Tutor Organization Series: A Tutor's Guide To Organising Your Tutoring Curriculum

I'm super excited to reveal that this post is part of a tutor organization series brought to you by some of the world's top tutoring experts: Adrianne Meldrum (of The Tutor House) and Amy (of Tutors Nirvana). 

As a tutor the prospect of getting organised can seem incredibly daunting. Thoughts like 'how do I plan a lesson?' ' how do I get organised?' and 'how do I keep track of all of my materials?' are likely to run through your mind.

Getting your tutoring curriculum organised isn't just something that's important for new tutors who are just starting out, it's also pertinent for experienced tutors who've been teaching for several months or even years.

People might assume that tutors are naturally quite organised (and yes, most of us are) but getting organised isn't that easy. Today, I'll be sharing some of my most loved tips on this very topic. Buckle up and get ready to take notes! 

How to organise your tutoring curriculum

Firstly, it's important to schedule regular time within your schedule specifically for the purpose of getting organised. Ideally, tutors should spend at least 1 day of each week focusing on planning and preparation as this maximises your chances of being able to handle almost any situation.

One thing that I do is that I have a tutoring diary where I write everything down including lesson plans, expenses and my tutoring schedule. It's pivotal to pick one book, notepad or diary that's used for organising your schedule.

Subject Maps

Once you have a tutoring diary and you have a good idea of your schedule, the next step is to write down what subjects you teach (include all of them- even the ones you teach less frequently) and to then map out a topic plan for each subject.

For instance, if you teach English to primary school students (students under 11 years of age) you might want to cover topics like spelling, grammar, punctuation and creative writing. Once you've mapped out the main topics for each subject, create a new map that highlights all of the topics within that subject, for instance, if you teach English you might break down 'grammar' into sub-topics like prepositions and nouns.

Once you've created these two subject maps, you'll have a much clearer idea of what topics you'll cover during your lessons. Now, I'm sure you're thinking, 'what if the student doesn't need to learn  a topic that I've written down?' That's perfectly fine- you can tweak or amend the subject map whenever you like so that it meets the needs of your students. If you have time, you could even create a subject map for each student you have.

The key is to remember to prioritise organisation in your schedule and give lesson planning greater attention.

In terms of keeping a track of your tutoring files and books, I strongly suggest getting a filing cabinet so that you can file your resources in order of subject/age/student. This makes things so much easier and allows you to easily pick up files without having to worry about where they are. Quite simply, a filing cabinet is a god-send for any tutor who's serious about going pro.

There are also a few more things you can do to stay organised such as:

Arranging books in order of need. In other words, keep the books and resources that you're most likely to need soon in areas that are easy to reach so that you don't have to spend hours looking for them.

Have a file box that contains resources and learning materials that you use most often. Keep materials that you don't desperately need in a filing cabinet and label them so that you know where they are.

Motivate yourself to stay organised by incorporating things you like. For instance, I love all things vintage. To motivate myself to stay organised, I treat myself (on occasion) to vintage inspired stationary. There's something about seeing a pretty vintage notepad, diary, book or organisational resource that gets me excited about staying organised. Could you do the same and incorporate something you love?

Important things to know before starting a dissertation

During the dissertation hand-in day, all students feel stressed out about the achievement of these important papers that have resulted from an exhausting crusade of researching, structuring and writing. For me, more than one year has passed after my fist encounter with the Undergraduate Dissertation Handbook and I still remember how I felt my heart trembling with the thought of the massive amount of work that was in front of me. Now that that stressful episode of my life has passed, I am beginning to identify the things that would be very beneficial for me if I was aware of them back then.

This article will provide useful tips to those who are currently working on their dissertations or will start working on them soon.

You need the best supervisor!

If you have been assigned to work with a supervisor who doesn’t provide effective recommendations or is unresponsive, you need to make a change. Don’t be afraid to ask for a change because if you don’t get the right advice, you won’t use your best potential and you will deliver mediocre work.

There should be a valid reason for making a switch and the request should be made early in the process. You don’t have to look for the best expert on the topic you are developing. What you need is a supervisor who will always be reassuring, reliable, approachable and detailed in their feedback. During the process of developing your dissertation, you will have some weird questions that will require email correspondence. Your supervisor should always be there for you, no matter how important those questions are.

Prepare for an unimpressed environment

When you start preparing yourself for the dissertation, your friends, family and all known and unknown people will start asking what you will be writing about. When it comes to dissertations, people always expect for impressive answers and you won’t be able to impress the environment in the early stage of the process. You should be prepared for some discouraging looks of disappointment and confusion, but you must not be affected by that kind of feedback. You should be aware that most people expect some dramatic answers when they ask about the topic of your dissertation, such as genocide, war and revolutionary ideas. After all, they are not the ones working on the dissertation and if you feel confident about your topic and you are interested in developing it further, make sure to stay positive about it.

Never ask your friends about the amount of work they have done. This would only stress you out and make you paranoid, or it would make them paranoid. Arrange your time effectively according to your own research and writing abilities, not according to others’ schedules.

Prepare for the freak out phase

During the dissertation development process, you will certainly experience a phase during which you will doubt the entire thesis and you will wish to leave everything behind and start from zero point. This usually occurs a couple of months before the ultimate deadline. The decision to start over is justified only if your mentor recommends you to do so because of some serious flaws in your work (which is a highly improbable scenario). You have to be aware that it is normal to panic, but you must keep focused and that stage of insecurity will pass.

Staying focused: Final tips

Don’t be disappointed by the fact that a lot of the early material will have to be edited out from the final version of the dissertation. Don’t be inclined into including all possible ideas that you have, because that would disturb the flow of the dissertation and make it look pointless.

Be prepared for a lot of printing! This may take a large portion of your weekly budget, so make sure to print only the necessary files and try using the free services of your friends and relatives during this process.

Writing a dissertation is a serious process that requires an immense amount of work and devotion, which means that you will have to put it on the first place, in front of other essay demands, sport commitments and social life in general. Even if you are extremely organized, you will have to go a step further and make more detailed plans of your time, without leaving any space for deadline panicking attacks!

Don’t be afraid of all the work in front of you because finishing your dissertation will definitely be one of the best experiences in your life. Every single atom of effort is worth for this important piece of work, so make sure to do everything in order to make yourself proud at the end of the process.

This is a guest post by Lois Weldon. Louis is a writer at uk.bestdissertation.com. She lives happily in London with her husband and daughter. She adores writing tips for students and is passionate about Star Wars and yoga.

Our First Ever Video!

As you probably know, we're gearing up for the launch of our intensive 11 plus summer course. It's an incredibly exciting time and we're super excited to be working on the curriculum and content. I also wanted to share that a video that explains more about the course and gives you a bit of insight into what it offers.

We really believe in providing our customers with the best and we know how important the 11+ exams are. They change lives. They nourish minds. They open doors.

If you're a parent who's thinking about preparing their child for the 11 plus, please watch our video and feel free to share it with friends and family who might also be interested.

Here it is!

Ps. If you'd like to book a place for your child click here. Spaces are filling up fast and it looks like we'll be fully booked within the next few weeks! If you don't want your child to miss out, I highly recommend signing up today!

How To Motivate Your Child To Do Their Homework

Homework!

It's one of those words that make most children shudder.

It also greatly affects busy parents who simply don't have the time to sit with their children and help them solve tough questions, equations and conundrums.

Whilst most children hate doing their homework, the fact remains that it is an essential part of their learning progression. Research shows that children who engage with their school or academic work on a daily basis significantly improve their grades.

So how do you motivate your child to do their homework?

Here are a few tips to help parents like yourself.

Schedule it.

It is so important to embed the mindset that homework is a daily activity (that should always be done) into the mind of your child. The more they become accustomed to doing work at an already scheduled time, the more likely they are to do it and they'll be more used to doing it. Growing up my parents for instance made it clear that homework was to be done for an hour after school every single week day. The only exceptions were the weekends or holiday periods when we'd be expected to do at least three hours of homework or studying per day. To motivate your child to do their homework, schedule a fixed time for them to complete it every single day. Stick to that time and get them into the habit of doing the work. For instance, 4pm-5pm could be 'homework hour.'

Give incentives.

Your child is human and like most humans they sometimes need a little incentive to motivate them to do things.

Whilst I'm not a fan of over-pampering children, bribing them or throwing incentives at them, I do however recommend giving them a good incentive for consistently great behaviour. For instance, you could set up a reward chart and whenever they complete 10 pieces of high-standard homework (without being told by you to do it), they receive a prize or gift. This method is brilliant for encouraging children to consistently work at a high standard. If they forget to do their homework or don't do it to a high standard then they simply don't move up the reward chart which means that they're one step further away from getting the incentive.

Be direct.

Communication is absolutely essential when it comes to handling children of all ages. It's therefore crucial that you make it clear to them that you have high expectations for them. For instance, let them know that they are expected to complete all of their homework and there are no excuses for missing it. The better you are at communicating with your child, the more likely you are to have a better relationship with them overall.

Are there any other homework tips that you'd like to share? If so, leave a comment below.

PS. If you'd love to have parenting and homeschooling tips that go straight to your inbox, subscribe to my free newsletter. Click here and simply enter your name and email to subscribe. (It's free!)

11 Plus Intensive Course

11 plus intensive course

Many parents have asked about the possibility of me organising an intensive 11 plus course this year.

After some contemplation I realised that an intensive course would be a brilliant idea because it enables students to learn both independently and with other students. Furthermore, it allows students to compare their progress with that of other students who'll be taking the same exams.

This year was the first year where I taught more group tuition lessons and I discovered quite quickly that group tuition is excellent because it enables students to learn from each other. For instance, I had two students who were both preparing for 11+ exams at very competitive private and grammar schools. I realised that where one student was weak, the other was strong and vice versa. It therefore made perfect sense to teach them simultaneously because it enabled them to identify their own strengths and observe how the other student approached certain questions.

The result of this particular group tuition was that both students were offered places at the schools they'd applied for. One was offered a very generous scholarship for one of the best private schools in London. Without having studied together I doubt both students would have done as well as they did.

This experience really opened by eyes to the benefits of group tuition and intensive courses and now I'm a huge advocate of them.

If your child is preparing for the 11+ exams, I highly recommend considering enrolling them in an intensive or group course like the one I'm holding. My course starts on the 19th of August and parents have the option of having their child partake in either one or two weeks of the course. I strongly recommend two weeks because we'll be thoroughly preparing the children for the exams and we'll teach them more or less everything they need to know about them.

For more information on the 11+ intensive courseclick here. Places are limited and from the looks of it, spaces will probably be sold out very quickly. I therefore recommend booking your child's place now.

After booking, I'll send you a confirmation email as well as further details about the course such as information on the venue and location etc.