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A Perfect Tutoring session

March 19th, 2014
“A perfect tutoring session is a thing of beauty. There’s no formula for recreating it every time, but it happens more and more often at Study Hut these days. Tutors and tutees are in mid-season form by this time in the year – the early-semester inertia long past and the end-of-semester burnout still months away. We’ve settled into the school year, developing our own rhythms and rapports with all our Study Hut students. It’s perfect tutoring season.

No two perfect sessions look exactly the same; there are too many contributing factors to consider. Some students are panicked, struggling to finish cramming for that test they kept putting off; some students are relaxed, looking forward to another weekly session with the same tutor they’ve been working with for the past 6 months; some are on their way to SAT tutoring, dreaming of the day they will strut their stuff at college, applying all their Hut study skills to everything from Bio 101 to Shakespearean sonnets to intramural softball. Some are terrified at the mere mention of numbers, others are enthralled by the simple joys of deriving or integrating. Still others are history sponges, seeking to soak in as many dates and elections and revolutions as possible, baffled by some of their peers’ classic refrain: “Why do we have learn this? It already happened.”

This variety is what makes working at Study Hut so engaging. It is a constant process: evaluating a student’s interests and needs, weaknesses and strengths, passions and quirks. Only by getting to know each student – asking them about their day, their favorite color, and their life’s goals – can we craft these elusive perfect sessions.

As we begin to understand our tutees, we get better at tailoring our sessions to their own specific needs and goals. This is the constant process of creating perfect sessions. We may not achieve perfection every time (and some students may make it more difficult than others), but even when we fail we do pretty good job at making learning happen.”

Hope this is useable and feel free to make any changes you want!

Tips to Avenge Your Finals Without Pulling Out Your Hair!

January 26th, 2013

 

 

 

Finals week is coming quick and you might start feeling that uneasy shadow lingering over your shoulders, but luckily there are several tips, tricks, and techniques to make the next few weeks bearable. First of all, you need to make the trade and remember that drowsiness, exhaustion, and brain drain will all pass, but your GPA is forever. Accepting the climb ahead of you will set you on the right path for success. Regardless of the subject matter, people all learn the same which is why you know that cramming doesn’t work, taking long exaggerated breaks, and side tracking yourself is all sure ways to fail your finals. Thus, find an absolutely quite and if necessary (desolate) place to buckle down and really hit the books; this is a great time to turn off your cell phone and get away from your social notifications. Make goals for yourself and set time limits on how long you will study before you take a scheduled break. Don’t feel the urge to work in study groups if you know they will distract you, instead work on as much material as you can and save all your questions for your teacher, tutor, or friends for later. It’s important to build on what you know rather than give yourself test anxiety on what you need to know. Evaluate how your teacher or professor has given previous tests and quizzes and determine a study strategy that will most likely reflect you’re finals, midterm, test, or even future quiz. Then chunk the material into pieces and absolutely take your time learning the material – It takes more than an hour to digest a century of history! Finally, you need to make it interesting. Take pride in what you’re learning and mentally dazzle yourself.

Valentine’s Day at Study Hut Tutoring

February 14th, 2012

Valentines Day spirit is in the air at Manhattan Beach Study Hut! We are THE place to be V-day. For one, we have the best manager ever who made us all cookies with our names on them. We also each get a list of V-day topics to talk about with our kids. We ask questions like “who is your celebrity crush?” and “what is your favorite kind of chocolate?” to keep the kids engaged and not as bummed about doing homework on a holiday. The drawer full of candy also adds to the valentines spirit. …although this is year around. For me, everyday at the Study hut is like Valentines Day because I love the people I work with and care deeply about all of the kids I tutor. Also, we have a lot of baked goods here all of the time so it adds to the mood.
Our goal is to turn studying, something that is usually somewhat painful, into something fun and exciting. All of our tutors our able to accomplish this because we all have a passion for learning and for helping others. I think that this is exemplified on a day like today where love and compassion are in the air. All of us tutors try and stay connected and get together outside of work to keep a united spirit. In a couple of weeks we are going to have a girls night, and we just got done with doing a really fun murder mystery party. Having close relationships at work is important because it allows us to work as a team when tutoring. When I’m not sure of a science question, it’s nice to feel comfortable turning to Roxy and asking her help on a question. So while the cookies and candy definitely create a great Valentines mood, it’s the love and compassion that our tutors have that really make Study hut a Valentines Day everyday.