A Gift That Lasts A Lifetime...

With the Holidays in full swing, people often have difficulty choosing the 'perfect' gift. (Perhaps that's the reason mall parking lots are filled!)
Here at tutorMYway, we make it easy and meaningful to give the gift of education. Since education can last a lifetime, this may be one of the best gifts a student could receive! We are offering gift certificates for purchase during this Holiday Season.
We will continue to offer them the entire year for those special birthdays etc. Simply contact tutorMYway via email or phone to purchase a "Tutoring Gift Certificate." We will issue the certificate and send it to you or the lucky student with a personal message! The student then calls to set up personalized tutoring sessions at their convenience. The gift of education can be carried and honed throughout ones life. If you would like to give such a treasured gift to a special student then we saved you the time and effort, plus the issue of finding that coveted mall parking spot!

Seasons Greetings from all of us at tutorMYway.

Spooktacular Halloween Lessons and Tutoring!

October is here! It's difficult to avoid the ghosts and pumpkins that lurk around us this month. Many students and adults often set the countdown to the ominous yet fun night of 10/31! In the spirit of the month and a celebration enjoyed across all age groups, we would like to share a wonderful Halloween website with education-based activities. These activities can help students get in the spirit while honing skills! Intertwining educational activities with student personal interest is a great way to foster academic skills. After all, we like to do activities that interest us! Enjoy this site, it has Science, Math, Language Arts and Art activities directly related to Halloween.
Wishing you and your family a great Halloween from the tutorMYway. We are offering some spooktacular specials this month for new students!!

Back-2-School Tutoring Specials!

August is winding up, Labor Day Weekend is approaching and so is the start of the 2008-9 Academic Year!! With school just around the corner, it's hard not to think about being at the head of the class and receiving stellar report cards. A great way to get students excited about the school year and a jump start into the inevitable is by private tutoring.
Currently tutorMYway is offering Back-2-School specials off the hourly rate. The tutoring program is designed by you-- you choose the number of sessions, the subjects and the length! There are no registration, termination or consultation fees, you only pay for the tutoring hours. Mention this blog site to receive a special discount.
Schedule your personal private tutoring session today with tutorMYway, either online or by calling 866-576-2213.

Get 1 step closer to the Head of the Class!!

Olympics 2008- Getting Students Involved

As August spins by, it's inevitable that students begin to think about school whether by choice or by the back-to-school signals that loom around us. With the Olympics starting today, there are great avenues in which parents can involve their children while honing some academic skills such as reading, math and research. The best part is that with the excitement of the Summer Olympic Games, students enjoy these academic-based activities because the Olympics is fun and rather easy to follow. Visit this great site with resources about Olympics 2008 students. Go Team USA!!

Memorable Summer Activities- Let's Make A Story Map!

During the summer we beat the heat by taking vacations, visiting water parks and other recreational activities. As parents, we make an effort to give our children the opportunity to enjoy summer as well as make memories, like we all have. Despite the activity, there are many ways in which parents can help polish Language Arts Skills while using these activities as a backbone.

• Make a Story Map

Scholastic provides a great template to fill-in that can help students to create their own entire stories with all of the elements. For example, students can write a story about an activity they did enjoyed in the summer or something they want to do in the future. This can be a fun activity and help enhance Language Arts skills.

Story Map Activities:

• Fill in a Story Map and then tell their story aloud
• Fill in a Story Map and write the story
• 2 students/parent can use the same map to write their stories and compare!
• On a side note, a tall glass of lemonade can make all of these activities "more fun!"
  

Summer is a time for fun and I think if we can add educational activities to real-life experiences, students can make personal connections in a deep level and enjoy the activity to the fullest without making it seem like Summer Homework!

Hats Off to Our Teachers!- Nat'l Teacher Day-May 6

We all have favorite teachers. Some teachers went far and beyond to make education experiences memorable. In an effort to keep teachers in the dialog, a simple thank-you is just what they need!

This Tuesday, May 6 (the day after Cinco de Mayo) is "National Teacher's Day." This wonderful celebration started in 1953 and continues. The first full week of May is "National Teacher Appreciation Week," with Tuesday being a special day!

There are many ways to celebrate our teachers from the simplest and meaningful--having students make a Thank You card for their teacher(s). In addition, the National Education Association (NEA) provides several ways in which we can participate in the celebration such as being a part of the "Nation's Largest Thank-You Card Project." You can be a part of this special celebration by adding your personal card here.

To all of our teachers, a great big "Thank You" for all of your hard-work, dedication and relentless motivation.

Summer is Around The Corner...

As May approaches, we can't help from feeling that Summer is heading our way full-speed ahead! The summer fun--swimming, hitting the beaches, sleeping late and of course iced tea and pink lemonade--awaits our students. However, as our students enjoy the traditional summer fun along with the modern video games, it is important to add educational activities to the calendar.

Parents and students worked hard during the school to reach goals. In an effort to preserve as well as hone those skills, many parents choose tutoring programs for the summer. tutorMYway is currently offering "Summer Fun Specials" for customized tutoring. We are also offering group lessons if friends would like to join their friends as we learn together!

Visit tutorMYway and contact a tutoring consultant to schedule Summer Learning!

Online Tutoring Has Arrived To tutorMYway!

Students learn with multimedia. Our schools implement computers into curriculum as knowledge of computers is key in our information-based society. Therefore in an effort to expand and reach out and offer even more options to "customize" tutoring, tutorMYway now offers online tutoring in select subject areas and grade levels.

So How Does Online Tutoring Work?

With online tutoring a student will work in a virtual classroom 1-1 in real time with a tutorMYway professional tutor. They will be able to securely chat and use a virtual whiteboard to exchange ideas and brainstorm. The tutor and student can also screen share which enables the tutor to directly work on same documents in real time. The student can work from the comfort of their home with a professional tutor!

Visit tutorMYway for details...

To Play or Not?

Children love to play and that seems universal. They start playing from an early age and learn to view play as form of excitement. In a school setting, free play, often referred to a recess is often viewed as a privilege. However, research shows that free play is imperative in promoting and stimulating growth for our children. As adults, we often overlook the educational importance of "free play" in child development and sometimes use it as an incentive rather than a learning platform.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics Clinical Report on The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds, describes the benefits of free play include:

* allowing kids to use their creativity, foster their imagination, dexterity, and other strengths
* encouraging interaction with the world around them
* helping kids conquer fears and build self-confidence
* teaching kids to work in cooperative groups, learning to share and resolve conflicts
* helping kids practice decision making skills in context

I think that it is important for parents and teachers alike to learn about the benefits of free play. By the way, playing video games does not constitute as free play, though video games do have some benefits also. However, maybe we might think again before we "take away recess" as a punishment. To access the complete Clinical Report published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, visit: http://www.aap.org/pressroom/playFINAL.pdf

Private Tutoring...Benefits for ALL Students

The term "Private Tutor" can stem many images, perhaps going back to classical times since that is how emperors educated the finest in society. However in our world, private tutoring has become available to all not only the high-powered elite. The accessibility of private tutoring enables parents and students to get a direct handle on education. Private tutoring has many facets: catch up to speed, broaden horizons, learn "how to learn", mentor and of course get ahead of the class! "Private tutoring can help academically and intellectually advanced students remain challenged—and, therefore, interested in their education—and, because it is customized, one-to-one instruction, private tutoring can go at the accelerated pace necessary for such students" (as reported by Dr. Charlton in “The Story of My Life” in Charlton, Marolf, & Stanley, 2002); It's amazing how 1-on-1 private tutoring can help engage students and enable them to take an active interest in their education! Visit: http://www.ready-2-read.com/ for all your tutoring needs!

Teachers: Move Over Monopoly, Hello Lessonopoly!

Calling all teachers! As teachers we experience a new day everyday, though our classroom walls and students may look the same, a day is inherently different. In an attempt to create interesting lessons, (yes and meet state standards) it is often wise to collaborate with others in the field. However, with only 24 hours in a day and a to-do list that grows like weeds, it is almost impossible to collaborate, lesson plan, successfully manage your classroom, and oh yeah, meet personal goals and chores!
Well, to help your list and time management, I would like to introduce: Lessonopoly (http://lessonopoly.org/). Lessonop0ly is a one stop for free (our favorite word) for: Classroom Management, Lesson Plan Library and Collaboration with other teachers.
According to the site, "Lessonopoly is a free tool that lets you manage your classroom, find and share lesson plans and connect with other teachers" (http://lessonopoly.org/). Simply sign up and you are in a community of educators! Thank you, Silicon Valley Education Foundation (SVEF) for providing teachers with this wonderful tool!

Create Custom Graphs Online!

It is a fact that all students learn differently and our teachers should be able to identify how students learn and alter teaching to styles to meet the needs of their unique classroom. However, with 26-30 students in one class, not all teachers are able to meet this goal.
In our modern day, many students have adapted to visual learning, thanks to the variety of technology in their lives-- television, DVDs, video games etc. As a teacher, I tried to integrate visuals across subjects in an attempt to meet the needs of my visual learners. In particular I often used graphs in my classroom. I liked graphs because we could take class votes and make all different types of graphs. In an effort to promote creating graphs as well as reading them, I found a fabulous website where students can enter information and create graphs according to parameters. You can access the site via: http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/graphing/
This site is great for all educational levels and students can create different types of graphs! It's great for science projects, as well as visuals for reports! Graph On!

Learning on Your Terms...

When was the last time you used your Walkman or Discman? Well, those days have quickly faded as we have migrated to Apple's iPod and other MP3 devices. Our society has become accustomed to downloading our songs and if we have a slow connection, we become restless. What about the days when we used to drive to the music to purchase a tape? Once again, a faded memory. Since we have trained ourselves to enjoy our entertainment (music, videos, news) on our schedule in our hands, it only seems logical that education follows the same path.

Students still go to school, but learning has begun to revolutionize and I think if we catch the bandwagon like we did with entertainment our students will be more successful in their academic endeavours. In "Apple's 'iTunes' site" there is a section called "iTunes U." This section often gets overlooked because it might not have the latest Beyonce track. However, this subset of iTunes enables us to access educational content from major universities and listen to it just like music.

On Apple's website, http://www.apple.com/education/itunesu_mobilelearning/itunesu.html they explain the power of this method of learning by stating:

iTunes U delivers easy, 24/7 access to educational content from hundreds of top colleges, universities, and educationally focused organizations across the country. And it’s accessible to anyone with a Mac or PC.Students can sync iTunes U with any iPod or iPhone, so they can go right on learning while they catch a meal, walk to class, or work out at the gym. Engaging students on their home turf, iTunes U offers audio and video that make subjects more vivid than any printed page ever could. iTunes U allows schools to open all or part of their content to the public, from parents to alumni to anyone with a love of learning.

I think we will begin to adopt these new supplemental learning avenues and this will help keep keep our students engaged. Just like we adapted to mp3 players such as the iPod, look out for a generation that will use these devices for learning too. Learning on "their" terms...

**Apple offers student and faculty discounts! For more information: http://www.apple.com/education/hed/students/discounts.html

NEA's "Read Across America" Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Today, March 3, 2008 is the National Education Association's "Read Across America" day. Perhaps your child will come home with some great comments about how they celebrated this ever popular day. I think that it is wonderful to have a single day dedicated to reading, as it serves as a backbone to education across subjects.
However, I propose that we attempt to keep "Read Across America" alive everyday, even though we celebrate it on a particular day, Dr. Seuss's birthday (3/2). (This year many schools celebrated it on 3/3 because 3/2 was a Sunday). We celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday because he gave us the timeless readers like "The Cat and the Hat" that helped many say, "I can read and I am a reader!" With this theme in mind, it is important that we surround our students with books and print, constantly reminding them they are readers and the power to read is endless.
Keep on the lookout for the NEA's: Cat-a-Van" in a city near you! The National Edcuation Association's website (http://www.nea.org/) writes:

Catch the reading ride this Read Across America season! Three Cat-a-Van tours will be hitting the roads to celebrate the joy of reading. The three tours will start their travels in Atlanta, Austin and Chicago to cover more than 1,200 miles in 11 states.
During the cat trek, the tours will visit more than 18 cities in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas to provide more than 12,000 books and cash grants valued at $100,000, thanks to a generous donations from NEA's Books Across America, a program that provides book donations and financial backing to public school libraries in need. Find out if Seuss's famous feline is headed to your neck of the woods.

Education and Technology--A Safe Collaboration

In the current day and age it is almost impossible to get through a day without using technology. We have woven technology into our lives in an effort to simplify, like online calendars with alerts and email accessible on the go.
In the same manner teachers attempt to introduce technology and meet new state technology standards. However there can be many obstacles from a lack of funding to a meaningful way to weave technology into current curriculum. In an effort to create a safe online learning environment for K-12 students, ed.voicethread.com attempts to meet these needs by providing

"a secure collaborative network designed for the K-12 academic environment. Using one simple tool, educators and students can collaborate almost around any type of media via voice, text, web cam and drawing commentary, all within a secure environment. Access to the network is restricted to K-12 educators, students and administrators, ensuring safe and secure classroom collaboration. "
This safe media based collaborative online network is a powerful tool as it helps weave educational communities across subjects. This is one great example of how students can successfully and safely apply technology directly into learning.