When I was at teacher training college for a year after university, the most instructive day – and there weren’t many – was the day I followed a pupil all day long.
A wee guy who came from a poor background, he had crisps and coke for breakfast and ate rubbish all day long.
He was ill-prepared: no homework, no jotters, no pen – his life was chaotic to say the least.
But most importantly for me was witnessing the way he was treated by teacher after teacher: every single teacher was on his back in every lesson.
He didn’t have a kind word from one teacher all day.
Not one teacher started the lesson ‘fresh’ with him, they were harping on about his behaviour the day before, his general lack of work, his attitude …
It was a real lesson for me on the importance of looking at the pupil afresh every day and thinking about how their day had gone /was going – and just, well the importance of a kind word.
And that was the day I learned the most.
If you’re an online tutor in the How to Tutor Online Facebook Group you’ll already have seen the video of a High School Principal following a student for the day and what she learned from it. It’s here
Have you done something similar, Does your school do anything like this?
As online tutors where we truly are tutoring face-to-face we do well when we read our pupils, their body language, their facial expressions and truly see their struggles with our subject.
Yay online tutoring!
THIS WEEK I’VE BEEN … this is a new section where I’ll share what I’m doing in the online tutoring world
- Installing an SSL certificate on my website – if you accept money online you really should have one, otherwise a site insecure message flashes up
- Creating a Linkedin Business Page – Here’s why you need one – they’re easy to create, you can have followers on them , search engines love them so you’ll have more visibility.
- I started using Last Pass for all those pesky passwords I forget every single day – I’ve given up on my trusty filing box I keep to hand -this is sooo much easier. Have a look.
- Looking into GDPR for tutors online – that’s General Data Protection Regulation. This is a yawn for sure and a complicated yawn at that. Stay tuned and I’ll keep us all right.
Oh and to find out how Michelle Obama can teach your students or you for that matter how to improve your writing, have a look at my new Pass Higher English Blog Post
Online teaching is all the best bits without the bad bits. Like you’ve made up your own dream job.
I’ve got a FREE Masterclass showing you how I’ve done just that – it’s here
