Technological advancements have made life easy and breezy, especially for students and teachers. So, in 2019, Coronavirus entered the planet and started making everyone sick. Schools and colleges had to close their doors and students couldn’t even enjoy their prom and farewell. But there was a serious concern hovering over every parent’s head. They wondered how their child would study inside the home and improve their skills in a particular subject. Thank god for teach online classes – tutors are able to interact with students and clear doubts.
As an online tutor, you have a lot of responsibility (probably more than a teacher in a classroom setting). A teacher comes to class, teaches, and leaves. She/he does not ask every student whether they have any doubt. Moreover, students feel too shy to ask questions because they think others might laugh. But, online tutoring is one-on-one interaction between a student and a tutor. You can teach online classes and help the student get better at the subject they aspire to learn and improve their existing skills.
The question is – How do you prepare and teach online classes?
As a new tutor, you will have this query in your head and might need some answers. Keep reading to find out how you can get started and what it takes to prep up.
Understanding Basic Technology
Don’t get overwhelmed by the word, ‘online tutoring.’ You just need three things to get started:
- A computer/laptop
- Internet connection (someone else will fix it up for you)
- A video calling software like Skype (easy to download on your laptop/PC)
Once you have these three things, you are good to go.
Make sure the internet connection is strong because you don’t want any glitches during your class. Research about some of the best internet connections in your area and then get someone to fix it for you. The monthly charges are minimum, and you can do so much with an internet connection!
Video calling software like Skype is utilized by many online tutoring platforms such as Evopry. You can connect with the student, share your screen, and even send them links, presentations, videos, and so much more.
Another thing you need to ensure is your computer/laptop should have a built-in speaker and a camera. If you want to amplify your online tutoring experience, we would recommend you to buy a microphone. It’s easier to speak through a microphone, and you will be much more audible to the students.
Wasn’t that easy? Now that you are aware of the basic technology, we must head to the next step.
Creating a Positive Classroom Environment
You are not in a classroom, so you would need to ensure that you choose a quiet space to teach. There should be no unpleasant noises or disturbances during the class.
The background should not look unprofessional. Thankfully, Skype and other software allow you to set up a background of your choice. If you feel that your home/space is not looking professional, you can change the background.
Sometimes a tutor is traveling, and they may be in a hotel room or amidst mountains. This is when they need a background that does not take away the student’s attention.
Start Engaging with your Students
The reason why most teachers fail to impress a student with their skills is because they don’t engage with them. As a tutor, you just have to teach one student at a time. You can make the class a little more engaging by asking the students about their doubts and concerns.
If you are teaching general knowledge to your student, you can make it fun by including Alexa in your lessons. Here’s what you can do: tell your student that you are going to play a fun general knowledge game on Monday. Pick any word such as Barack Obama or Hitler and give it to your student. The student has to ask a question to Alexa related to the word you have given them. They could ask, ‘Who is Barack Obama?’ This way, Alexa will educate your student about who he is and what he did. Similarly, you can give another word like USB. And the student will ask Alexa, ‘What does a USB do?’ Alexa will not only tell them its function, but also the full form of USB. This can be an interesting class simply because the student will be on their toes to ask questions.
It will get very interesting, and your student will look forward to the next class.
Take some Help from Technology
You can show videos and images to your students to make the class interesting.
In fact, there are many tutors who suggest movies to students. Let’s say you are teaching sociology or history, so you can suggest historically or sociologically relevant movies. In the next class, ask the student about what they learned from the movie.
Online tutoring jobs are so exciting because you have the ability to add some creativity and fun factor to your classes.
By showing videos, movies, and images, you are able to get your student’s attention, and they would like to learn more.
There’s another thing you can do to make your class interesting. Introduce online games to teach certain lessons. A website named Sparkle has lots of quizzes for your students, and they have an interesting and fun format too.
You can play word games with your students – there are plenty of word game applications on Android phones and iPhones.
De-stress and Tutor with a Smile
Students pay attention to a positive teacher. If you are too strict or do not smile enough, they would think something is not quite right with you.
They are getting enough cold treatment from their school teachers, so don’t be as cold or as rigid with your students.
Teach online classes are fun – even though you need to plan what to teach in the next class, there is always a way to make the class highly engaging.
Brush up the major points on what you want to teach in the next class, but don’t make it about lecturing the student. Try to gain a student’s attention and make them a part of the online class.
