|
 June 2008
Hello everybody,
I hope that you're all having great, relaxing summers and "recharging the batteries" for the next school year.
As some of you know, I've been dabbling in SAT-prep videos lately, and have produced some free SAT-prep videos for the MT Blog. These videos are also collected on my YouTube page (www.youtube.com/mcelroytutoring1). While "static" videos will never be as helpful as the services of a skilled private tutor, they can work well in the hands of a motivated student.
Making these videos has been a fun and exciting experience for me, because it's a very different experience from private tutoring. In a private tutoring session, I ask a lot of questions of the student to try to ascertain what he/she knows, and how he/she is approaching the problem, and I adapt my explanation to fit the individual needs of that particular student. When making an instructional video, I obviously don't have that luxury!
One of the main reasons I started creating these videos is that I've always liked the idea of "pro bono" work. As you may know, our tutors charge between 35 and 200 dollars an hour for private tutoring, which is something that only select families can afford. Although I do feel that these are fair prices for tutors our experience and expertise, I also understand that our rates are out of reach for some students. This is why I've put dozens free SAT-prep postings on the McElroy Tutoring Blog, in both written and video form. You might not be able to have one of our tutors teach you in person, but if you explore our website, you'll still find a wealth of information.
Another reason why these videos are helpful is that they've allowed me to start incorporating them into my private tutoring sessions. In the past, I taught certain introductory lessons the same way every time. So now, instead of spending 10 minutes explaining the scoring system of the SAT to my students, for example, I simply point them to this video. Or if they want to learn how to use mnemonic devices to remember vocabulary words, I point them to this video. This frees up more time for me to teach these students in a more specialized manner.
But I do have to admit that I'm still new to the whole "video lessons" thing, and as I tend to do with other areas of my life, I'm always looking to improve my skills by learning from someone with more experience. Which is why I was so pleased when I stumbled upon Khan Academy, a nonprofit educational company started by Salman Khan. Salman is a Harvard and MIT graduate, a math genius, and an all-around funny guy who has produced hundreds of math videos over the last 4 years. He shares these videos for free on the web, including explanations for every Math problem from the Official SAT Study Guide. That's right -- *every problem!* I've watched many of the videos myself and can say that they are excellent.
So if you're having trouble with SAT Math and need a little extra guidance, check out Khan Academy on YouTube! I promise it will be worth your time.
Yours,
Brian
Back to Blog Home
|
June 2008
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
