Paul's Tutoring Blog

When interviewing a prospective tutor, parents should ask about the tutor's skills and experience, and find out if the tutor truly enjoys teaching. When the tutor feels enthusiastic about the subject, and communicates well, the student has an opportunity to learn to enjoy the subject too.

I recommend for parents to observe the first lesson to see the tutor's skills in action, and watch/listen carefully to future lessons when possible, to make sure the tutor has an encouraging, supportive attitude at all times. (Tutors should welcome and respond positively to the child's questions, and NEVER...

Congratulations to Scott W for passing all of your classes and getting very good grades, in even the very challenging subjects!

We've been told that each student tends to have a dominant learning style. In my experience, I would say that the Visual-Dominant Learning Style is most common (#1), then the Auditory Learning Style (#2), and then the Tactile or Kinetic Learning Style (#3).

Some teachers seem to love talking a lot, so their students may get 90% of more of their information in the Auditory form. That is not good for some students. Other teachers and professors like to "put it all on the board," and let students do their own note-taking, and draw their own conclusions. There are some "teachers" who do not...

Congratulations to MADISON for her dedication and good grades in her challenging business classes. Madison, we're proud of you for doing a great job--it looks like you're going to get A's and B's in all of your classes. Since you are taking some very challenging subjects, passing them all and getting good grades is a praiseworthy accomplishment on your part!

Congratulations to CHRIS, for getting A's in some very challenging business courses. You are taking a heavy load of classes, plus you have other multiple responsibilities. You deserve a lot of credit for your good work in your Information Systems, Financial Accounting II, Management, and other classes. You're headed for success. Keep up the good work!

Congratulations to Niesha for getting an "A" on her Operations Management final exam. That was a challenging class, and I know you worked hard for your good grades. I am so proud of you for your dedication and resulting success. Keep up the good work, and before you know it, you will be graduating!

I'm sure you've noticed this--For some reason teenagers in general, especially young men, tend to "resist" when their mothers ask them to do something. Even when they do obey, they seem to have an attitude of "dragging their feet" sometimes....It might be a subconscious part of growing up. I'm not sure why, but I do remember feeling that way when I was a teenager too.

So sometimes it really helps to have a coach or tutor or someone else do the "pushing" that is needed. (And it can give moms a break, so they don't have to be the only ones doing all the pushing...Moms, you deserve a break...

Congratulations to BEN for passing all of his classes, and getting good grades! Ben, we're proud of you!

As you may know, I am a big fan of the well-known author and brain specialist, Dr. Daniel Amen. He mentions in several of his books that Physical Exercise is good for the brain. I have read of research studies that showed a clear correlation between IMPROVEMENT in students' test scores in math and science, and their level of physical activity (for example, when math class followed PE class, the students had significantly higher scores). Maybe we should schedule PE before all math classes in our schools. What do you think about that idea?

This morning I read an online article on the myhealthnewsdaily...

Even the best teachers are not perfect. Thinking back to my own experience with my previous teachers, I realize that some of them had a bad day now and then. Or maybe I was the one having a bad day. In either case, it seems that most classrooms have some distractions* from time to time. Once I got "off track" during a lesson, it was really hard to catch up.

*Examples of distractions include situations where other students are moving or making noises, my own worries about friends or school, family concerns, being hungry, needing to go to the restroom, looking for a pen or pencil, or needing...