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| U.S. Department of Education |
While poor test scores and bad grades are
an obvious indicator that your student needs help, there are many other
instances in which a tutor can really help your child to learn the skills they
need to be confident, independent, successful learners.
The most important factor in determining
whether your student could benefit from a tutor is communication; speak with
them about the kinds of help a tutor can offer and speak with your child’s
teacher too.
Building
Confidence
Not being top of the class can cause
students to feel less confident. This, in turn, could seriously affect their
performance in class. When students lack confidence, they tend not to ask or
answer questions in class. The teacher may overlook quieter students and they
won’t participate in class and group activities with as much enthusiasm which
will affect their academic performance over time.
Executive
Skills
More than any other assets like
intelligence and talent, executive skills determine the success of a student.
The ability to organize time, prioritize tasks and memorise data is key to
academic performance. If you know that your child is smart, but they don’t
study, have trouble focussing, often don’t hand in work or fail to study for
exams, they may need some help with their executive skills.
Teaching executive skills early on will
ensure that they are able to handle their workload in later grades and at
college. While they should get some training in executive skills at school,
large class sizes mean teachers just don’t have time to teach these skills.
A one-on-one teacher who specializes in
executive skills can help your child to organize their time and carefully plan
so that they leave enough time to complete assignments and study for exams.
Learning studying and memorizing skills will also help to minimize time spent
studying.
Honing these skills should reduce the daily
homework hassles and minimize frantic morning searches for lost homework or
forgetting assignments.
Academic
Foundations
Each student will have gaps in their academic
foundations which get compounded as they move through their school careers.
Each new grade builds on the last and teachers don’t have the time to go back
and explain work that has already been covered. When your child gets one-on-one
tutoring, their tutor is able to start at the beginning and work through the
academic foundations to find gaps and fill them.
Better
Grades
Students with great grades need tutors too,
especially if they have schools, scholarships or programs they want to qualify
for. If you have a talented student that has started to struggle, chances are
that they are just bored. When gifted students get bored, they tend to stop
paying attention in class and don’t work as hard because they aren’t
challenged. When this happens, their grades suffer and they may miss important
opportunities.
Whether your child is bored or they want to
turn their A into an A+, you can trust a one-on-one tutor to help them to
excel. Your tutor can work with teachers to find extra, more challenging work
for your child to take on.
