6th September 2012 12:57
By Blue Tutors
Don’t Try To Achieve Too Much
I’m thinking back to the best lessons I have taught and the best lessons where I have learned. They both have one thing in common; the lesson goal was really quite simple.
Often tutors, aware that they are being paid a fair amount for their time, try and cram in as much learning as possible to their weekly session. While this may be fine if you have a bright pupil, other pupils may find your lessons confusing.
One clear lesson goal - this week I want you to understand how to use a semi-colon and a colon - means that by the end of the lesson the pupil will most probably have learned this skill. If this skill is ‘learned’ too quickly, relying on short term memory for the understanding responses, it may have been left on the doorstep as the student left your house. Deeper understanding is worth its weight in gold in tutoring.
At the end of the lesson you really want to know that your student has learned one thing, for good, one thing that they will take away with them and use to their benefit in school work. After all, that’s all it’s about, improving schoolwork, improving grades, and if you do that everyone’s happy.