Tutoring In New Orleans

While some parents choose tutoring to give their academically strong student a boost or help their high schooler prepare for college admittance exams, many turn to tutoring when their child is struggling with a subject. Sometimes a teacher will suggest tutoring to the parent. More often, it’s a parent who first notices the problem.

“I may hear, ‘Oh my gosh. We worked for three hours last night on homework,’” says Sherri Gregson, executive director of Sylvan Harvey. “That should not be the case. It may be that the child isn’t learning in the classroom”

Before seeking out a tutor, parents should talk with their child’s teacher to get a better sense of the big picture. Maybe the student is too busy talking to a friend to hear instructions. Or the student is sloppy about noting what the homework assignments are, or when they have a scheduled quiz. If the problems aren’t solved with some minor adjustments, it could be time for a tutor.

finding the right tutor

Tutors range from high schoolers and college students to certified teachers and those who hold degrees in the subject matter they teach. Your child’s teacher may be able to recommend one. You could search out local tutors online through care.com/tutors. Or you could check out tutoring franchises, such as Sylvan, Kaplan or the Princeton Review.

A tutor will be working closely with your child, helping with academic content as well as determining the right methods that will make her flourish academically. When selecting a tutor, parents should make sure that he or she has the proper credentials and will develop a tutorial plan addressing their child’s specific needs.

Sherri requires that all of her tutors be certified teachers—except for those in higher-level math and science; those tutors need degrees in those subjects.

Tutors should be patient and professional and tell you how they will provide feedback about your child’s progress.
The student, tutor and parents should have very clear-cut goals and a plan to achieve those goals.

“Is it that you just need someone to help your child with homework, or with studying for tests in an area that they’ve been struggling with all along?” says Sherri. “How does the tutor evaluate the student’s needs? Can they identify the student’s strengths and weaknesses?”

defining tutoring success

Ideally, the goal with tutoring, in addition to mastering a targeted skill area or knowledge base, should always include helping the child become an independent learner. And that all goes back to what Sherri said about making sure the foundation is solid.

“Sometimes we’ll have a student who’s been struggling for a long period of time and we’ll find out that it’s because they’re missing skills,” says Sherri. “We’ll work on filling in those gaps so they can be successful. The parents see the test coming up. We have to take a step back. We say, ‘We can help them prepare for that, but we also have to do this.’ Otherwise we’ll be seeing that child year after year after year.”

Tips for Strengthening Study Habits

1. Develop a routine for the student, from where they record their homework, what their assignments are, etc., and then follow through to where and what time they study, how much time they spend. Students respond most to a well-developed routine.

2. Make smartphone technology your friend. For students who have trouble with reading or processing reading, they or their parents can read the material or notes into a recording device. Students can then put on headphones and use that as a way to input the information.

3. Break the material into smaller chunks and review it. Before we move onto new material, we will go back over something we covered the week before.

4. For older kids, the model of 10 minutes of prep time and then about 20-30 minutes of true studying in their chosen method is ideal.

-from Gabe Fertitta, the Academic Assistance Program teacher at Saint Stanislaus, a boys’ day and residence school in Bay St. Louis.