My Teaching Experience from Student to Professional with Lesson Plans

Hey Teachers!

Have you tutored in the Summer?

Do you have any tips you’d share with me?

I know the “economy is bad” right now, but students (and/or their parents) probably still want tutoring, and some maybe even more to ensure success in school if they’re paying big bucks for it.

I read this article on Teachers Advertising Summer Tutoring which had a few good points (pick and emphasize a specialty area (mine could be French and possibly even Spanish), utilise word-of-mouth advertising (didn’t start that during the year which I should have), and creating professional literature such as business cards, a website, bumper stickers, and anything else. I guess I’ll have to be more committed if I really want success with it!)

A friend suggested going to some local college campuses and putting up notices. If I’m not too lazy, that just might be a good idea. I’m hoping anyone with ideas will respond. Craigslist would probably have a low success rate, and I think they charge for job postings now. I’d love to hear input from seasoned tutorers:

1) Where do you find your clientele?

2) What methods of advertising your services did you use?

What worked? What didn’t? What might work?

3) What rates did/do you charge (if you’d please share)? Based on how much experience?

I’m trying to get some work, but not a regular job. Please let me know, thanks in advance for your input!!!

Don’t have all the time in the world just because it’s Summer (like I had hoped I would). My aunt put it well: “Busy people tend to stay busy.” And such is my Summer thus far, but there is hope. Back to school matters- I had an interview for a full-time French teaching position today, and I have a lot to say about it (which I may have to come back to later to add to).

Things that I must get out now:

1) It went well, yay! After real teaching experience, you can feel more confident in talking about your personal educational philosophy and the like.

2) There are still tricky questions. Here are two I particularly liked (or rather, had to really think about on the spot!!) How do you think teachers of “core subjects” view Foreign Language teachers? and How do you think the principal/administration sees your role and your place in the school? I definitely didn’t have answers prepared for this, and ending up talking about what I “hope” that they would see. I think I stumbled at first by saying it depends on the teacher and the school (but hey, that’s the truth!), and I went on to share:

a. I think it’s a shame if they don’t view foreign language as an integral part of an education that can intermingle with other academic areas, and,
b. I hope that the principal views me as a crucial part of the faculty, and that faculty and administration alike can hopefully see FL as a positive experience for all to help build courage, tolerance, and understanding.

I worded it about that well (ie poorly ) and you can see it was hard for me to avoid talking about what I hoped instead of what I thought they think.

3) You have to remember that you’re only there for a small amount of time and you can’t get it all in. Focus on the important things, don’t stray when answering questions, let your good qualities shine, and they will usually ask you more in a second interview- if you impress them, that is.

I was pleasantly surprised that they didn’t get into some areas I was apprehensive about, and I think I did a great job answering the questions (though I need to focus on being succinct and giving answers that DIRECTLY respond to their specific question (so much overlaps it’s hard not to get into it, but anyway!)).

More on this later, as you can see, my path is heading in interesting directions. Maybe…