The Tutor.com Blog

HOMEWORK!  HELP! is a blog series for parents written by Tutor.com’s Vice President of Instruction, Joan Rooney. Follow the posts and stay tuned for more tips on surviving the homework wars with your kids this school year!

We all lead busy lives.  It’s hard to squeeze in the learning our children are supposed to do such as homework and studying, never mind additional activities that challenge our young learners.  Sometimes assignments can be more fun when the entire family participates.  Here are a few tips to motivate your kids to keep learning even when the school day is over. 

Word Play

Does your younger child have sight words to learn? Is an older child working on vocabulary?  Try posting words on colorful post-it notes around the house for younger children.  Post vocabulary words for older children and for the family.  Older children love to challenge their younger siblings. Can you stump each other with a new vocabulary word a week?  Who can use that word in the funniest sentence?

 Tell me what you are reading?

Is that a good book?  I’ve always wanted to read that book, do you like it?  Showing an interest in what your children are reading and doing so in a genuinely curious way communicates that you value reading and you value your children’s opinions.   There is an added benefit too.  Discussing books or articles encourages us all to think critically and analytically about the work which reinforces learning and understanding.

Math problem of the Month

Word problems are often challenging for students of all ages.  Post a math problem on the refrigerator and let the entire family figure it out. At a minimum it may be encouraging for younger students to see their older siblings and parents grappling with how long it takes those trains that are leaving and arriving at various stations at different times to finally get to their destinations!   If you want to challenge your children, check out Bedtime Math.  This is a free service that will email you a math challenge every day.  They even break it down for younger and older students.

We’d love to hear from you.  What do you do with your family to make learning more fun?

School Districts working on Race to the Top District (RTTT-D) applications know that a key component is personalized learning environments that prepare students for college and careers. As a leader in personalized, one-to-one learning that improves student achievement and teacher learning, Tutor.com is a strong partner that can give your school district’s plan a distinct edge.

Districts that work with Tutor.com get custom, personalized learning environments specific to their students’ needs and instructional tools and support for teachers. Here’s how we support the RTTT-D requirements:

• College and Career Readiness: Tutor.com custom programs provide individual student data that tracks each student’s progress. We supplement reporting with training and ongoing program support for students.

• Pursue Rigorous Coursework: Several schools have selected Tutor.com to customize an AP program for their students. Students find that access to individual support focused on their needs throughout the school year help them learn faster and be successful in the most challenging courses. In a survey of 1,000 high school students, 86% said they’d be more likely to take AP courses if they had access to Tutor.com.

• Improve teaching and leading: Tutor.com com offers MyLivePD™ Online Coaching Service. This is the only live, online professional development program that has been proven to make an immediate impact on student learning. 90% of teachers connecting to Tutor.com’s instructional coaches reported they used the information within one week in their classrooms. This level of support accelerates teachers’ learning allowing them to implement new practices successfully and adapt content for different student learning styles.

Tutor.com has been creating customized learning programs for more than a decade for school districts,  statewide after-school homework help programs and 24/7 academic support for U.S. Military Families through the  Department of Defense.

Learn more about how we can support our RTTT-D application by joining a free webinar on Wednesday, October 3^rd from 2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. ET. Rachel Vessey Gibson, Whiteboard Advisors will address how districts can best position themselves to win Race to the Top for Districts grants. Ms. Gibson served as the Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Department of Education where she developed and implemented Race to the Top policies.

If you are interested in speaking with Tutor.com about how we can be your partner in personalized learning for your RTTT-D application, contact us today at educate@tutor.com.

By Joan Rooney, Tutor.com’s Vice President of Instruction

The educational world has increasingly looked to neuroscience to expand our knowledge on what actually happens in the brain when students learn. Learning involves growing brain connections. Some key points are:

• Learners need to be able to connect new information to something they already know. In other words, new material must connect to existing “material” in the brain.
• Learners who engage with the material are more likely to retain that information.
• Use it or lose it – it’s true.
• The more ways something is learned, the more memory pathways are built.

What are the ramifications of these ideas for our work with students?

Our goal is to encourage and support the student in understanding and seeing the relevance of the concept with which he or she is struggling. We encourage our students to relate this material to something they already know, whether that be a similar type of problem, concept or life experience.
We also engage the student with the learning by asking open-ended questions such as:

• What do you think we are trying to solve here?
• Why do you think you should take that step?
• What do you think would happen if…,
• What if we looked at it this way?
• How could we test your idea, solution, theory?

Each time the student articulates information about the topic, the student is reflecting and processing information. This is a good thing!

We also use all of the tools at our disposal to help the student. Drawings and diagrams on the whiteboard, chat, the use of web resources with pictures, manipulatives, varying colors – any of these might resonate with the student’s particular style of learning.

HOMEWORK!  HELP! is a blog series for parents written by Tutor.com’s Vice President of Instruction, Joan Rooney. Follow the posts and stay tuned for more tips on surviving the homework wars with your kids this school year!

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

We have a goal. We decided that this year is going to be different. No more worries and tantrums, handwringing and all-nighters around homework. Although I believe in the power of positive thinking, I also agree with Antoine de Saint-Exupery that a goal without a plan is a wish.  So how do we convert that wish into reality? We need a plan.

Planning is essential for homework management. The two key components of a homework plan are “when” and “where”. Once you have nailed these down, both you and your student are on your way to homework sanity.

The When

Ideally, homework should be done when the mind is relatively fresh and when your student has time available on a regular basis. When something is “on the schedule” it tends to get done. Homework needs to be scheduled and every effort should be made to adhere to that schedule.

Does your child tend to do his or her best thinking right after school or perhaps during school hours?  Does he or she fade as the daylight decreases? Or is your student more likely to need to participate in some physical activity or have a break after school and then feel refreshed and ready to work after dinner? Are there enough available hours in study hall, after school locations or after dinner that meet your student’s patterns?

Once you figure out the best time blocks, put them on the schedule. There are many options. You can use a  colorful wall calendar or whiteboard at home for younger children and cell phone or other electronic calendars for older children. If your child is into mobile apps, there is an app called myHomework that allows kids to enter their assignments and due dates as well as their classes and schedules. If you want to receive reminders of the assignments, there is an annual charge of $1.99.   

Older children will want to manage their assignments themselves and it is good to encourage this behavior. However, if your child has had difficulty in the past keeping track of assignments and due dates and is unlikely to keep up with an online assignment program, you may want to establish check-in times to make sure that the assignments are being tracked. Also consider a reward system. This could be as simple as making a favorite dinner or treat or some families contribute to a special fund for a treasured item such as a new cell phone. Money is put in each week an assignment is completed on schedule.  

The Where

As is the case with time, having a regularly scheduled place where homework is completed is an important basic which can easily be captured on the schedule. Mondays 10 to 11 and 2-3, study hall; Tuesdays 3 to 5 at kitchen table and so on.  

Homework is a scheduled activity just like soccer and doctor’s appointments. Everyone needs to know when and where these activities will take place. 

What’s your plan for getting homework done this year? We want to know!  Just tell us in the comments section.

–

As our VP of Instruction, Joan Rooney oversees staffing and instruction for Tutor.com’s 2,500-plus tutors and coaches. Joan, a former classroom teacher, is a passionate educator who has been quoted in Parenting Magazine, Redbook and Woman’s Day providing tips for parents and teachers on how to better engage students in and out of the classroom and on and off the computer.

HOMEWORK!  HELP! is a blog series for parents written by Tutor.com’s Vice President of Instruction, Joan Rooney. Follow the posts and stay tuned for more tips on surviving the homework wars with your kids this school year!

The calendar turns to August. The Back to School ads appear. And that feeling of dread starts in your chest cavity and radiates up and down your frame. Tranquil summer evenings will soon give way to… the Homework Wars!

You picture every night, rushing home from work, trying to get dinner prepared, served and done by 7:30 so that there will still be time. Will this be a night free of angst and struggle or will the math, or science, or Shakespeare demons wreak their havoc with your children?

Maybe this year could be different.

Parents often feel somewhat at the mercy of schools, teachers and homework assignments. One thing you have on your side is that you know your child. You know their personalities. You know if they will  find the time and complete their assignments on their own or if they could use some structure to help them. You know their interests, likes and dislikes. You know if they will spend hours on science but leave writing a literary analysis of Silas Marner till the last second. You know their psyches. You know if they feel comfortable stopping when they get stuck  or  if they are fragile spirits who lack confidence and may tend to get quickly frustrated. And you know that your child is always growing and changing. Knowing your child is your secret weapon in the homework wars.

Take some time before the start of the school year to think about how your child typically deals with homework.  Identify one or two ways in which your child struggles with homework and one or two ways in which you might help him or her focus on their strengths and take steps to address their challenges.

During the first week of school, set aside time to have a conversation with them about homework. “We had a few challenges with homework last year. How do you think things will go this year?” Wait for a response. You are encouraging your student to take the first step in taking control of the homework situation. S/he may have some excellent suggestions.

If no suggestions are forthcoming or if the conversation does not go the way you had planned, try proposing an idea that you balance with a success. “You seemed to have no problem last year with math (or short term assignments or reading or…) but you had a few challenges with English. What if you (or for younger students, “we”) form a study group for English, or always start with your English assignment so you get it out of the way first, or create a calendar for yourself  to plan out the work so that you don’t get stuck at the last minute, or set up a regular meeting with the teacher to make sure you stay on track? Which of those ideas do you think would help?”

By providing choices, you provide a measure of control for your student. They cannot control what the assignment is or how much work they will be given, but they can control how they will respond.

This year really can be different.

–

As our VP of Instruction, Joan Rooney oversees staffing and instruction for Tutor.com’s 2,500-plus tutors and coaches. Joan, a former classroom teacher, is a passionate educator who has been quoted in Parenting Magazine, Redbook and Woman’s Day providing tips for parents and teachers on how to better engage students in and out of the classroom and on and off the computer.  

We are constantly impressed with the kids we encounter on a day to day basis. Whether they are taking the initiative to figure out tonight’s homework in a Tutor.com session, being awesomely creative by producing mock-movie trailers, or winning awards by bringing us a step closer to curing cancer. They are all inspiring in their own way and we know they are headed for great things. That’s why we’re so excited to highlight International Youth Day which takes place this Sunday, August 12^th.

We’ve gathered a few resources below that encourage teens to get involved, get passionate, and make changes in their communities. Check them out and let us know how it works out!

DoSomething.org – This organization is passionate about teens. They believe they have the power to lead and do great things independently. DoSomething does many campaigns every year that range from encouraging recycling in your community to ending bullying at your school. If you’re passionate about a cause Do Something will have the resources to help you get started. They are giving away $600,000 in grants for teen projects in 2012!

NationalPublicLandsDay.org – National Public Lands Day is our nation’s largest volunteer event held over a single day. If you are passionate about the environment and want to put in some work at the parks around you then this is the site to check out. From clean-up to planting new flowers, there are events happening at sites across the country. Search your home zip code to find the closest event to you.

Social.un.org – Want to get involved but not quite sure how to start? The UN is hosting International Youth Day 2012 Google+Hangouts. You can learn about different issues that range from citizenship, to education, to employment issues. Stop by the hangout see what is being said and maybe you’ll be inspired!

What are you doing to build a better tomorrow?

Online tutoring is about people. And the technology is cool too.

Education technology has taken on many different forms in the classroom. Over the past year more schools have adopted iPad programs and more teachers have experimented with social media tools to engage their students. Video is taking on a larger role too especially with the introduction of Kahn Academy. Interactive content is great, but oftentimes you need real help from a real, live person.

The Internet helped us change the medium, but the ancient practice of one-to-one tutoring remains the same. With Tutor.com, your tutor doesn’t have to live close by or come to your house every week—geography and time don’t matter. Our community of 2,500 tutors working online means that whenever students are stuck on a problem or concept they can use Tutor.com technology to get a live tutor, 24/7. And, students do this more than a million times a year.

Providing access to tutors for that intense one-to-one help outside the classroom helps students:

• Get the individualized help they need tailored to their learning style and specific area of struggle (Our tutors don’t end a session until the student has grasped the concept)
• Come to the classroom prepared and ready to learn
• Be more confident and engaged learners who ask better questions

Technology alone can’t guarantee these results. If you’re interested in learning more about online tutoring provided by real tutors helps make classrooms better, visit our website: www.tutor.com/schools.

Marine Corps Reservist, Lieutenant Colonel Brad Lanto has been part of the military for 20 years. While he works in the Pentagon as the Marine Corps Liaison for the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program (YRRP) in Reserve Affairs, his wife and two children are back in North Carolina. We caught up with the Lt. Col. and his wife, MaryBeth, who is a middle school counselor, to see how Tutor.com has been making a difference for their seventh grade son, Zac. We also learned how the challenges Reservists face may be different than other military members. While Reservists don’t move nearly as much, they too face long deployments, which put many miles between them and their families back at home.

Tutor.com:  Lt. Col. Lanto, how long have you been away from your family?

Lt. Col. Lanto: I left for the Pentagon last October and I expect to be here for one year. While I’m gone, my wife is the primary caregiver and has to help with school work for our two children on her own.

MaryBeth:  Our son is a great student, but this year he’s in an advanced, honors math class and the pace is very fast. I’m never sure how to help him or if I’m offering the right techniques.  We’re glad to have access to Tutor.com.  Our son connects to tutors and also uses the resources Tutor.com offers, including the videos, worksheets and recommended websites.

Tutor.com:  That’s great. Sometimes we forget to talk about all the resources in the SkillsCenter Resource Library. When does he use those?

MaryBeth:  He likes to use the mobile app and check out the resources from his iPhone when we’re driving and then at home he uses his laptop to connect to one of the tutors for help.

Tutor.com:  We love to hear that kids are doing school work even in the car! With the app he could connect to a tutor from his phone too. Are there other features your son likes about getting help online?

MaryBeth:  Yes, he likes to review the videos of his own sessions that he has had with a tutor when he’s studying.  And it helps him with the math skills he needs. He’s a very busy student with a full course load of challenging courses and he plays in two soccer leagues.  So having help available 24/7 is really beneficial.

Tutor.com:  Lt. Col Lanto, how do you think Reservists will use Tutor.com?

Lt. Col. Lanto:  Many Reservists are going to school on the GI Bill and need help with their own work, such as having a paper proofread. Reservists who aren’t deployed may be working, going to school, and doing their drills for the military. Having tutors available around their schedule helps them get everything done.   Many Reservists also have families and multiple children who benefit from online tutoring.

MaryBeth:   Tutor.com offers so much and really is a relief for parents.  There are so many different  ways for children to learn – videos, worksheets and live tutoring.  It’s a great resource.

To learn more about Tutor.com for U.S. Military Families and how it supports families of Reservists and National Guard service members, please go to www.tutor.com/military.

If you teach or work in the K-12 environment, you are reading and hearing daily about personalized learning. In a recent T.H.E. Journal article Karen Cator, the United States Department of Education’s director of technology cited personalized learning as one of the five top ed tech trends for 2012. “I’m really excited about the opportunity to personalize learning environments–to make learning more efficient and effective because it’s more personal and it’s more closely related to who you are as a learner,” said Cator in the article.

Personalized learning is certainly not a new concept, but with the introduction of technology tools there’s new ways to implement this style of learning for students at every level of their education.

Tutor.com has been delivering personalized learning for the last decade. More than 7.5 million times a student has connected to a tutor for a one-to-one learning session. We take our cues directly from the students who come with a specific question or problem.

Learning with a Tutor; Not a Computer

While most personalized learning solutions focus on adaptive technologies, we rely on real, live human beings to give students something they rarely get in or out of school – individualized, personal attention focused on their specific question.

An experienced tutor works in real-time with a student in the online classroom to understand their problem, assess their knowledge and then provide a learning experience that helps them reach the “I get it” moment.   Our goal is to ensure that a student who has completed a Tutor.com 1:1:1 session has mastered the concept at hand and is ready to tackle a similar problem on their own.

Engaged, Confident Students

Students who get this personalized attention report that they are more confident in their academic abilities, better able to complete school assignments and see an improvement in their grades. Even better, students report a higher level of engagement in school. With engagement comes motivation and a propensity to stick out challenging courses such as algebra, chemistry, calculus and physics.

A survey we conducted with 1,000 students from across the country found that 86% were more likely to take an AP class if they knew an online tutor would be there to support them throughout the course.

Over the coming months, Tutor.com will be working with school districts to not only deliver personalized learning solutions to their students, but also provide analytics and insights that give teachers and instructors a better understanding of where students are falling behind and what additional support could best help these students stay on track.

As a fierce debate continues around the pros and cons of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), we’re also hearing more about supplemental educational services or SES. This is the tutoring component of NCLB. Tutor.com is often mistaken as an SES provider by K-12 administrators and teachers. Tutor.com is NOT an SES provider. Many years ago, the company took a hard look at SES and seeing a flawed approach to supporting student learning, we focused our efforts elsewhere. Instead we created customized online tutoring programs for libraries, communities, the U.S Military and K-12 schools. Along the way, our tutors delivered 7.5 million one-to-one, online tutoring sessions.

Here’s what Tutor.com provides K-12 students and how it’s different from SES.

• High Quality Online Tutoring –  While SES actually bans states from requiring tutors to be highly qualified, Tutor.com has spent the last decade creating the highest quality tutoring experience for students. All of our tutors pass subject-specific exams, writing exams, mock sessions and a third-party security check. Tutors are assigned a mentor who regularly reviews their teaching. The results? More than 90% of students report they complete more homework assignments, have more confidence in school and improve their grades thanks to Tutor.com.
• Driven by the School’s Curriculum – While it is hard for districts to know what curriculum is being followed in SES programs, Tutor.com Online Tutoring is driven by students’ homework questions. Students bring their assignments and questions from the classroom to the tutoring session–tightly aligning tutoring with the classroom curriculum.
• Easy Implementations – We’ve read the horror stories too. Tutoring programs that “launch” in September, yet students don’t see a tutor until December. Tutor.com’s implementation team can get an after-school online tutoring program up in running in seven business days. Students get online from school or home and get help when they need it, on their own schedule.
• Robust Monthly Reporting – Teachers and school administrators get an in-depth look of the online tutoring program every month. Tutor.com tracks student usage patterns and the subjects they’re struggling with each month. We also provide student feedback about their experience including detailed student comments. Ever need to review a tutoring session? No problem, we can share that too since every interaction is saved and available for review.

We agree. You probably don’t want an SES provider. Try Tutor.com Online Tutoring instead. Thousands of schools, libraries and the U.S. Military are successfully increasing student achievement with this personalized, one-to-one help. Learn more by emailing educate@tutor.com.

The majority of the million online tutoring sessions Tutor.com provides each year are in math and more specifically in algebra. Over the last decade, students take algebra earlier and earlier. Today, we find most middle school students are enrolled in pre-algebra or algebra classes. So we were interested in reviewing a new study from Harvard University that found students moving from grade 5 into middle school show a “sharp drop” in math and language arts achievement. This persists through 10^th grade and may even hurt their ability to graduate high school and attend college.

While the study focuses on grade configuration and school transition, we see trends too with middle school students. For the first time in their academic lives, students hit the wall – the pre-algebra and algebra wall. That wall is hard and it leaves marks on the best of students.

Research shows that while approximately 16 percent of all U.S. 13-year-olds (the age at which many students are in eighth grade) were enrolled in algebra in 1986, this figure rose to 22 percent in 1999 and to 29 percent in 2004 (Perie, Moran, and Lutkus 2005). Over the past decade, we find more students are taking algebra even earlier, some beginning in sixth grade.

When kids hit that wall, many come to us and here’s what they say:

“No one can help me”: Many good students have informal academic support systems consisting of parents, older siblings or cousins and sometimes friends. That support system tends to fall apart with algebra. Parents don’t remember it and many say they were never that good at math to begin with. Students have less people to turn to and they start to see their grades drop.

“I don’t even know where to start”: We talk to students and read comments all the time that say they sit at home staring at the algebra homework and truly have no idea what they are doing or if they are headed in the right or wrong direction. They get frustrated and some simply give up.

“The teacher moves too fast”: As teachers tackle the problem of completing many concepts with a room of diverse learners, some students can’t keep up. Some students say they don’t understand the examples and techniques used in class. If they miss mastering a few concepts, soon they fall further and further behind.

“I don’t want to look dumb”: While third graders may bolster their raised hands and beg to be called upon, 7th graders tend to sit in the back and hope to go unnoticed. No one wants to ask a dumb or embarrassing question in front of their peers and friends.

What helps students get over these challenges? Immediate, differentiated and private support. When students use online tutoring for help they can tackle one question and one concept at a time and never feel embarrassed. By nature of the one-to-one relationship with a tutor, they can try different explanations and techniques until the content clicks for the student. And that’s all many students really need—the opportunity to have an “I get it” moment. And suddenly a door opens in the wall and they walk through.

“At first I had no idea where to start, I didn’t know what I was doing. I was just confused with my algebra, but after I had help from Tutor.com, I knew exactly what I was doing. Thanks tutor.com, you saved my life.” – 8th Grade Algebra student

Want to learn more about how Tutor.com helps students struggling with algebra?  Read Melissa and Kennedy’s math stories.

Kelly Adam Joins the Tutor.com Team

We’re excited to introduce you to Kelly Adam, the newest member of our Instructional Team. Kelly is a veteran high school math teacher with more than 20 years of teaching experience. She has also coached teachers, taught online and created standards of excellence for online teaching.

Kelly joins us after spending over three years working on k-12 online educational services and curriculum. Before that, Kelly spent more than 20 years teaching high school and college math courses in both traditional public schools as well as online or virtual schools.

Tutor.com has made a commitment to finding the best tutors and coaches to offer the highest quality learning experience. As a Mentor Manager, Kelly’s coaching and teaching expertise will help Tutor.com continue to provide the highest quality tutoring for students and coaching for teachers. Kelly will be very involved in the services we provide for the School of One. And, she’ll work closely with our MyLivePD team as we expand our personal, private professional development service.

“I am excited to be a part of a new and evolving way to engage students and help them learn better,” said Adam. “I am honored to be a part of a team that is concerned about quality support for both students and teachers.”

Please help us welcome Kelly!

If you’d like to learn more about the amazing tutors that help thousands of students each night, check out our latest tutor of the month Daniel B.