Friday, February 7, 2014
Direct one-on-one learning
I tutor students in grades 5, 6, and 7 in mathematics. I provide one-on-one direct instruction. I have questioned whether or not what I am doing is helping the students. The other day I left school feeling like I just may have made a difference. This history: I've been working with students struggling with learning their times tables. As much as I want to tell them to just go home and memorize the table, like I was told to do in my much younger years, I can not. We've been running some drills, playing games, running patterns, and learning strategies. Week after week I leave school wondering 'is this helping'? Finally, after weeks of trying, my students are progressing! I even had another teacher tell me that what I'm doing is making a big difference in their classroom performance! From what I've been told the students really enjoy coming to learn with me. They appreciate the one-on-one instruction I provide and how I listen to them. I listen to their ideas of how they think they learn best, they listen to my suggestions on how we can advance those strategies. My students have learned from me and I have learned from my students. I owe them so much more than they could ever know! As I have been preparing them for the EQAO, they have prepared me for a teaching position where I will have students are varying learning levels. With my students' help, I feel better prepared for adjusting my teaching strategies and styles than I did when I came out of teacher's college. I sincerely thank my students. You have made a lasting impression in my life.
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There is nothing like one to one learning for a teacher and for students. Students rarely get that one to one time with a teacher and it really makes all of the difference in the world, especially in the primary, junior and even intermediate level. I have been trying to schedule 5 minute blocks where kids know they will get a turn to talk to me and it has made a big difference. When you build trust and a bond with a student it really helps their effort level. It also gives you such great insight into what they are interested in and it can help you find ways to motivate them. After a few 5 minute blocks with students I often end up finding news articles or video clips about something they told me. Then when it is writing time I slip the article into their journal with a note saying "read this over and tell me what you think". Or I'll let them watch the clip on the computer and then put a similar not in their journal. I have gotten some great pieces of writing back and I'm sure it is because of the time spent getting to know them. It is just too bad that we don't get more time to focus on individuals.
ReplyDeleteI am happy for you, Andrena. This is indeed a wonderful feeling. I experienced it too. While tutoring students I felt incredibly happy when I realized that my work brought some good results. Although there was a monetary compensation I felt truly happy only when I knew that my student received higher marks.
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