Monday, September 20, 2010

My defination of a tutor

Today, I was in an office and talking about some of my teaching materials.  Someone said, "Oh you are a
teacher."  I replied, "No, I am a tutor."  What is the difference?  Sometimes some teachers do tutor outside of the formal school classroom.  A teacher is too often required to teach to the test.  He or she has to fill out
too much paperwork.  The teacher is required to teach from books that may or may not be best for each student.  If a student needs a different teaching method, often the teacher does not have the time or is not
allowed to teach differently.  Yes there are exceptions to this but it is too often too true.
A tutor can choose to tutor a student or not.  How often can a teacher refuse a student?  A tutor can chose what material to use.  A teacher is often told what material to use.. A parent can change tutors. How hard is it  for a parent to change a student out of a poor teacher's class.  Sometimes, a good teacher and a student will have a personality clash. How hard is it to change that student or teacher.  A tutor can go as slow or as fast as needed to help the student.  A teacher has between 20 and 30 students/  It stretches me to work with 3. 
The students I work with are struggling in the classroom and often need one on one help.  My hat is off to the teachers who do a great job of teaching. Hopefully the students who need more help can find a good tutor also.

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