Support Your Child Unique Learning Needs photo source naturallyearthfriendly
By Germain Tanoh, PhD : You may worry that your children will have a less happy life than you do. Such concerns have led many parents like you to turn to private tutoring for the education of their children. Once a small industry for wealthier parents to access, tutoring is now coming to the masses. Tutoring is an efficient way to support your child unique learning needs while building self-confidence and effective study skills.
Prescriptive Tutoring or One-on-One Tutoring
Tutoring has become a burgeoning industry marked by franchising, marketing, and corporate strategies. Registering your child in a franchised tutoring centre seems the easiest way to go, but it is not the most effective. The method used by franchised tutoring centres is called prescriptive tutoring. Every student has to go through the same prescribed program of learning. This method often is based on rote memorization of mathematical concepts. It doesn’t teach math study skills, neither it take into account the individualized learning needs of each student. This means that after a full day of school and an hour or two at the tutoring centre, the students are then left to do their homework on their own. This is a lot to ask of someone who already feels discouraged about mathematics or challenged by schoolwork. In addition, the presence of others in a tutoring centre can be very intimidating. Students learning capability may be diminished by feelings of shyness, competitiveness, inferiority, or any number of emotions.
In a one-on-one tutoring, a coaching relationship typically develops between tutor and student. Your child feels more comfortable asking questions and receiving corrections, he/she is not afraid to make mistake because no one will laugh at him/her.
Effective Math Tutoring
A tutor can help guide your child through the labyrinth of content in a way that facilitates learning and reduces math anxiety. Effective math tutoring must meet three specific goals:
1. Supporting the students acquire knowledge and skills in math.
2. Building effective math study habits, including mathematical thinking and math maturity which is the ability to learn complex ideas and concepts with increasing ease.
3. Dealing with math anxiety and the stresses cause by the educational system.
The third item in this list does not receive the attention it deserves. Math is particularly stressful because it requires a level of precise, clear thinking and problem-solving activities quite different than in other disciplines.
Tutoring can contribute significantly to your child’s self-image, attitude toward math, learning skills, and long-term retention of what is being learned. In addition to increase math understanding, tutoring can greatly reduce math anxiety.
About the Author: Dr. Germain Tanoh is Director, Learning Support at Hello Math. He is an entrepreneur and educator, and holds a Ph.D. degree in Applied Mathematics. He can be reached at gtanoh@hellomath.ca
