Academic Coaching

High school academic coaching is a special style of tutoring tailored for students whose problems are motivational, rather than intellectual. Not every smart student is automatically a good student — not everyone takes instinctively to the protocol of school.

Now, we won’t call this a “defect” because we know there’s a great deal more to your nature than simply what kind of student you are. But the bottom line is that if you want to function successfully in society, you have to be educated. Many consider education part of civic duty, and we can all agree that as time goes on, college degrees become ever-more imposing in the competition for well-paying and fulfilling jobs. So you don’t have to go quietly, but you needn’t go kicking and screaming either, because — let’s face it — you have to go.

If you come to the Study Hut looking for academic coaching, you can expect to find tutors with enthusiasm to spare. Like a football coach brimming with the fierceness of his entire team, a tutor succeeds by having enough eagerness to spill over onto his students. Expect of a Study Hut tutor what you would expect of any coach: one to offer you encouragement and structure, and to call you out on your shortcomings.

High School Academic Coaching

Make no mistake about it: academic coaching is a training program, not a crutch to lean on. It is designed for students who are really ready to improve themselves but simply don’t know how to go about it. When you sign on for academic coaching, you’ll be matched with the tutor who best fits your personality — not necessarily the most likely to be your pal, but the one with the keenest insight into your strengths and weaknesses. However, not surprisingly, such tutors and their students tend to get along very well, because they communicate. This communication is priceless, as it loans you your tutor’s enthusiasm until you can find out how to develop your own.

Academic coaching focuses less on material than on the way a student approaches it. We believe we can help by addressing behavior and habits first, and attitude will catch up on its own. As an old saying goes, you may not be able to think your way into acting, but you can act your way into thinking. We’re idealists. We know education is interesting, and that to enjoy it, a student just has to know how to play the game.

So academic coaching is about building a regimen that fits you. If you have trouble staying organized, we stress the routine of keeping a planner, of arranging your files in folders or binders according to subject, of honing those little habits like a standard heading for every page. If, perhaps, you resent having to memorize little bits of information for your history tests, we’ll teach you the strategies we’ve learned studying for countless exams — taking great notes, preparing a well-organized study guide or effective flash cards, and so on. All of this depends on you. When we’ve figured out your personality and problems, we’ll know how to help.

Have you asked yourself this question lately: I know I’m smart, so why don’t I like school? If so, the answer is probably that you have talent but no craft. And “talent without craft,” as teacher Robert McKee put it so well, “is like fuel without an engine. It burns wildly but accomplishes nothing.” So count your talent as a blessing, then move on to the next stage: ask for help. Find someone to teach you the craft, the discipline. We’ll be here when you’re ready.