Critical and logical thinking along with analytical expertise are the most valued soft skills for any person willing to reach success. It is extremely important to start mastering them at an early age. But how can you help your child develop those abilities both quickly and effectively? The answer is simple – by motivating kids to learn math! A decent and inspiring tutor your child may need along the way plays a crucial role in the learning process, especially if you prefer online classes for your kid to enjoy the comfort of their home. This article covers the key tips on the aspects to consider while choosing one out of dozens of online math tutors for your kid. Just keep those simple guidelines in mind when hunting for your teacher!
1. Clear goals
Be as specific as possible when identifying the purpose of math lessons. This will help your future tutor understand your priorities and scope of work. “Good at math” is a very abstract notion, while the goals of successfully passing MCQ tests or focusing on experiential learning will clearly reflect your expectations.
When developing an individualized approach, math tutors online may also be interested in the personal attitude your child has towards math, as well as a future professional path of a student. Bother to discuss with your kid their career goals, even if they are just a remote dream by now. While being closely related, programming, web design, engineering, or cyber security require different math focus.
2. Personalized approach
A personalized or customized approach means as much as proficiency. Common methods of teaching should remain behind school doors – for online classes, you have to hunt for a tutor who possesses all the necessary techniques for captivating your child’s attention and tailoring the learning instructions to your kid’s strengths and weaknesses. Learn about the engagement strategy a specific tutor uses to encourage students. Check the activities the interactive math lessons imply. Sometimes, proper visualization can do wonders.
3. Emotional competences
Being a good tutor means getting a good connection with a student and staying flexible with their mood, needs, and circumstances. Your child is only learning to set their goals, so the latter may change very quickly and unexpectedly. Make sure your online tutor has at least basic knowledge of child psychology and can swiftly change their teaching techniques if necessary.
Bother to ask a tutor to describe applied methods of gaining and maintaining the attention of students with short attention spans (in case your kid is struggling with one), motivational techniques, and tools for learning acceleration. Make sure your online teacher is passionate about math and can make your kid love this subject as much as they do.
4. Timing
Even a key focus on math online lessons shouldn’t change the everyday routine of your kid tremendously. School lessons and extracurriculars can be quite stressful themselves let alone math tutoring sessions. No wonder flexibility was named a key benefit of online learning in 2020. Discuss the recommended timing for the classes with a potential tutor and align it with the schedule of your kid. Make sure there is enough time for leisure and rest. Pay attention to the time zone of potential online math tutors and their free slots. This approach will help make math classes not only effective but also pleasant and enjoyable.
5. Positive feedbacks
A good record goes alongside the professionalism of a tutor. In order to make sure the potential online math tutor has an excellent reputation not only as an expert but as a person, bother to do brief research. Check the tutoring platform for testimonials – as a rule, they can be found right on the landing page, the way Brighterly math tutoring site places them. Here you can find not only comments regarding the expertise and qualifications of the tutors the service offers but also useful tips and recommendations of the parents whose kids are currently taking or have taken online math classes via the given website.
While interviewing the potential match tutor (which is highly advisable), don’t be shy to ask for the contacts of some of their students’ parents. These reviews may be extremely helpful in your decision-making process.
6. Interview
As has been previously mentioned, an online interview with a tutor before you hire them is a must. Ask online math tutors for a 15-minute conversation with you and your kid – usually, this time is sufficient to understand whether there is professional chemistry between a teacher and a student.
Make a list of basic questions beforehand to get as many details as possible, for example:
- How long have you been doing online math tutoring?
- What are your qualifications?
- Do you have any teaching style?
- What techniques do you use during your math lessons?
- What are your methods of dealing with difficult situations when a student doesn’t pay attention?
- Do you have experience working with a specific age group?
- How will you evaluate the progress of my child?
Engage your kid to ask their own questions – this may serve as a good method to involve a future student in an online learning process right away.
7. Trial tutoring session
When choosing one out of several online math tutors, ask for a trial lesson. Thus, you will understand whether this particular teacher can find an approach to your kid. You may ask to record your demo lesson just to analyze it later and weigh all pros and cons.
After a session, ask your child to evaluate the tutor. You can even make a special score sheet for your kid to assess their communication. This will help immensely both with your future discussion with the tutor and understanding of your kid’s expectations from tutoring.
Final Thoughts
It may be difficult to choose an online math tutor, especially when you have a lot of choices but no previous experience. The above guidelines are meant to make your life a bit easier and help you find a perfect online math tutor for the most exciting and effective online lessons ever.
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