By: Charlene Brown

Recently I was helping a grade 4 boy with his homework on similes, and I couldn’t help but be struck by the clichéd notion that “everyone is unique and special in their own ways.”

When I was still in school – feels like ages ago, I must be getting old – I often wondered how teachers taught the same syllabus year after year without getting bored. It’s only since I have become involved in one-on-one tuition that I have realised that every time you teach someone the same work, it is a completely different experience. Even during maths tuition – something that I am particularly passionate about, as I enjoy rules, structure and a step by step process leading to one correct answer – I am constantly surprised by the way different people attempt a maths sum, sometimes coming up with concepts and ideas that I have never considered before. So I can confidently say that I have always been aware that every student that I have tutored thinks of things in different ways.

So I'm not sure why I was suddenly so moved by this fact when the boy I was tutoring told me that the correct simile was “as free as air” as opposed to the conventional “as free as a bird.” After all, when was the last time you paid for air and when the last time was you saw a bird in a cage – definitively NOT free? Nevertheless, it made me consider the ways that tutors, their students, and the students’ parents could all help out, in order to make sure that the maximum advantage is gained from the private tuition that everyone is investing their time in. After all, the main reason for private tuition is in order to ensure that a child’s specific needs and talents are addressed, rather than allowing these talents – and unique thoughts – to be lost in the sea of mainstream schooling.

TIPS FOR TUTORS

Acknowledge that fact that an explanation that worked for one child may not work for another. People really ARE unique. Everyones’ brain processes things differently, and need different explanations and examples in order to understand identical concepts. Don’t make any assumptions about where the problem areas will be, or about what needs to be focused on. Most importantly, always continue to think of innovative and interesting ways to explain what you may think is a simple or basic concept.

TIPS FOR STUDENTS

Always be honest with your tutor about what you do and don’t understand, as well as how well you understand. Your tutor is there to help and guide you through your curriculum and you need to be open about the sections that confuse you. Remember that at the end of the year YOU are the one who will have to write your exams, not your tutor, so make sure that you tell him or her whenever you would like to spend some more time on a section, or if you would like something to be explained in a new or different way.

TIPS FOR PARENTS

As I get older, I can admit that my parents really did know what was best for me while growing up. You know your children better than your tutor could ever hope to know them – and you probably know how their brain works better than anyone else too. It’s important for parents to try and share this information with their child’s tutor. For example, if you know that your child relates better to picture or videos than to written explanations, this could make it much easier for your tutor to plan lessons that involve aids that will speed up the learning process.

Even Albert Einstein recognised the importance of individual based progress and teaching. He once said that: “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Let his words always serve as a reminder that sometimes it is the explanation, rather than the work, that is the problem.