(Clive teaches Language Arts and History, Study Skills and Math through Geometry. He’s currently developing an Integrated 11th grade Language Arts/US History course at Pacific Learning Academy.)
Clive and one of his students
When we’re young, we do most of our learning in classrooms. This is doubly useful, because it can build a student’s social skills; the learning happens in a community. But what if the learning part isn’t happening in that space?
Learning of any kind requires feedback, an answer to the old and simple question: am I doing it right or am I doing it wrong? In the classroom, that feedback is usually given with grades. With that in mind, let me draw your attention to what I feel is the great benefit of the relationship between one good student and one good tutor: feedback is constant, and it’s constantly positive. I’m not just talking about encouraging words, I’m talking about a learning environment in which the student’s efforts are always met with a suggestion that is proactive and personalized. In the 1-on-1 environment, the student is encouraged to view their schoolwork in the personal terms of better or best, not the right or wrong of standardized tests.
I have never met a student who didn’t find this liberating. Students are more willing to ask questions, more apt to reflect on their learning styles and more open to suggestion when they are aware that time spent learning is time dedicated to building on their strengths. Sometimes students recognize this when they sit in a class of 30 or more, but often they do not. In the 1-on-1 learning environment, it is a fact that is impossible to ignore!
Pacific Learning Academy provides in-home private tutoring and high school academic courses in all subjects. They are Sammamish and Issaquah’s premier tutoring service and specialize in Math (through 2nd year Calculus) and Foreign Language (Spanish, French, Japanese).