Friday, April 21, 2023 by Cindy Kirkpatrick | Me

Why I'm an Online tutor!

As an elementary student, I knew I wanted to become a teacher by the time I reached third grade. 

After all, I played school with my friends frequently and was usually the teacher. 

I was proficient in reading, my grades were excellent, and I never had any homework. 

I LOVED school!

However, as I entered middle school, everything changed. 

I found myself buried in hours of homework every night, and my grades started suffering. 

Although I could read the words without any issue, I had difficulty answering questions about the texts, leading to frequent stomachaches and tears of frustration. 

During math homework with my dad, I clearly remember crying out in frustration, "That's not how my teacher taught us to do it!" As a result, I became more withdrawn and stopped participating in class discussions. 

I HATED school! 

Despite these challenges, my love for teaching never wavered, and I continued to pursue my dream. 

I had hoped college would be a step up from my previous schooling experiences.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. I pursued a teaching program with a friend, and despite studying together, I consistently received lower test scores than her. 

No matter how much I studied, I could not achieve better grades.

I empathized with my students' challenges as I began my teaching career. 

From test anxiety and difficulty retaining information to a reluctance to engage in class, I could relate to their struggles on a personal level. 

With this insight, I developed strategies to help them break through these obstacles and ultimately gain greater enjoyment from their school experience, particularly in reading.

I worked with multiple students after school as a public school teacher. 

By customizing my teaching lessons to fit their individual needs, I noticed significant improvements in their academic performance during our regular class time. 

Unfortunately, because of recurring illnesses and my physician's advice to discontinue teaching in the classroom, I had no choice but to leave my dream career.

Leave my dream career of teaching?

Despite exploring different career paths, I longed to return to teaching, so I returned to my previous school. 

However, my health problems persisted, causing me to miss many days once again.

Eventually, my family convinced me to explore tutoring.

Although hesitant about the business side of tutoring, I decided to try it and started working with students online. 

With my first student, I witnessed remarkable growth in their reading abilities. 

One day, they excitedly texted me to say they were the only one in class who could figure out a difficult word using a strategy I had taught them. This news filled me with immense pride and gratification.

I have witnessed countless success stories since I started tutoring online in 2016.  

Another student struggled with severe anxiety regarding class participation and test-taking. 

However, I was able to help them develop skills and strategies that gradually lessened their anxiety. 

Although they still found tests challenging, they had become far more confident in their abilities, even raising their hand in class to answer questions - something they had avoided doing all year. 

This remarkable progress occurred during the latter part of the school year, and I felt immensely proud and fulfilled to have played a part in their success.

Similarly, a student I worked with still needed to learn to read and would get easily frustrated when they could not remember what they had been learning. 

They had some dyslexia characteristics and trouble focusing. 

By using specific teaching techniques to enhance their memory skills, the student began reading simple words and short stories, increasing their enthusiasm for learning through reading.

These success stories are why I LOVE one-on-one online tutoring. 

I can meet students where they are, find their gaps, teach them the skills that close those gaps, and to love learning, whether reading or math. 

Since 2016, I have been living my ultimate dream career teaching/tutoring one-on-one online.

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