Spotlight on Success: How to Nurture Confident Learners

By Guest Blogger Bill Tessien, Executive Director at A Step Ahead Academic Center

Oftentimes parents know that their student doesn’t love school or doesn’t do well in a certain subject, but they may not know how to help. We see it happen regularly. A child comes in and is not thriving at school but the parents – and even the child – don’t know why.

After the child begins tutoring, we often see a dramatic shift in behavior and attitude that affects learning. When the child receives one-on-one tutoring, connects with the tutor and works on challenging areas, he or she begins to change and flourish.

To understand the full benefits of tutoring and how it builds confidence, here are three real success stories:

~ “One of my elementary students started tutoring by telling me how much she hated math, and swore she would never like math. A few months later, she confessed to me that she was now looking forward to math each day! She was so excited to understand what was going on in class, and even more excited that she could confidently answer her teacher’s questions. Now she asks me for more challenging problems during tutoring time.” – Angela Anderson, A Step Ahead Academic Center Tutor

~ “So often I hear parents say, ‘My son or daughter hates to read!’ I love working with the students one-on-one because it gives me the opportunity to get to know them on a more personal level. My students tell me they get embarrassed reading aloud in school because they are afraid someone will laugh if they miss a word. They also say they think the stories and books they read are boring. They soon learn that I will not laugh at them when they miss a word, and I allow them to choose the books they would like to read. Before long, I notice they are asking to read! It is no longer a task they dread, but one they make sure I include in their schedule. It wasn’t really a dislike of reading, but a fear of failure and boredom! I love seeing students realize reading can be an adventure!” – Debbie Crater, A Step Ahead Academic Center Tutor

~ “There is nothing more rewarding as a tutor than watching a student gradually learn that math is not impossible, that science is not an insurmountable mountain, and that they are more than capable of achieving their goals. I had a student that was very resistant to coming to tutoring, but his parents were concerned that his grades were slipping. He was convinced that he just did not ‘get’ school and that he would never be good at it. At our very first session, I could see one of his problems. Much of the time in math, students are just given a problem and asked to solve with no context. No reason it would ever matter for a student to find the solutions to a quadratic. What I helped him to see was the context. Why the things he was learning were important, and real life applications to the problems. Over time, he became interested in all the ways that math is used. He even decided he wanted to go into an engineering field! Watching him not only begin to enjoy math but seeing his increased confidence in all of his school work was incredibly rewarding.”– Kelly Sassin, A Step Ahead Academic Center Tutor

The magic of tutoring is when a child is no longer afraid, frustrated or bored and becomes a confident learner with the help of a caring, experienced tutor. That’s why we love hearing and sharing these success stories.