The best teaching?

Our tutor ponders methods and results.

Our tutoring consultant continues his efforts over the summer, even though school’s not in session.  There are the standardized tests to prepare for; not only does preparation take time, there are test dates this month.  And there are “previews,” in which the tutors give students a look at classes they’ll be taking in the fall.  There isn’t the time to do a complete course, but the students can get a head start.  If nothing else, there will be less time pressure in a busy part of the year.

Two preview students are currently in our tutor’s thoughts.  One, student A, is previewing Physics; the other, Calculus.  Student A is not an outstanding STEM student.  Math and science are not her favorite subjects.  Her sessions are sandwiched among soccer camp and other summer activities.  But she is attentive, works hard and is successful.  With a bit of explanation and a few diagrams, she is grasping the concepts that puzzle most beginning Physics students.

Student B got hold of the syllabus our tutor wrote out as a guide to himself, a series of cryptic notes and page numbers, and is going through it with minimal direction.  The main thing our tutor provides is encouragement.  The first step in working out a problem often results in a long, unwieldy expression; Student B will freeze, certain she’s done something wrong.  “No, you’ve done it right so far.  Keep going.”  And she does, to the right answer.

The first lesson our tutor derives from these students is encouraging.  In spite of stereotypes and history, two girls are doing well in math and science.  One of them, at least, would not be expected to do so.  Student B does not fit the geek-student stereotype: she’s rather fond of gossip when not in a session, and is much too distracted by her smartphone.  But she has taken the first, big step in being able to learn things for herself.  (As an example of a geek student, our tutor mentions one from last year.  She would get low scores on the math section of the SAT because she’d find one of the problems interesting, play with it and try variations, and wind up not answering the rest of the questions because she’d run out of time.)

The second lesson is less useful.  In each case, tutoring has provided an important part of the success.  Student B would probably do well in Calculus anyway, but not as well as she could, stopped by self-doubt.  Student A might get hopelessly behind, unable to connect classroom lectures with problem sets; we’ve seen it all too often.

Unfortunately, not all students have access to someone like our tutor.  They must learn in the classroom and from the necessarily limited extra help schools can provide.  Some students thrive in that environment; most manage.  Many would benefit greatly from the individual help of tutors, but they’re just not available on that scale.  It’s frustrating.