A positive learning environment is absolutely essential for students to be focused, to internalize whatever that is being taught, and to also actively think about the study material being presented. In this day and age, tuition has become a tool of utmost importance for students to utilize in order to excel in their academics. A tutor (be it one who teaches at the tuition centre or as a private one-to-one tutor), needs to know how to create a positive learning atmosphere which will enable students to thrive.
Before taking a look at the ways a tutor creates such an aura within a classroom, we need to understand what a “positive learning environment” means and understand its role students’ progress!
POSITIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
This is discussed as nausea by many school teachers and school principals during open houses and “parents-teachers meeting” but no one really has the true idea as to what an optimal learning environment should look like. It is important to note that tuition centres come up with practical solutions that facilitate the learning of children; which means high school tutors are well aware of the ways in which they can actively enable positivity to radiate within the classroom.
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Some strategies or techniques that tuition centres put to use are,
- Assessments to analyse students’ understanding of concepts (This enables them to further tailor their teaching to better suit the learning needs of each student)
- Tuition teachers build the crescendo in terms of difficulty level for mock papers which will challenge students
- Personal interactions
- Discussion sessions
- Seminar-like sessions (This encourages students to be the “teacher for the day”; the essence of this strategy is to help students better synthesize the content, because one has to, inevitably, when told to teach it to others)
- Hands-on learning (Practical approach)
The list is endless indeed and all this amalgamates to create a healthy learning environment for children. These techniques are used by tuition teachers to gather the attention of students and they are effective in helping students learn the concepts easily. However, these are the general outline that we all know of from a macroscopic view.
On a much fundamental level, there are many other minute factors at play and there are many things that tuition teachers do to create and maintain a positive learning environment.
Let’s take a look at the ways, shall we?
#1: INSECURITIES
All students in a tuition class are not equal. Some students may come from “elite” schools while others may be from neighborhood schools, which means students who graduated with different cut-off points are going to be seated in the same classroom. A good tuition teacher will never highlight the difference present among the students in his or her class and this will create uniformity.
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However, we need to understand there is a difference between providing equality, versus providing equity. Equity is what tuition centres aim for. Tuition teachers do not discriminate and never allow the scales to tip in favor of one group of students. Tuition teachers make it a point to never utter words that creates divisions within the students; this is solely to ensure that no student feels any lesser.
Students may have their own insecurities and may underestimate their capability but the key to never let that grow is to create an environment that treats everyone equally while catering to each student’s learning needs in different ways which establishes equity.
#2: MOTIVATION
Tuition teachers are aware that some topics may be considerably more challenging than others. If the tutor starts the lesson with “…this topic will be very challenging so pay attention…” it will automatically cause students to prime their brain into the thinking that they may have a hard time learning the topic.
Good tuition teachers ensure that their students do not have any pre-set idea about a topic which enables students to be more open minded. Approaching something with fear may create narrow-minded thinking and this inhibits students from correlating other concepts with the material that they are being presented. This is where motivation comes into play.
Source: Motivation
When students struggle with understanding concepts, private tutors will be their pillar of support to reassure them that it is just a matter of time and hard work. Words as simple as ‘You can do it; don’t give up” will go a long way in enabling the student to work with tenacity. It’s really the small things that matter!
#3: INTERACTIONS
The best thing about tuition sessions is that there is room for creativity in terms of the way concepts can be taught. It will be ultimately boring for a teacher to just stand in front of a whiteboard and talk for 2 hours. This would be too “dry” and there is no active learning; this is an extremely passive way of learning which does not get retained in students’ mind. Moreover, students will not be able to recall the information as well.
This is the prime reason why tuition teachers ensure that the lessons are interactive and engaging. Encouraging discussions on the topic is the best way to do so. A positive learning environment is created when all students are motivated and encouraged to talk about the concept that is being taught.
Actively discussing a topic will train students to explain concepts in a concise manner, in their own words which means the information will be deeply ingrained in their mind. Healthy conversations create positive aura and students will be eager to attend every tuition session!
BOTTOM LINE
Education is what shapes the future generation and this is the prime reason why there is a huge emphasis in academics all over the world. Tuition centres take the progress of their students very seriously and hence tuition teachers ensure that they do the necessary for all their students to perform with excellence in examinations! Progress does not take place over night, it takes time and lots of dedication.