Theresa H.'s Blog at WyzAnt.com

Start the Year Right

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Theresa H.

When starting a new school year, it pays to have a plan! In grammar school, the teacher is usually the person who provides the study plan, but when high school and college roll around, it's up to you to have your own plan. I've used a good one during my studies, and for the sake of your success, I've decided to share it with you! Here's how my plan works.

First, take your new text books in hand and look them over. Flip through and become acquainted with the index, the pictures, if any, the charts and graphs. Find out what - in general - is in the book. Then, take a sheaf of loose leaf notebook paper and fold each piece in half from top to bottom, so that, folded, the far edge doesn't overlap the holes punched in the near edge. On the left-hand side of the paper, begin with the first chapter and, using lots of space, create a rough outline of the book. You don't have to read every word of the book at this time (though, if you're a fast reader, it may be very helpful), but use the Index, the main headings and topic sentences to create this outline. Do at least the first six chapters.

Next, take a look at the bibliography and see what books the author used to write the book in your hand. See if you can find some of these books and resources, either at the library, in the bookstore, or even using the "Look Inside" feature on Amazon. Some of them may make certain concepts easier for you to understand than your present text, so use them to increase your understanding. Also, look for other books by the same author that may give some more insight into the subject.

Finally, find or start a study group that can meet on a regular basis, either in person or online. This is a great way to get and give support. If you have a group that can meet with an experienced tutor, so much the better! The tutor will have skills the instructor may not have in giving you ways to learn and study that pertain to your specific learning style and modality.

You can make a better grade if you begin early, and get aggressive with your education. It's a treasure that you are in charge of giving to yourself. Don't pass up the opportunity to become excellent!

Using Visually-Based Note-Taking

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Theresa H.

In recent years, education has determined what mothers have had a strong feeling about for years: children don't all learn the same way.

Well, duh.

There are the obliging, easy-to-reach and teach verbal students, the head-in-the-book or the clouds visual learners, and the athletic, impulsive kinesthetic (or physical) kids. There is even a small subset we can refer to as the taste/smell group; they are intuitive, compassionate, and easily led. They may fall into any of the major three modalities, or stand alone.

Today, I'd like to talk about Visual Learners. Very often, the information they hear can be parrotted back very accurately right away. However, this is not necessarily an indication that the information they are repeating has actually "passed through the thinker." It's more like coffee that is brewed, then poured and drunk. Once the information has been poured in and delivered, unless there is a significant anchor, it can pass away completely. And it often does.

To combat this tendency, one strategy I use is the "movie drawing". Young children use it in their artwork all the time. Ask a preschooler to draw a picture of an event, and they will begin by drawing the part that is most significant to them, they they will move through the time line at will, drawing whatever is important in the event's past and future to tell the complete story on one page. To the viewer, it can seem a confused mess, completely unintelligible until the child explains the picture themselves. It is, of course, completely understandable to them, and can actually help them to remember things about an event that they might otherwise forget.

In order to remember and retell any story, a person must have a vocabulary with which to explain it to themselves first.

For Visual Learners to be expected to take auditorially-based notes is ludicrous. It is like expecting an English speaker to take notes in Japanese. It is not even the same alphabet, and cannot convey the information the listener is taking in (only part of which is verbal - more later!). No, the Visual Learner should be allowed -indeed even encouraged! - to take notes using "movie drawing". Important names and dates should be jotted down, but actions and relationships between things, countries, and people should be drawn, using whatever symbols, graphs, diagrams or just plain doodles make sense to the student.

Now, this does take some practice, if one is not used to it, but it can be highly effective, especially if after drawing the movie, one is required to re-tell the tale with only the visuals to go on. It can be supplemented with auditory notes of any kind. (I recommend Cambridge style, as it gives a perfect space for illustrations on the left hand side of the page.) Having used this style of effective note-taking for many years, I can attest to its effectiveness. I can also attest to the fact that many teachers will not understand that all those flowers, bubbles or faces have anything to do with the subject matter, and will assume that the student has been daydreaming. I can't say it has never happened, but I always astounded the same teachers with my high test scores (accompanied by highly decorated slips of scratch paper, of course!).

If you are a Visual Learner, or a parent or teacher of one, encourage them to use their native vocabulary to record what they learn, help them to become more fluent in translating their notes back into spoken English, and accept that this is an acceptable, desirable and effective way for the Visual Learner to retain knowledge for future use. It will build their self-esteem, lead to better scores, and assist them in bridging the gap between themselves and a highly verbal world!

Wisdom for my students

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Theresa H.

Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by it's ability to climb a tree, it will live it's whole life believing that it is stupid. Albert Einstein

Speed vs Velocity

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Theresa H.

There is an adage that says, “Speed Kills.” I believed that for a very long time. For example, if you go too fast in your car, you can lose control of it, and die quickly. A bullet tossed has not got the destructive force of a bullet shot. If you simply back into a goat’s horns, they do not have the impact of the same horns if the goat happens to be charging full-speed at your hind side. Obviously, speed is an awesome power that needs to be respected and harnessed in order to avoid harm, or conversely to achieve great good. I felt the need to learn how to slow things around me, or speed myself up to handle the challenge.

So I made all haste - but not too fast, mind you! - to learn to manage the speed of my life. While driving, I made sure I kept or stayed under the speed limit. I planned my day with an eye to having enough time between appointments. I even let people know they had to give me time to absorb the meaning in what they were saying, so I could be sure of understanding all they were saying. In addition, I studied hard to know things ahead of time, to anticipate what would be needed, to pre-plan what I would be doing so as to avoid losing control of the situation. However, life being what it is, the expected rarely happens, and I would find that I had spent valuable time planning for things that never materialized and taking up the precious hours and minutes of my life with ultimately unnecessary activity. All the meticulous efforts and preparations I had made, while slowing the influx of life around me, had also irritated the life out of the people around me, who like water around a rock, just passed me by and flowed quickly on without me.

That wasn’t good.

But, what was the answer? It wasn’t until I took a Physics class that I realized my error. You see, it isn’t speed that kills; it’s velocity. Until the Professor explained the difference between the two, I had no idea there was one. Speed can be defined as, “rapidity in moving, going, traveling, proceeding, or performing; swiftness; celerity…”(1) In short: how fast are you moving in any one direction? That is your speed. However, velocity is a different matter altogether. It is, “the time rate of change of position of a body in a specified direction,”(2) or a change in speed or direction. This definition changes everything. And it makes more sense. Speed is how you handle a straight road. Velocity is how you handle a curvy one. And life, I have found, is fraught with curves, bumps, hairpin turns, and all manner of changes.

Reckoning with velocity instead of just speed was more meaningful and leads to more life success. I applied this idea to my own life and began making big changes. I began to see not just one future, but several probable ones to set up for. I knew I could not plan as far ahead in a concrete sense, but I could chart a trend, and make my choices based on where I wanted the trend to take me. It was a new way of thinking and operating. This theory had applications in decision-making, correlation of facts, and unit-learning. Things began to take shape, not as a linear function, but as a web of understanding of my world. I could train myself to “pre-see” likely outcomes, and prepare myself for the next decision point, at which I could (because I had prepared) take the turn-off of my own choosing, then use all the powers of my brain to check my course and decide on which courses of action might occur, and how to plan for them in order to achieve a goal in keeping with my trend. What is equally amazing is that, by increasing my velocity, I also managed to increase the speed at which I am reaching my goals.

If you’ve seen the recent film, “Limitless,” you have seen some of this same sort of thinking fictionalized. But, it’s not fiction, and it doesn’t come in a little pill. No one can steal it; no one owns the rights to it. It is the kind of thought process that you really can develop in yourself. If you would like to learn how to think three-dimensionally, I would love to help you. Contact me and let’s talk about where you want to go, and what you would like to do once you get there. It can be amazing.

Help Your Child Sleep!

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Theresa H.

As the mother of 5, I have learned that when it comes to the subject of sleep, different children need different approaches. Just as, food-wise, there are three-meal-a-day folks and all-day grazers, my kids vary from highly scheduled sleepers to serial siesta-takers. I make sure that, whichever they are, they do have a set wake-up time. I also make sure they know how to take 20-minute recharging naps. As to bed-time, they are free to go to bed when they are tired. I do admit to making late nights boring, and turning lights off throughout the house at a set time (coinciding with my own bedtime), but they are free to stay awake all night long, if they choose, provided they are up and ready in the morning at the pre-set time.

Now, before you call this method something akin to child abuse, consider this: 1) Every child will be eager to try to stay up all night, whether or not you have a set bedtime. 2) If you take the parental disapproval out of it, you take away a lot of the allure. 3) Just a few instances of being headachy and dull from staying up all night is enough to cure most kids. My kids are self-monitoring because they have tried doing it their way, and now see WHY we keep a good sleep schedule. When they are up past their normal bedtime, due to special activities, an inordinate amount of study (they are in the AP and IB programs at school, so this is sometimes the case), or because of unusual circumstances beyond their control, they can take 20 minute recharging naps the next day, if needed, to keep their energy and alertness high.

Scientists who study sleep patterns say that such a short nap can take a person through one sleep cycle, and give the benefit of several hours of uninterrupted sleep over a short period of time, eliminating the incidence of careless errors, accidents and the like. I just know from personal experience that it works for me.

So, trust your kids. Ask them questions about how they like to sleep, how much sleep they think they need, what conditions make it easier or harder for them to sleep. Give them the responsibility for at least helping to set up those conditions for themselves. Then, unless there is a big problem, let them sleep. You'll sleep better, as well!

Present Imperfect

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Theresa H.

The following is both an example of my own writing, and a sample of my philosophy. Having studied logic, I have applied it to my own expression of faith. Whether or not you share my faith, I invite you to read it, if only as a way of determining my ability to help you learn either writing, or the study of logic. Please enjoy it.

I love being a tutor. It’s probably the best job I’ve ever had, because it gives me an opportunity to share skills and tools I have learned or developed, so that others, too, may reach higher and strive for more. I believe that teaching is a vocation; a way of being a godly person. And we all know what happens when you try to become godly, don’t we? Do we command the respect of people who say, “There goes an example of what others might strive for!”? Are we rewarded with honors and salutations, riches and respect? Do we, at least, receive a pat on the back, and a hearty, “Well done.”?

No.

If you do everything you’re supposed to, and become as godly as you should be, they crucify you. They did it to Jesus Christ, and if I do what I should, in some way, they will do it to me, too. And to you, should you choose to do your utmost to live as God would have you live.

So, why try? If doing the right thing is only going to lead to Ultimate Failure, why even go there? It is a question that people have asked for thousands of years, and each must answer for himself. Here is my attempt to answer it, and in so doing, to suggest how you might wish to proceed.

Earthly life is lived in linear time. For many people, that is the only reality they know, because they either have not considered another view, or because they do not wish to consider another view, or because they cannot stretch their minds enough to wonder whether there is any view but the one that is obvious to the senses.

However, reality is not linear. Reality is global, and in large part not visible to the naked eye. What is seen and experienced here on Earth is, by and large, no better than stick figure drawings by an inexperienced hand compared to Reality. To paraphrase Saint Paul, trying to see Reality from here is like looking through dark glass; we are only able to make out the semblance of things unseen.

Now, I don’t know about you, but some of my Earthly experiences have brought me to the heights of emotion, positive and negative. A peaceful sunrise over the Long Island Sound; a glorious sunset over Catalina Island in California. The alps, still mantled in white deep in June, as the pure vital air gave voice to an alpenhorn’s full-throated call. The deep, ageless echoes of warrior songs sounding deep in the Singing River of Louisiana. The panorama of wide, high Texas skies, rich with herds of clouds, heavy with unshed rain. The hot splash as of tears on a rainy New Orleans summer afternoon. These things seem to me to be very real, but in fact, they are but a shadow of what is to come.

So, too, our sufferings and sacrifices seem to us to be truly awful. There are so many upsets and tragedies. This past week in my town, a man shot his pregnant wife, and most of his wife’s family as his son, celebrating his birthday at the local roller rink looked on in horror. There are cases you can hear of every day of disasters, natural and man-made. Some will ask, “How can God allow this? If there is a God, surely He does not cooperate in this torment!” They come to the conclusion that either God does not exist, or that our sufferings are chance events, or even that we bring our sufferings upon ourselves with no act of God’s will involved.

My contention is that God, in His infinite mercy, has allowed us to suffer this comparatively small and passing torment in order to alleviate real and lasting torment we would otherwise, in all justice, receive when we reach Reality. For as far as Heaven is above Earth, Hell is just as far below. And in all justice, only the purely perfect can exist in Heaven. Through the suffering and death of Jesus Christ on the cross, He defeated the mandatory sentence of Hell that we had earned through disobedience.

Now, linear-time thinkers will say that Adam and Eve ate the apple, then humanity was kicked out of Paradise, then Jesus came and gave us salvation, so now we only have to accept it in order to go to Heaven, because the work of salvation has already been done. Well, that’s true, in a manner of speaking, but only in a linear-time manner of speaking.

However, if you understand that time is not what it seems to be, that idea changes to one which, while still very flawed by our human inability to understand clearly, I believe is closer to the truth. It can be best conceptualized by realizing first that everything that is, exists in God. Everything that is not of God is in the great nothingness that is the ultimate torture - separation from all life of any kind -forever, at a geometrically increasing rate of pain and horror as it moves forever farther from God and existence. This is the phenomenon we know as “hell”; complete and utter separation from God, which is our own conscious choice and decision. God does not “throw us in hell,” nor does He desire hell for his creatures. We have true free will. Faced with the choice of Reality or Nothingness, there are those who will choose Nothingness. I don’t know why, nor do I wish to learn.

Secondly, God exists in every place and at every time, all at the same time. This concept rolls the idea of a “timeline of salvation” into a ball of twine. The Reality is, it’s all happening now; Eden, Mt. Sinai, Egypt, Bethlehem, Gesthemane, Calvary. And God is present in all those times and places Now. Our salvation is being worked out as we speak, the big bang is sounding, the flood is rising, the slaves are escaping Pharoah, the skull of Golgotha is looming in the distance as sweat and blood mingle under the weight of the cross, the sun is rising on an empty tomb. And, to quote an early television show, “You are there!”

Did I say, “You”? Yes, in fact, I did, because it’s true. All that is of God exists in God, and if He is there, then so are you. Can you pray for Moses to have the strength to face Pharoah and ask him for deliverance of the slaves? Yes, and your prayers will make a difference in the ultimate outcome. Can you ask God to ease the death of a loved one who passed on many years ago? Yes, because God is there as you speak, at the bedside. Can you pray for things you don’t know about that are still to come? Of course you can, because God is already there, ahead of you - or at least before your awareness of your presence there - and you make a difference now, because in effect and in Reality, now is then.

So, if we are already where we are going to be in the future, is there any point to trying? Is there any reason to do good, to pray, to make requests? Yes. God is good. All goodness is in God. The more you do good, the more you align yourself with God, and the more you exist inside His vast footprint. You cooperate in the creation and continuing existence of the Universe. You cooperate in the salvation of the human race. You cooperate in the defeat of the powers of evil and their eventual (now, in Real Time) overthrow. You are an active participant. Can God do it all without you? Unquestionably. Does He wish to? No. He wishes to include us in all His dreams and plans. He has made all of creation for our enjoyment.

This world, this imperfect kindergarten, is our place to learn God. We need our small pains and sufferings, great though they may seem to us at present, and our little joys and hopes, as grand and grandiose as they may be, to teach us about the much more real, intense and lasting possibilities of the Great Reality. So, if by participating in the teaching process, enlightening hearts, minds and souls to the truths God has allowed us to know and understand, I can become more godly, and help others to do so, too, then I can happily accept crucifixion or any other suffering God chooses to bless me with, so I can learn what all these things have to teach me about the Reality that is to come. The greatest adventure awaits.

SuperSize Your Time!

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Theresa H.

There are times in all of our lives when we are obliged to wait; at doctors' offices, government offices, soccer practice - you name it! We can waste that time, or we can use it to a better advantage. One way of doing that is to SuperSize your time!

What do I mean by that? We all have challenges in our lives, or even small problems that crop up, little inconveniences that affect our lives. Start taking note of them. Not in a bad, "boo-hoo, ain't life never gonna git enny better?" way, but the way a scientist observes animal behaviors. Dispassionately, looking for patterns, isolating the problem, the present way of dealing with it, and where the "disconnect" occurs that keeps the problem in existence. When you see the present way of dealing with it, ask yourself how (not "if"!) this way can be changed in a small way to handle the disconnect. We begin with the present way of dealing with it because it's the present way for a reason. It works better than the second-best way. If we can, through changing something small, fix the places it doesn't work, then we have just come up with a better way! Ask yourself questions about the nature of the problem: if it's a problem with people, what would change if it were a problem among animals? Can this give you a clue about the better way to handle it? What if it were a math problem? What if one of the people were a different person? What would that person have to be like in order to change the dynamic? If one of the people were you, what would you have to change in yourself? Could you change this? What would you need to do, learn, know or experience? Is changing yourself in this way acceptable to you? Why or why not? Is it worth it to you to make the change?

The questions you ask will depend on the problem. A couple of words of advice: 1) Don't get too big. Global warming will not be solved as you wait for the orthodontist to check Johnny's braces. But, you might think of ways you can become more "green" in your own life, so as to contribute to the solution. 2) Don't get too far away from yourself. Spending your time solving other people's problems is a problem of its own of Biblical proportions: "Take the beam out of your own eye. . . " If you begin with YOU, you can end up solving other people's problems because, after all, we have much more in common than we have specific to ourselves. If you are tired of finding shopping carts stuck together seemingly for life, think of a way to make shopping carts that will release easily. It's for your convenience, but I'll bet you're not the only one it happens to! 3) Don't let this become work. This is the mind at play. Ideas are our playground, and if you come up with a million of them and use none, you are at least keeping your mind nimble and flexible, which will keep you young and thinking. There are no "you oughta's" in this pursuit; it is simply a way of expanding your horizons while you are sitting around, anyway.

The most exciting words in the world are "What if. . . " Take advantage of them to ask yourself what could change in your world, if you were to SuperSize your time!

Teaching Art

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Theresa H.

There is a misperception in many people's minds concerning creativity. It is the belief that a child who looks at the world and can codify it into "drawings" that roughly resemble people or animals is somehow more advanced than the child who refuses to do so.

In my opinion, and in the opinions of many creative people (Leo Buscaglia, for one), being able to draw a green lollipop on a brown stick and call it a tree is actually a stunting of the creative impulse, because it causes the mind to cease seeing things as they are, and breaks down the experience of the world into a series of hieroglyphic images, instead of the 3-dimensional, ever-changing world that becomes more colorful, more meaningful the more one sees. Asking a child to "learn to draw people and animals" in the usual, codified manner may seem to be a step towards art, but in reality, it is a step backwards. It encourages him NOT to see, NOT to be artistic, but to conform to politically correct norms for what does not really exist in nature.

A child who refuses to express himself on paper has, in all probability, been scared away from using paper and pencil by people who have imposed this hieroglyphic vision of the world on a highly creative mind. This type of child, whose mother may say, "We don't expect him to be a great artist; we just want him to know how to draw simple people and animals," may indeed HAVE a great artist on her hands. Most average kids, given art supplies, will be eager to try them all out, and will scratch out hurried and lazy examples of what they think they perceive. Their child won't. Why? Quite possibly because the stick figures, square-and-triangle houses and wavery bobble-headed flowers nearly the size of the house in the picture won't cut it for a child who can plainly see that people are not sticks, his house is not a stacking block, and flowers come in shapes and sizes and colors that boggle the mind. Translating their perception into media is a daunting task, since they actually see the complexity of it all.

So, what can be done for this stubborn creative type who will not draw? First, they must not be over-scheduled and over-stimulated. Children today have so much to do that they have no time to get bored and think the exciting, daring and dangerous thought, "What if?" They have electronic playmates, ready and always willing to play, in living color and with boundless energy, as long as the power supply doesn't run out. There is no need to lift a finger to combat having nothing to do because they are never faced with that. They are everywhere inundated with sight, sound and motion, competing for their attention. They have neither the time nor the need to stop reacting and authentically act.

They must first have a need to find something to do where there is nothing. Then, they must have access to artwork. They must be free to explore their own creativity. Not with expensive art materials that professionals use, but with materials at hand ("So, what can we do with this milk carton? What could this be, if we didn't know it was a milk carton? How can we change it?"). A "seeing child" must be exposed to visual artists' work constantly, and must learn to look at a picture and identify lines, shadows, shapes and colors for what they are. There is no time this child will express their world in any way but from their own gut and experience, unless the creative impulse is completely devalued and crushed within them. This child does best if given the worst, cheapest and least appealing art supplies, because this child is a problem-solver and needs to learn to bring their art out of the mundane.

Anyone can make a pretty hieroglyph, given the proper supplies and a few pointers. But, are they expressing themselves, or becoming a Xerox machine? A "seeing child" will resist this dictate mightily, up to throwing tantrums and exhibiting other forms of misbehavior. Forcing this child to be less than he is by drawing a person by forming a ball here, a stick there, would be like telling a rocket scientist that 2 + 2 = 5 is close enough. It isn't. It is patently wrong, and they know it, and it's going to drive them crazy until you correct the flaw. They need to be around other people who draw, paint and sculpt, so that it seems natural to them to be that way; the way they are intrinsically.

In Native American culture, children are brought up seeing the creativity in all; whether in song, picture, weaving, pottery-making or story-telling. It is taken for granted that people by nature are creative, and their creativity is to be celebrated as a gift to the world. In modern American culture, so much of our communication has been reduced to the hieroglyph, the logo, the icon that all one has to do is see a pair of golden arches, and he gets a hankering for french fries. We have desensitized ourselves to the real, in deference to the expedient. Doing real artwork isn't clean or predictable; it isn't something one can plan to do for an hour and be done. It is something that must well up from within, and then come bursting out onto paper or in clay, or in a myriad of different ways. It is not controllable, but it is manageable. The art itself cannot be taught. The skills in presenting it can be, and its management must be. But, it is not something that can be tamed, because once broken, it is nearly impossible to mend.

My advice for those who have children who "won't draw"? Don't force it. Give them examples of art, give them access to enough free time and odd materials, give them enough "creative neglect" with nothing to do, and then stand back. Once the dam of expectations is gone, and they are bored enough with just sitting, all of a sudden their creativity will assert itself and you will be overwhelmed at the amounts and types of art they will happily come up with.

So, What Makes Theresa's Tutoring So Different?

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Theresa H.

When discussing the differences between classroom teaching and the way I tutor my students, there are some obvious differences that happen any time a student is tutored, such as the class size, the specialized curriculum and the locale. These are some of the reasons people choose to be tutored in the first place. They also get to proceed at their own speed, and to tell the teacher what to do, instead of the teacher telling them.

My tutoring sessions have something a little more than that, however, and that's why I am a very effective tutor. When I speak to a new student (or the parent of a new student) for the first time, I ask questions to determine things like best learning modalities, possible educational "anchors," and energy levels. I try to find out what the student's past experiences have been educationally, and how those experiences may have impacted the student's learning accessibility. I especially listen to find out what sort of experiences they speak of themselves, how they speak, and what their phrasing is like. This helps me determine my best teaching approach.

Tutoring is a bit like jujitsu, the art of using one's opponent's own energy. The difference is, instead of using the energy of my student (who is definitely NOT my opponent!) against them, I use their energy to hit their educational goals. Very often, a student is so close to the problem in their own academic career, it's hard to see the clear path to the goal, even though the desire, energy and intelligence is clearly present. It's just a question of focusing their diffused light into a laser-like beam of brilliance. I am not the light; just the window. Once the focus is there, the problem is solved - for now.

My greatest asset, and one of the greatest joys of my job, is my ability to put myself out of a job! Yes, you read that right. My goal with all of my students is to teach them to develop their own skills and tools to focus their energies and abilities on the best ways to solve the problems they face. I teach them using their own educational glitches, but the lesson is a universal one that can be applied to many areas of their lives. With the abilities they already posses, most students can learn to identify their best learning methods, and to modify whatever they are receiving from their teachers, books, and other reference materials to their own best advantage. This is my job, and my delight.

At times, it requires breaking skills down to an earlier level, and rebuilding using a different method. I have a student presently who is trying to improve his handwriting. He is 8 years old, and his teachers have been complaining about his penmanship. His mother has been beside herself, worrying that his skills would get him labeled as not as bright as he very obviously is. Many times, children with this problem are drilled repeatedly to copy, copy, copy ad nauseum, until the problem is solved or the child is graduated. More often, I fear it is the latter, rather than the former. When I met him, I talked to him about his various interests (He is an outstanding baseball player and trophy-winner, likes video games, and has a quick and ready wit.). Then, I watched him write his letters. His right hand held the pencil with a death-grip in a pincer grasp. He pressed into the paper hard enough that I found myself fearing for the fate of the glass table which was his surface. His fingers and wrist moved, but all else remained still.

My first reaction was, "Why are you holding your pencil like that?" He told me that's how his second grade teacher had insisted he hold it. This highly athletic child, with well-developed arm muscles was being made to use the tiny muscles in his hand to do all the work of being a fluent and comfortable writer. Which, of course, he was neither. I took away the pencil and paper, made a "baseball" from a couple of washcloths and a rubber band, and soon had him writing - in beautiful cursive! - with soap on a mirror. As soon as each letter was mastered in large form, with a relaxed hand and using his highly-developed arm muscles, his penmanship began to show a huge improvement. Of course, he still has a long way to go, but now instead of complaining about having to write, he's asking if I can teach him Calligraphy!

So, the edge I feel my tutoring has over traditional teaching is that I am busy looking at my students' strengths and finding ways to enlist them in the service of the students' goals, not ferreting out their weaknesses and insisting the student change their learning style to accommodate the teaching. In short, I'm not looking to find fault; I'm looking for solutions. And that's a much happier place to learn.

Another Recommendation

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Theresa H.

While surfing around WyzAnt, I discovered that one of my students posted a review of WyzAnt with my name and information in it! Here it is:

"Tutoring staff"

I have always sought out private classes on the things I want to learn and it has served me well in terms of mastering skills more quickly than group classes. WyzAnt offers exactly that. I was fortunate indeed to to be matched with Theresa H. She is a very patient and caring person and truly wants me to succeed. Her teaching skills are excellent. I would refer anyone to WyzAnt who needs a tutor in any given area your company can help with due to my personal experience with Theresa as an example of your tutoring staff.

Posted by Steve from Arlington, TX

It's always so encouraging to know when one touches the life of another. Steve was a terrific student working against physical limitations to forge a new life after the advent of a physical disability. He was an inspiration, as many of my students are to me!

In the face of such effort and determination, I find myself working long hours behind the scenes to find new learning methods, tools and aids so that my students may learn more and more effortlessly and well, and retain the knowledge for life.

It's important to me that my students are successful.

Ensuring the Best Education Possible

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Theresa H.

One of the things that students and their parents have struggled with since time immemorial, is the question of how to acquire an education.

Many people believe that the learning process is just a matter of repetition, discipline, and application. Facts are presented, should be studied until they are known by rote, even if not fully understood, and the results should be able to be tested. The theory is if you work hard enough, long enough, you will learn. If you're not "getting it," you must not be working hard enough! Entered into with that philosophy, learning becomes an onerous task to be tackled and endured. One should, in theory, put one's head down and just get through it. It's the "eat it; it's good for you" school of learning, and not to my tastes at all!

Others believe that learning is something that will naturally take place, no matter what. Humans are inquisitive, so they will drive their own education as their development dictates. They should be allowed from an early age to learn what they want, when they want, and not fettered by the expectations of others. It's the "if it feels good, do it" school of thought. It would be lovely if it were that easy, however humanity exists in relationship. As unpleasant as it may be to admit, others will have their expectations and requirements. If this is not understood and the desires of others fulfilled at least in part, it can lead to a bewildered and lonely life. A person who exists to fulfill only their own needs as they see fit fails to develop compassion, friendship and the ability to follow the direction of others. Without having followed, it is equally difficult to effectively lead. This creates an enormous lack of interpersonal connection in an already disjointed society.

I believe that true learning is a middle path between these two. While it is true that learning something can require long hours of hard work on the part of the student (not to mention the teacher!), learning is always more effective if the student becomes engaged in the subject, the process and the outcome through personally significant and imperative desires. The fourth grader who is told he must study Math to pass the standardized tests because it's what's required will not become personally involved in his own education. However, the same child who is told that in order to become a better baseball player, it will take Math, and the better he is at Math, the better his game will become will without fail become much more assertive in educating himself using any means available. When he learns that tracking his successes in baseball is a mathmatical function, that studying other players' statistics is Math, that even predicting how many people will be at the playoffs can be done with Math, the same child can become a voracious "natural" mathematician.

Learning IS natural. Learning IS fun. Learning IS work. But, then if it were easy, it wouldn't be worth doing. The chase is the attraction for many people. But there has to be a meaningful, attainable reward in the offing. When the reward is a simple piece of paper, or the opportunity to do more meaningless work for another piece of paper, it loses its appeal. The results of education must be significant, imperative and personal. They must involve amassing a personal interior treasure. More concrete rewards are helpful, but people want to be better than they were before, more able to do what they feel is important and enjoyable in their own lives. Building an arsenal of personal skills and tools to use in becoming better on a consistent basis is a powerful motivator, if those skills and tools can help in an already meaningful area of a person's life.

So, as students, parents and teachers, how do we approach this type of model? How can I, personally, take this understanding and make myself want to study what I am required to study? How can I find the "golden key" that will unlock that in my child, or in my students? One of the most important considerations is the student's own interests, natural learning disposition, and modalities.

In my tutoring, I actually evaluate my students, either formally or informally, to determine the best approach for each individual. I don't do "one size fits all" teaching. Each student has a plan of action custom-tailored to their needs, which can be adjusted and reworked over time, as the student changes and grows. I also allow my students to see precisely what I'm doing, I tell them why, I involve them in the many choices involved in the education process so that the control is in their own hands. No matter their age, they need to know why we proceed the way we do, where we are headed, and what rewards we are working for. Indeed, they are the ones who choose their path, based on their own desires for the future. No student goes into an educational situation wanting to be worse off than when they started. They wish to get closer to their ideal of the future they foresee for themselves. If I can find a way to get them there, and can get them involved in the planning and execution stages of it, they are happy to cooperate and work hard. By working with their own individuality, I can do this.

If you would like to have your learning style evaluated, regardless of your choice of tutors, please contact me for "Study Skills" tutoring! I will be happy to help. It may be the most productive hour you've ever spent on your - or your child's - education!

A Recommendation I Received for Sign Language Tutoring

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Theresa H.

To Whom it May Concern:

I am writing to recommend Theresa H. for the American Sign Language Tutoring position. I have known Theresa H. for almost two years, as a fellow parishioner, and ASL signer at St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Grand Prairie, Texas.

As someone who was raised by a deaf mother in Rochester, New York, I can affirm that Theresa has a strong command of the language and is very good at teaching it. We sign together at St. Michael's with another parishioner at Sunday evening mass, and it is amazing to see that when we are signing, some children in the congregation start to sign along, and she is willing to teach them a word or two after mass.

I have firm conviction that Theresa H. will be a perfect fit for this position.

Sincerely,

Christopher

*specifics available upon request to persons with current billing information

Earn a Higher Grade on Your Paper

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Theresa H.

Compelling Writing

When you are faced with writing a paper for a class, you have a choice to make. You can either simply fulfill the stated requirements of the assignment (BOR -ING!), or you can decide to have some fun and fulfill the stated requirements of the assignment. I prefer the latter of the two, and here’s why.

Teachers and professors who give writing assignments don’t do so to find out more about their subject. They’ve spent years of school doing just what you’re doing: writing endless, fact-filled papers. And now, they spend endless hours reading endless papers just like the ones they wrote when they were younger. Don’t get me wrong; they do like their subject. After all, it’s what they chose to major in, teach and research. However, after all those years and paper after paper of the same facts presented in the same way, it has to get a little bit tedious, even for those dedicated souls who are absolutely in love with their subjects.

My advice - advice that could mean the difference between an A+ and a B- - is to shake things up a little bit. You need to ask yourself how you can take the same old information and present it in such a way that the teacher finds her subject fascinating again. What can you tell your professor about his subject that he doesn’t already know? What viewpoint can you take that will look at the information in comparison or contrast to other information with which it is not normally paired?

For example, suppose my subject is The Globe Theatre. In a normal paper, I could state the facts about why it was built, when it was built, and by whom. I could bring in the major writers whose works were first presented there, and even speak of the reasons people went to the theatre in the Shakespearean days. (And, yes, it was usually a lot more than just to see the stage play!) With sufficient research and average writing skills, I would probably garner a grade of B. Respectable, but not excellent.

If, instead, I wrote a paper containing all the same facts, but written from the point of view of a groundling (one of those people standing in front of the stage because they couldn’t afford anything more than standing room) who had come to see a specific play and who dreamed of one day writing a play that would be performed on that stage, then it gets interesting for the reader. It becomes significant, imperative and personal. When you can make that happen, your grades go up, even with the same exact information.

Now, you have to make quite sure that this approach is permissible, because if the teacher only wants the boring type of papers and you throw them one of this sort, they can become miffed, but it’s perfectly allowable to ask if that type of approach would be acceptable. It can even whet their appetites for the finished product. This can easily result in the upward shift of your grade point average!

Another example of enhancing your paper is to find one or more facts, or even controversies relating to your topic. In a paper I once wrote on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, I theorized that Ophelia drowned herself because she found herself pregnant with Hamlet’s child. With her father and brother recently killed, and having been spurned by Hamlet himself, she was without a male protector. She would have faced a life of shame with no other option than to become a prostitute, an option even stated in Hamlet’s line: “Get thee to a nunnery,” a reference not to a convent, since England had broken ties with Rome and the Roman Catholic Church, but to a brothel. I theorized that since this was unacceptable to her, she committed suicide.

In this example, I was able not only to gloss over many other parts of the play that may not have been as interesting to me, such as the fight scenes and murders, and concentrate on things that were significant and personal to me as a woman.

Narrowing the focus of your topic in this way gives the instructor what he or she wants: information that can enhance them as a teacher to their students, and as a knowledgeable expert among other teachers. By giving them something interesting to discuss, even as a theory, with their peers, you add to their stature. They will be grateful, and it will show up in your grade, even if they don’t necessarily agree with you.

By taking a stance that might be unpopular, you can also improve your grade. In a paper I wrote for a US History class, I argued that, according to the Declaration of Independence, the Civil War was an act of aggression from occupying forces upon a people looking to establish their right of self-governance based upon their lifestyle. That is to say: according to the Declaration, the North had no right to prevent the Southern secession from the Union in order to establish a government that represented their needs and desires. This was not a popular view, and in light of the alternative in terms of human rights, not the morally acceptable view, but legally and politically, it was provable. And, using the Declaration of Independence, I debated the legal point and won.

This brings up a very trenchant point. You don’t need to present your own opinion in order to write an A paper. You simply need to present facts in such a way as to capture the attention and imagination of the reader. If you can do that, you will get the highest grade possible, given your writing skill set. Your B will become an A, your C, a B, and so forth.

Do practice vocabulary drills, be sure you spell-check everything, and get a friend or tutor to check your paper for fluidity, but keep in mind the things I have said here. To get a higher grade on a paper, be different. Write outside the normal parameters. Make it interesting, intriguing and thought-provoking. Take your reader to a different place than the same place they were when they started. If you can do this, then you have the ability to shift your writing grade upward every time.

For more help in writing your paper or thesis, contact me!