parent/business owner who hires/places tutors for high end families in my area. It was a wonderful opportunity as once again I heard the mantra, "Parents just want the grades to go up." I asked what this meant, how I could measure it (quantitatively and anecdotally) and if this was indeed proof of my skills as a tutor or a momentary 'save' on a reversal of fortune. This parent does not use Wyzant. I was hard pressed to accept from this parent the reason I wasn't being contacted by high end parents for tutoring was my lack of guaranteeing grades would go up, a promise I can not make in good faith as there are too many factors involved. Honesty and integrity should be important, not my sales ability.

In my years as a teacher and tutor, I have found once I have parents on board, the rest is EASY. Parents are the elephant in the room and I can run myself ragged (knowing full well very little if anything changes without parental buy in on some level). I have declined tutoring a student when the parents were dis-involved/dis-engaged.

At the time of the aforementioned meeting, I was working with a different parent/student I tutor who has an IEP (Individual Education Plan for a student with different/special needs). The annual meeting was coming up and it was necessary to get the IEP 'right' (it is an art form and done well can make life easier for all involved- most especially the student). The IEP took two sessions for a total of three hours and was worth every moment. The parent is on board and knows how to interact with teachers/administration to advocate for her child AND it was much easier to turn the teachers practices around when the parent was on board. Now everyone had skin in the game.

The initial meeting was not one of the easiest I have attended, there were tears and lots of emotive behavior. It cleared the air so everyone could get to where they needed to be and do things for the student.

I bring this up as grades 'going up' is not the same as student success. Student success is when there are study habits in place, student/parent/teacher/tutor knows their role and executes it and student develops self efficacy. When you really understand median, mean and mode, you know there are ways a teacher can manipulate the system to make a grade go up, while in REALITY, making a grade really go up is a challenge if you are at a D.

The best example I have of the proceeding paragraph is when a parent asks for an assignment towards the end of the term in an almost all or nothing game to boost a grade. Administrators do this as a good will gesture. It is called a trade - a way of somehow proving all the things the student did not/could not perform on over time are wiped away by one gigantic assignment. This is far from how learning occurs. Another example is where homework is 25% of grade and class participation is 25% of the grade and so many daily homework assignments and participation points are averaged in, it boosts everyone over the drowning mark except the very worst of worst.

If you want to get your student the best education possible with or without tutoring, you the parent need to be on board. Every time I get a parent on board, I have doubled my ROI (return on investment in time and energy as a tutor) as it is far easier to re-direct a teacher when the parent is on board and the parent has skin in the game. I love working myself out of a tutoring job! Given all other circumstances, teachers are human - at the end of the day they wish to get by and survive another day. The difference is YOU CAN MAKE YOUR CHILD'S LIFE WONDERFUL AND LIGHT UP A TEACHERS EYES WHEN you are on board, know your mission and help your kid learn and develop self efficacy.

If you are only about the grade, please read below:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/02/05/jon-stewart-tests-michelle-rhee-defends-teachers/

OTC Products Which Do NOT Require a Teaching Credential

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Natalie B.

Recently I had a parent laugh at the 'stuff' I brought for tutoring. It was a second meeting with student and I did not know what would work so I brought a great deal of stuff for fractions, hoping one or more of my non-book selections would work. It did! The parent asked about a 'list' of stuff good for children/students/etc.

Please note, I am pretty much low tech kind of person having done Peace Corps in Africa......I really believe I can do anything with nothing so as you read the list, don't be surprised by what is missing-realize the potential of what is listed.

Here goes:

Library Card - FREE and generally the best bang for your tax payer dollar

Super-Fun Marble Run - Lakeshore Learning or Mouse Trap at Toys R' Us

Waterway Pipe Builders - Lakeshore Learning

Cuisinaire Rods - get the old school kind if possible (without the markings) so students have to 'think' and reason

Tinker Toys - classic

Lego's - any and all......who said you can have too many Lego's?

Quercetti Georello Gears - any

Techno Gears by The Learning Journey

Anatomy model kits - hit up your doctor and dentist for all the 'extras' laying around their office

Sifting materials for sand and all manner of stuff to build sand castles

Liquid and Solid Measure tools in METRIC system.....real math and science is done in metric, the international language

Microscope and slides

AND

Books I can not live without for math:

Math at Hand, Math on Call, Algebra to Go, Geometry to Go - All of these books are by Great Source and can be had used for less than a dollar; shipping is usually the larger expense.

A book I can not live without for writing:

WriteSource 2000 by Great Source or whatever the newest version is out there

Please note, this is in no way an exclusive list of 'stuff', this is just what came to mind impromptu. While there is a great deal of junk toys out there, you can also find the real deals. I love garage sales and live for what teachers give away on Craigslist. It is not what you spend, it is how the toy is used. Creativity and innovation is boundless!

Value Versus Cost

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Natalie B.

The VALUE of a tutor (note- this is different from the price of a tutor) is based on a tutor's ability to not only know the subject content/matter, it requires some one who understands how children learn and have multiple ways to explain a concept. The largest differentiator when you compare tutors is finding some one who also understands the proper way (no shortcuts) to teach math and science, how reading and writing (language skills) develop in a simultaneous manner and can converse in the area of why it is not good to teach misconceptions.

After working for years in education and having been around top notch and new teachers, I have seen and experienced how easy it is for some one to 'teach' anything. One example of this is FOSS science, designed originally for elementary school teachers who lacked an actual science background. It was created where the instruction could be followed by a sub so even if the teacher was out, science need not 'suffer'. New math was supposed to be better than regular math. New math managed to not teach my generation how to learn and use math so I went back to college to do this task. Writing a five paragraph essay is a minimum threshold to barely scrape by on a satisfactory/passing scale. It is not a level to stop at nor to imagine as success.

When a parent is searching for a tutor, they should be looking for some one to do much more than help a child complete a homework assignment. Homework is something which is mini-version of a content task related to something the student learned in school this particular day or in the past and is need of review. A tutor is some one who assists a student in developing and polishing a new skill, making sense of the concept in the bigger scheme of things and pushes a student forward towards wishing to know more, practice more, learn more. In addition, a tutor is able to help a student figure out ways to study (which is what great students do above and beyond the homework) so the learning process is ongoing.

A tutor should be able to read and interpret an agenda book, what the teacher comments on the paper, report card, etc. mean (no matter how PC and well intentioned) and work with the parents and students and possibly the teacher in helping move the student forward at the respectable rate of the class OR a bit further.

Checking and reviewing homework is fairly easy as it is review - moving forward with gaps filled in and enthusiasm to learn is a whole other story. The price differential is often based on the tutor's ability to identify the rut/problem the student is having, correct it and make the concept understandable and adding joy.

Make sure you know what your child needs in a tutor as you decide what you are willing to pay. Not having cable for a few months may well be the better investment in your child's future as opposed to just getting them 'through' the current hurdle.

Algebra Matters!

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Natalie B.

If there is one thing you insist your children complete, it would be Algebra and preferably by Grade 8. The magic in passing Algebra is the ability to think with logic. Logic allows your child to make important choices for themselves and their family, understand and participate in their community and have self efficacy. A lack of Algebra is a life of substantially lower quality. http://www.algebra.org/whoweare.php

The nature of Algebra is such one can not learn it in one year...this is why there are so many pre-algebra math concepts. A child needs to master many different aspects of math in order to succeed in Algebra. It is not enough to add, subtract, multiply and divide. It is not enough to understand order of operations and what all those 'symbols mean'. Part of Algebra is the systematic format of problem solving (grinding the numbers). Another part is being able to do error analysis and correct (none of us are perfect and we need to know how to fix many different types of errors). Still another part is the way one has, in a sense, 3-D problem solving thoughts.

It is invaluable to know the various guide points your child needs to pass through to get up to Algebra. http://www.greatschools.org/students/academic-skills/531-K-5-benchmarks.gs You can look at the specific standards for your state. It is important to work with a tutor who knows and understands math syntax and what are common mistakes students make as they learn and how to work out of the problem.

Have a discussion with the tutor(s) you are interested in to find out their belief about learning area models of multiplication and division, memorization or both. Can they explain to you the idea of multiplication being shorthand for addition? Can they explain why one does not write math across the page and they should solve downwards?

There are many things to know about a good algebra (or any maths) tutor and the best way to ascertain who is right for your child is to ask. It is important your philosophy is in alignment. A good or great tutor will be pleased to have this discussion and answer your questions!

What does learning look like?

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Natalie B.

Ah, the first weeks of the new school year. Erasers smell fresh and look pink, binders actually click open and closed, the agenda book is fairly empty...As a teacher and a tutor, I am asked how I 'know' if a child is learning. This is fairly easy to answer, even though the answer is often not what the parent wishes to hear.

I am writing this blog to explain what I do as a tutor and why WyzAnt promotes this type of communication between a tutor and parents.

I wish every A grade correlated exactly to a wonderful, bright, on their way towards middle school, high school or college student and every D indicated an ill prepared student, one lacking in persistence, study habits or does not care. This is not nearly the case. Grades measured at school address specific items and applications of the learning process. An A is as good as the rubric, quiz, assignment it aligns to and a D grade is a combination of lack of effort on part of the student and effort from the parents, teacher and in my case - the tutor. An A no more indicates perfection than a D indicates stupidity. These are merely measures of an event in time. An A is a subjective observation against a set of criterion just as much as a D grade.

A grade is not indicative of much. What is really the key to learning is something called an anecdotal record. An anecdotal record is the long form written observation of a student as related to (not compared to) specific learning landmarks (think of Piaget) such as understanding fractions as division of a whole unit AND the smaller the pieces (each one being equal), the more pieces are created. This is a difficult concept for adults to understand, however, as a teacher/tutor, I know it when I see it in a few examples with students and how they solve a fraction math problem.

Would I state that a student has an A since they can demonstrate an isolated instance of a fraction? Probably not. I would state it is C - a normal and average expectation for a child between 3rd and 5th Grade and it is based on the child's exposure to different ideas, the child's actual age and brain development as well as the ability of the student to use this basic concept.

If a student could apply the concept twice or 10 times, it is still a normal expectation. What would drive me to state a student earned an A is when I saw the student use this particular fraction concept to solve an explicit problem and explain logically why this was the issue at hand. Example: A student understands whether a pizza is cut in fourths or sixteenths, the whole pizza is the same amount and cutting it up depends on how many people you need to feed, not how much you need to feed people. Each person will have a different amount of hunger. Equitably we can feed eight people two slices and it may or may not ease their hunger. Mathematically though, we divvied up the pizza accurately and that earns an A grade.

Knowing/understanding a concept (past the phase of learning it) is the ability to use an idea in reality. It is the application of knowledge to a situation and solves a problem. Students spend a tremendous amount of time 'learning' with practice whether it is the algorithm of fractions or the mathematical calculation of fractions and then one day there is the ah-ha and the student has learned the meaning of fractional value.

By attributing an A grade to every practice situation, I would be indicating the student understood and could use a concept as opposed to stating the student is on point as every other normal student in developing the fraction concept.

When 'grades' are administered anecdotally, as I do in tutoring, I am able to give a parent the full picture of what their child knows and how they use the information. I have found my anecdotal information is far more valuable to understanding a child and what they know then an actual letter grade.

I prefer giving anecdotal information to parents as I can elucidate what I will do as a tutor to push a student over the edge from conceptual practice to ah-ha moment. Anecdotal information also allows parents to see a trending pattern of how their child's thinking is developing over time.

WyzAnt requires a minimum of 25 words for a lesson. In some situations this is sufficient and appropriate. In other situations, there is more complexity and my observations help a parent and/or teacher understand the underlying issue(s)preventing a student from learning successfully and achieving all the landmarks.

Make sure your tutor gives you what you need to support your child. Obtaining an A is not nearly the same as actually learning.