Tutor Organization Series: A Tutor's Guide To Organising Your Tutoring Curriculum

I'm super excited to reveal that this post is part of a tutor organization series brought to you by some of the world's top tutoring experts: Adrianne Meldrum (of The Tutor House) and Amy (of Tutors Nirvana). 

As a tutor the prospect of getting organised can seem incredibly daunting. Thoughts like 'how do I plan a lesson?' ' how do I get organised?' and 'how do I keep track of all of my materials?' are likely to run through your mind.

Getting your tutoring curriculum organised isn't just something that's important for new tutors who are just starting out, it's also pertinent for experienced tutors who've been teaching for several months or even years.

People might assume that tutors are naturally quite organised (and yes, most of us are) but getting organised isn't that easy. Today, I'll be sharing some of my most loved tips on this very topic. Buckle up and get ready to take notes! 

How to organise your tutoring curriculum

Firstly, it's important to schedule regular time within your schedule specifically for the purpose of getting organised. Ideally, tutors should spend at least 1 day of each week focusing on planning and preparation as this maximises your chances of being able to handle almost any situation.

One thing that I do is that I have a tutoring diary where I write everything down including lesson plans, expenses and my tutoring schedule. It's pivotal to pick one book, notepad or diary that's used for organising your schedule.

Subject Maps

Once you have a tutoring diary and you have a good idea of your schedule, the next step is to write down what subjects you teach (include all of them- even the ones you teach less frequently) and to then map out a topic plan for each subject.

For instance, if you teach English to primary school students (students under 11 years of age) you might want to cover topics like spelling, grammar, punctuation and creative writing. Once you've mapped out the main topics for each subject, create a new map that highlights all of the topics within that subject, for instance, if you teach English you might break down 'grammar' into sub-topics like prepositions and nouns.

Once you've created these two subject maps, you'll have a much clearer idea of what topics you'll cover during your lessons. Now, I'm sure you're thinking, 'what if the student doesn't need to learn  a topic that I've written down?' That's perfectly fine- you can tweak or amend the subject map whenever you like so that it meets the needs of your students. If you have time, you could even create a subject map for each student you have.

The key is to remember to prioritise organisation in your schedule and give lesson planning greater attention.

In terms of keeping a track of your tutoring files and books, I strongly suggest getting a filing cabinet so that you can file your resources in order of subject/age/student. This makes things so much easier and allows you to easily pick up files without having to worry about where they are. Quite simply, a filing cabinet is a god-send for any tutor who's serious about going pro.

There are also a few more things you can do to stay organised such as:

Arranging books in order of need. In other words, keep the books and resources that you're most likely to need soon in areas that are easy to reach so that you don't have to spend hours looking for them.

Have a file box that contains resources and learning materials that you use most often. Keep materials that you don't desperately need in a filing cabinet and label them so that you know where they are.

Motivate yourself to stay organised by incorporating things you like. For instance, I love all things vintage. To motivate myself to stay organised, I treat myself (on occasion) to vintage inspired stationary. There's something about seeing a pretty vintage notepad, diary, book or organisational resource that gets me excited about staying organised. Could you do the same and incorporate something you love?

Important things to know before starting a dissertation

During the dissertation hand-in day, all students feel stressed out about the achievement of these important papers that have resulted from an exhausting crusade of researching, structuring and writing. For me, more than one year has passed after my fist encounter with the Undergraduate Dissertation Handbook and I still remember how I felt my heart trembling with the thought of the massive amount of work that was in front of me. Now that that stressful episode of my life has passed, I am beginning to identify the things that would be very beneficial for me if I was aware of them back then.

This article will provide useful tips to those who are currently working on their dissertations or will start working on them soon.

You need the best supervisor!

If you have been assigned to work with a supervisor who doesn’t provide effective recommendations or is unresponsive, you need to make a change. Don’t be afraid to ask for a change because if you don’t get the right advice, you won’t use your best potential and you will deliver mediocre work.

There should be a valid reason for making a switch and the request should be made early in the process. You don’t have to look for the best expert on the topic you are developing. What you need is a supervisor who will always be reassuring, reliable, approachable and detailed in their feedback. During the process of developing your dissertation, you will have some weird questions that will require email correspondence. Your supervisor should always be there for you, no matter how important those questions are.

Prepare for an unimpressed environment

When you start preparing yourself for the dissertation, your friends, family and all known and unknown people will start asking what you will be writing about. When it comes to dissertations, people always expect for impressive answers and you won’t be able to impress the environment in the early stage of the process. You should be prepared for some discouraging looks of disappointment and confusion, but you must not be affected by that kind of feedback. You should be aware that most people expect some dramatic answers when they ask about the topic of your dissertation, such as genocide, war and revolutionary ideas. After all, they are not the ones working on the dissertation and if you feel confident about your topic and you are interested in developing it further, make sure to stay positive about it.

Never ask your friends about the amount of work they have done. This would only stress you out and make you paranoid, or it would make them paranoid. Arrange your time effectively according to your own research and writing abilities, not according to others’ schedules.

Prepare for the freak out phase

During the dissertation development process, you will certainly experience a phase during which you will doubt the entire thesis and you will wish to leave everything behind and start from zero point. This usually occurs a couple of months before the ultimate deadline. The decision to start over is justified only if your mentor recommends you to do so because of some serious flaws in your work (which is a highly improbable scenario). You have to be aware that it is normal to panic, but you must keep focused and that stage of insecurity will pass.

Staying focused: Final tips

Don’t be disappointed by the fact that a lot of the early material will have to be edited out from the final version of the dissertation. Don’t be inclined into including all possible ideas that you have, because that would disturb the flow of the dissertation and make it look pointless.

Be prepared for a lot of printing! This may take a large portion of your weekly budget, so make sure to print only the necessary files and try using the free services of your friends and relatives during this process.

Writing a dissertation is a serious process that requires an immense amount of work and devotion, which means that you will have to put it on the first place, in front of other essay demands, sport commitments and social life in general. Even if you are extremely organized, you will have to go a step further and make more detailed plans of your time, without leaving any space for deadline panicking attacks!

Don’t be afraid of all the work in front of you because finishing your dissertation will definitely be one of the best experiences in your life. Every single atom of effort is worth for this important piece of work, so make sure to do everything in order to make yourself proud at the end of the process.

This is a guest post by Lois Weldon. Louis is a writer at uk.bestdissertation.com. She lives happily in London with her husband and daughter. She adores writing tips for students and is passionate about Star Wars and yoga.

11 Plus Intensive Course

11 plus intensive course

Many parents have asked about the possibility of me organising an intensive 11 plus course this year.

After some contemplation I realised that an intensive course would be a brilliant idea because it enables students to learn both independently and with other students. Furthermore, it allows students to compare their progress with that of other students who'll be taking the same exams.

This year was the first year where I taught more group tuition lessons and I discovered quite quickly that group tuition is excellent because it enables students to learn from each other. For instance, I had two students who were both preparing for 11+ exams at very competitive private and grammar schools. I realised that where one student was weak, the other was strong and vice versa. It therefore made perfect sense to teach them simultaneously because it enabled them to identify their own strengths and observe how the other student approached certain questions.

The result of this particular group tuition was that both students were offered places at the schools they'd applied for. One was offered a very generous scholarship for one of the best private schools in London. Without having studied together I doubt both students would have done as well as they did.

This experience really opened by eyes to the benefits of group tuition and intensive courses and now I'm a huge advocate of them.

If your child is preparing for the 11+ exams, I highly recommend considering enrolling them in an intensive or group course like the one I'm holding. My course starts on the 19th of August and parents have the option of having their child partake in either one or two weeks of the course. I strongly recommend two weeks because we'll be thoroughly preparing the children for the exams and we'll teach them more or less everything they need to know about them.

For more information on the 11+ intensive courseclick here. Places are limited and from the looks of it, spaces will probably be sold out very quickly. I therefore recommend booking your child's place now.

After booking, I'll send you a confirmation email as well as further details about the course such as information on the venue and location etc.

Homeschooling 101: The Benefits of Online Tutoring

Considering the number of assignments students need to take care of during a term, it sometimes becomes quite important for them to seek a professional's assistance who would teach them a bit about time management and help them understand different concepts. That's when most students consider making use of online tutoring services.

Sometimes, students choose tutoring services on their own; on other occasions, parents take this responsibility to ensure that their kids don't have to struggle with a particular area of learning. Whatever the case, it is a fact that online tutoring offers numerous benefits that play a big role in improving students' learning abilities. Here is a bit more about different benefits associated with online tutoring.

• Live Interaction is probably the most impressive benefit associated with online tutoring. Many people have always been against of 'distance learning' models because they believe that it keeps students from enjoying the benefits that are associated with face-to-face interaction. Considering the use of modern technologies in online tutoring, it has become possible for tutors to interact with each student. Not only can tutors interact with students, but students can also communicate and share ideas with other students. Moreover, the use of video and voice conferencing software has made it easier and quicker to communicate with tutors.

• Online tutoring is often more beneficial as compared to traditional tutoring because students have easy access to a large variety of resources. Students can interact with each others using multimedia resources, and, at the same time, they can make use of the wealth of informative and educational materials available online.

• You don't have to go through a lot of hassle to find a qualified tutor for yourself. Even parents can conduct a simple search online and shortlist a few tutors. Here, it becomes easier to find a specialist who could teach a particular subject with authority. This is usually quite difficult when you have to go out and hire a tutor to come to your house for regular visits.

• Online tutoring is available in different forms, and anyone can use them as per their needs and budget constraint. For instance, some students are good in math or English, but they sometimes need help to understand a particular topic. It means they don't need regular tutoring, but they simply need a professional to help them learn a few important concepts. That's where you can go online and hire a tutor for a couple of hours or sessions. You don't have to continue with tutoring once you have completely understood a topic.

• Yet another impressive benefit of online tutoring is that different service providers have tutors available 24/7 – they are qualified but are from different countries, so someone is always there to help. What it means is that students don't have to work as per a tutor's schedule, but they can start a tutoring session whenever they are free in the day. Similarly, some students are comfortable studying at night, but they cannot enjoy this luxury in traditional tutoring model – online tutoring is just what doctor ordered for them.

• The biggest benefit of online tutoring is that though you will have qualified tutors to learn from, you will be able to study without having to leave your home, or the comfort of familiar surroundings. For some students, it's difficult to study when they leave their study room or go to a new location. It is a fact that your learning abilities improve when you are comfortable and your mind is at ease, which is why it sometimes become difficult to study in unfamiliar surroundings. This will not be a problem with online tutoring. You can study from exactly where you are, and a tutor will deliver lectures online.

There is absolutely no doubt about the fact that online tutoring enjoys a growing record of facilitating long-lasting learning with a number of interesting benefits – both logistical and educational – over traditional tutoring and face-to-face education. The only thing you need to bear in mind is that these benefits of online tutoring will come your way if you take your time and conduct some research before selecting a service provider. Make sure you opt for an experienced company where they have qualified tutors for one-to-one assistance.

This is a guest post by Sonia Jackson. Sonia writes for the Australian web-site http://www.essay-bag.com which provides well-written and quality essays and research papers for college and university students.