Tutored a bazillion students today, both live & in person, and far away via video. It's quite the smashing-headlong-into-the-future experience, I must say. I'm developing a toolkit of tricks that make the video sessions much easier and more productive: I take screenshots of the student's problem-index-cards (their "don't know" pile for the week) when they hold their cards up to the webcam. We then work on the problem together: I talk them through it, and they write the explanation on their card. Best part is that I catalog every screenshot I take. I then have a super-convenient way to review every card they've asked me to explain. Ultro-fantastic, from a tutoring perspective.
A thought occurs: gratitude is the root of all happiness. Without it, there is no satisfaction in anything. Gratitude will make you a better person, and it will also (of course) make you a better test taker! How? Gratitude brings happiness, and happiness brings calm and focus. Most importantly, happiness helps insulate you from insane flights of test anxiety. I am inferring on a titanic scale here, it is true. But it is also true that everyone, but everyone, could use a bit more gratitude. So be thankful!
I am thankful that I am able to do something that I love for a living. Loving what you do makes you obsessed with always being better at it–this creates a virtuous cycle of learning that both student and teacher participate in. I've loved tutoring since I started in 1989, and I continue to learn so much from it. Thanks to...everybody, the Universe, but especially thanks to my students: you are the real teachers, and the promise of tomorrow.
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