What to Do About Bad Grades

courtesy of Leland Francisco 

It’s that time of the year again when some families have to deal with the reality of bad grades. Poor academic performance can put strain on your family. Your student may experience a drop in self-esteem and confidence which will only compound the problem. We believe that every student can learn, but each student learns differently. You have to find the learning style that suits your student’s ability and then provide them with the tools they need to succeed in academics.

Start at the beginning

Speak with your child and their teachers to ascertain the root of the problem. Perhaps social or behavioral issues are influencing academics, or perhaps your child is missing some important building blocks in their knowledge.

Teachers have full classes and very little time, so they assume that students have the foundations from previous grades that they will add onto. If your child has some gaps in their knowledge base, they will fall further behind each year.

Study Skills

Each child has a learning style and, while most teachers try to present information in a number of different ways, they may not be speaking the academic language your child understands. There are many tests available online which will help you to find out what kind of a learner your child is. Then you can help them to convert information into a format that is easy for them to understand.

Some students need to learn organizational and study skills. While most teachers do impart these skills in the lower grades, if your child doesn’t know how to organize their time, how to study effectively, how to write a good essay or how to summarize texts, their marks will not be a true reflection of their abilities.

Language skills

If your child does not excel in language arts, they may be underperforming on all their test. The ability to read and comprehend texts in a timely manner and then communicate effectively through writing are essential skills for students to succeed. Encouraging reading and working on writing skills may improve your child’s overall academic performance.

Consider a tutor

Tutors are a great way to get your child the help they need. Tutors can test your child to see what their learning style is. They can go back and find what building blocks are missing in your child’s knowledge and help them to understand the fundamentals.

 

Tutors should liaise with teachers to find the best solutions for your student. Working one-on-one with a tutor will avoid all the embarrassment or anxiety they feel in a classroom environment and their self-confidence will improve too.

Tutors can teach students the study and organizational skills they need to be great independent learners.

 

The summer vacation presents a unique opportunity to give your child a jump start on the new academic year. Summer tutoring need not take up much of their time, but it will help them to catch up and build confidence to face a new academic year without the anxiety that they usually associate with academics.

 

7 Great Summer Reads for High School Students

From relevant to hilarious, this reading list contains a wealth of interesting books for high school students.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

This book, written in 1932, looks at Huxley’s vision of the future. Thanks to psychological engineering, people have been genetically bred to be passive and therefore useful to the ruling class. This book presents not only a wonderful world of imaginative genius, it also sheds a poignant light on the present. This is considered to be Huxley’s masterpiece and a great read for the curious mind.

The Cider House Rules by John Irving

Dr. Wilbur Larch is the director at St. Cloud’s orphanage in Maine. When his protégé, Homer Wells, takes the reins from the physician, the harsh realities of life in the 1920s and 30s takes its toll on the young doctor. This is a very touching novel and a story about love and loss that examines the grander themes of life.

Swords for Hire, Two of the Most Unlikely Heroes you’ll ever Meet by Will Allen

16 year old Sam Hatcher and his friend, en eccentric royal guard, aren’t exactly what you would call conventional heroes. But when the king is captured by his evil brother and imprisoned in a dungeon, they are the only ones who can rescue him.

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

When she is just sixteen, Mattie Gokey has to take a job at the Glenmore Hotel where a guest, Grace Brown, asks her to burn a stack of secret letters. But when Grace’s body is pulled from the lake, Mattie discovers that the letters hold the clues that could reveal who committed the murder.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Government agencies are genetically engineering a race of child geniuses in order to develop ways to protect the earth from invasion by a hostile alien race. Andrew ‘Ender’ Wiggin is one of these children who is taken from his parents and drafted into military training at a very young age. Beset with sibling rivalry, isolation and pressure from adult teachers, Ender must overcome his fears to help save the world.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Arthur Dent is having a very bad day. When he wakes up to discover that his house is about to be demolished to make way for a new highway he thinks his world is coming to an end. He couldn’t be more right as his friend, Ford Prefect explains that Earth is about to be blown to smithereens by a battle cruiser. Ford manages to hitch a ride moments before earth is destroyed and he and Arthur begin an epic hitchhiking adventure to the end of the universe.

The Exploding Toilet by David Holt and Bill Mooney

This interesting book explores the best modern day urban legends. These juicy tales aren’t only scintillating, they also teach an important lesson on how to think critically about the stories people tell. A great book for the reluctant reader.

Tutor Doctor on Bloomberg News

Watch the video here

Tutor Doctor’s Vice President of International Franchise Development, Rogelio Martinez was invited to Bloomberg News' headquarters in Manhattan to interview with Pimm Fox from “Talking Stock”. Fox takes a look at what Tutor Doctor franchises offer their clients and why the company is enjoying so much success.
Bloomberg Television is a 24-hour financial news television network and is one of the most influential business and finance news channels in the world. From its studio in Manhattan it broadcasts via satellite or cable TV to 5 continents and has about 7 million viewers each month.
“Taking Stock” is a program of business interviews and financial news analysis broadcast daily on Bloomberg Radio & Bloomberg Television. Presenter Pimm Fox works with guest representatives and financial experts to conduct in-depth discussions of industry and market trends. Fox has interviewed numerous business chiefs and investment gurus including Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett.
Tutor Doctor has over 15,000 tutors in 15 countries and they are affiliated with the National Tutor Association. These tutors are managed by 220 franchisees who control 400 territories. Franchisees are generally people who want to own their own businesses and don’t need a background in education; only a desire to make a difference.
In this interview, Martinez explains about the outstanding growth of Tutor Doctor worldwide, competitive advantages, tutor training, franchisee backgrounds and more. Fox also makes reference of a recent study projecting the global private tutoring sector to surpass $102.8 billion by 2018.
The interview starts by exploring Tutor Doctor’s unique, personalized, in-home tutoring service. Since very few students will actually work at the pace of the class, some will fall behind and others will get bored as the pace is too slow. In both cases, poor grades may cause anxiety and damage self-esteem. Tutor Doctor helps students to achieve their academic goals in the comfort of their homes and works at the pace set by the student’s abilities.
Tutor Doctor is unique in that it provides tutoring for school-age children, adults and seniors. In fact, people of all ages can rely on Tutor Doctor to help them achieve academic success.
Tutors are caring and compassionate and all go through rigorous training provided by Tutor Doctor. They have to pass an online interview and a personal interview as well as a background check which means that Tutor Doctor provides families with tutors who are caring and qualified. The training helps each tutor to recognize your student’s learning style so that they can present information in the best way.
Start with a free consultation by an educational consultant to determine the exact needs of the student as well as the aspirations of the family. Tutors then work with the student, teacher and parents on a plan that will cover short-, medium- and long-term goals. Parents receive regular updates on student’s progress.