Teaching can be one of the most gratifying career choices – if you’re a teacher, you probably get a thrill out of helping a struggling student understand a difficult concept in any subject. But what do you do with your summer downtime? Many students need summer tutoring, either to fulfill requirements for the previous school year, or to prepare for the upcoming fall semester.
There are tons of benefits for both teachers and students in tutoring arrangements. As a teacher, you can keep sharp on your teaching techniques, try out new ones, and stay up-to-date in your subject area. You might have found that after summer break, you feel a little rusty in the classroom – summer tutoring can be a great way to stay current and avoid this.
Helping a student who finds a particular topic elusive can be an emotionally rewarding experience in itself; and tutoring also provides the opportunity to earn extra money to put towards your well-deserved vacation or further education costs. Cash-flow can be a problem during the summer months for teachers, so tutoring is a great way to ensure you can keep paying the bills – and you’ll gain valuable experience while doing it.
Tutoring provides you with the flexibility to determine your own schedule, the amount of hours you wish to work, and where you work. If you love to travel and are adventurous, teaching English as a second language in a foreign country can be a unique experience. Or, stay at home and work with local kids to contribute to your community and prepare them for the upcoming fall semester (and enjoy the short commute!). Working with parents as clients can also be a satisfying experience as you get to know more about the community and the kids you teach during the normal school year. Many students who receive tutoring in addition to regular class time during the school year build lasting relationships with their teachers and often credit them as having a hand in their future successes.
Working over the summer as a tutor has the added benefit of allowing you to deviate from your typical subject area: maybe you teach English during the normal school year, but you have a hidden passion for math that you miss utilizing. Tutoring at a basic level can give you the chance to exercise some of those neglected muscles. Teachers are also in demand for adults and children for whom English is a second language. This chance to experience variety and make an important difference in someone’s life can be greatly appealing.
To re-cap, teachers who tutor enjoy the following perks:
- Increased cash-flow/compensation for lost pay during summer months;
- Rewarding relationship with students and parents;
- Opportunity to set your own hours, work from home, work locally or even travel abroad;
- Chance to try new things; keep your skills focused, and work in areas you might otherwise not have the chance to during the school year.
Visit Tutor Match to build a tutor profile and register to be linked with a student who needs your expertise this summer.
Posted under Teaching, Tutoring
This post was written by Diane Palumbo on June 24, 2009
I’m not so sure about this tutoring thing. No matter how much you enjoy a piece of work, an occasional break is always needed. A summer break lets you refresh your mind and indulge in activities you never had time for. The ‘rustiness’ you talked about may well be a welcome break from the tediousness of teaching the same thing over and over again.
So far as student help is concerned, a little effort over the term can work wonders. I am a bit skeptical about their abilities to concentrate at summer breaks!
Want to tutor in math or science? You must focus on basic principles. Understand how students think, and build from there. See “Teaching and Helping Students Think and Do Better” on amazon.
It is a well-documented fact that employers today feel that high school (and many college) graduates are ill-prepared for the workforce. Concerns that modern education has not prepared students with the basics; the ability to communicate through the composition of grammatically correct, logical, informational sentences that ascertain a businesses clients that the company is staffed by intelligent, creative employees that can get the job done right the first time. I have read that new entries into the job market seem devoid of the ability to perform basic calculations correctly without the aid of a calculator.
Great post, and I completely agree…tutoring in the summer is a great way to enhance my teaching career. I’ve signed up with a company similar the one you have listed. Its called Wyzant and I have had a wonderful experience working through them. You can find their site at: http://www.wyzant.com
I agree. I love tutoring over the summer because I enjoy the 1-1 setting versus the large classroom setting that I work in during the school year.
I hope to begin a blog at my website (www.mystudystop.com) with the latest education info for parents in Idaho.
Happy tutoring!
I agree with Charlotte. I have had my superiors at past jobs make spelling and grammatical errors when they are writing things. Writing comes with a lot of practice and some people don’t keep up with it, so their skills are eventually lacking. I tutor writing and I see first-hand the way that high school graduates are not prepared at all for college.
Who doesn’t like to make money in their spare time?
You should realize that there is an issue with tutoring over break. Most tutors follow along with the curriculum the student is studying in class. Most students however do not have any courses during the summer, making it more difficult for tutors to work with them.
I think that tutoring during the sumer is very appropriate, but that it must ensure that the child has ample time to play, and enjoy the summer. A summer is a time for rest, and rejuventaion for the fall. If this is not attained, it is my belief that there will be a lack of interest in math, science, reading and the other content areas when school begins.
I think that the rustiness idea is spot on. We so often tell kids and parents about the importance of learning over the summer to ensure knowledge is not lost, and then we drop everything and head for the beach ourselves. I think tutoring does keep you sharp and also allows that one-one interaction that you probably got into teaching for in the first place!