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Do Not be Fooled by Manhattan Beach Middle School students

January 4th, 2012

Dont let these Manhattan Beach middle school students fool you. Please stay active with them and keep them engaged.

Go through his “edline” acct with him and talk to him about each of his grades. He could use practice quizzes and he can make them himself.

He needs to focus on his daily planner too, as do ALL of our middle schoolers, and even most of our high schoolers, and have all his tests written on the day they will be given, and have a detailed study plan written out for the days leading up to his test(s).

The study tasks should say, “Make 20 flashcards for spanish verbs” and that would be on Monday for example, even if his test isnt until friday. The next day should read, “review flashcards for 2 [20min] chunks”…. you can make him difficult practice quizzes where you will be able to see if he is not only comprehending the material, but retaining it.

You’re def going to want to make mini quizzes (they can be as small as 3-5 questions based on the material he just covered). If no practice quiz is given, there is no real way to ensure comprehension.

He can work on HW, but that shouldnt be his number 1 or even number 2 priority, unless the difficulty of the assignment is a pressing concern. He needs some management help, and probably a little conceptual help, you can evaluate the needs of all this at the beginning with an interview process. You will be able to gauge and feel more comfortable after working with him a second time…that kind of thing builds as you get to know your student.

Sports and tutoring are Similar

June 14th, 2011

When I’m not tutoring at Study Hut in Manhattan Beach, I like to volunteer my time as a baseball coach at Westchester Babe Ruth. I see a lot of similarities to coaching and tutoring. One of the most important aspects to both is being able to relate to players and students. I was never very receptive to the old, over the hill baseball coaches because it’s hard to relate to them. Besides baseball, there’s not too much we have in common and it’s very hard to build a rapport with them. I feel the same can be said with tutoring, because I’m not too far removed from high school its a lot easier for the other tutors and me to relate to the students. When you are in a comfortable environment, it just provides a solid learning experience. Another very interesting relationship is the amount of work both students and baseball players put into their respective fields. No one is born an All Star or brainiac, it takes a lot of effort and hard work. The best players on the field and the best students in the classroom share a common characteristic and that’s work ethic. The ones that put the extra effort in more often than not are the ones who excel in sports or school. One thing I try to stress to my students from Mira Costa and Manhattan Beach Middles School is that they should never sacrifice their schoolwork for sports. A few of my high school students think that just because they play sports they can just cruise through high school. This is most definitely not the case. If they have ambitions to play collegiate they first must have the grades to get in college, and they will also need strong study skills. Road games in college drag student athletes out of classes for days if not weeks. If they haven’t established strong study skills in high school, they are doomed in college. Luckily the student athletes have a resource like Study Hut at their finger tips, and can learn the skills to succeed in the classroom.