We are so richly blessed to live in an area with so many educational opportunities. I would imagine, if one is a parent, it often seems like all the more pressure to find that perfect place to spend one's extracurricular funds. With so many choices, how does a parent choose the right one for that child who needs academic help over the summer?
In my prodigious hopping about the educational scene on the Peninsula and in the South Bay, I have worked at, and encountered many of the various choices that are available to parents and students. Many of them I have extensive knowledge of, and some, just a passing one. With that, though, I have learned some things along the way that I can share with you as you start your search for that summer camp, tutoring or something in between for your child.
First and foremost, OOS tries to do its best to help parents out with this issue with its many summer camps. Whatever is needed for your child, we hope to answer that need as economically as we can. With teachers that you know, in a environment that is family oriented and familiar, OOS tries to meet as many needs of the students we serve as possible.
But for many of you, we can't fulfill all of your needs. So, for that, you might need some extra guidance. I will start from the most expensive to the least.
First, there is private tutoring. The cost of this can vary between $12 an hour (for the high school kid next door) to over $60 an hour. Those prices can add up quickly, and you want to know what you are looking for. A good tutor will give you information upfront. When I tutored, I gave a pre-assessment to find out what I needed to teach. That way, you, as the parents, can see the progress has been. Other methods might be a weekly check up of what the tutor has done and what progress has been made.
Dangers? Accountability is an issue-- in many cases you get what you pay for, but some of those $60 an hour folks may be willing, but out of their league in the subject matter.
Sylvan, Huntington, Kumon, and The Tutoring Club:
I know the most about Sylvan, because I ran the one in Cupertino on Stevens Creek. For one month that I ran it, it was the Sylvan with the largest revenue in all the Sylvan chain. Sylvan and the competitors run their highly successful, and expensive, programs based on filling gaps indicated in a series of tests given, usually at a cost, to the potential student. The student/teacher ratio is the key element, as well as the teacher/student connection. You pay for a lower student teacher ratio, but it al also been proven that the connection between the teacher and student is vital.
There is a huge difference in the pricing of these programs. Those topics that are dependent on higher order thinking skills, things like writing, reading, and logical math, like calculus, are far more dependent on teacher/ student interactions.
If I were a parent with a limited budget, I would look for a low cost program for those lower-order thinking skills like calculation. The higher on the ladder of thinking skills the topic, the more one needs to rely on a good teaching and the connection between the teacher and the student.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
"Go shake your ears!"
From the first, I was apprehensive about having an insult contest with the kids. Though it was my idea, sometimes my ideas need to be filtered, with many of them discarded along the way. This one, though, had so much potential that I went with it.
It was a hit three years ago, when we first held it, but this year... oh, my... this year it rocked the house. I warned the sixth graders that the seventh grade was good. I was concerned that the seventh grade, with their experience, added to their talent along with their numbers, would be a insurmountable problem for the sixth graders.
Heh. Little did I know.
With an insult that seemed to go on forever, each line funnier than the last, delivered with sheer conviction by one of the nicest people I know, Rebecca insulted her way into the Shakespearean Insult Hall of Fame. (Well, her name is on my board in wet erase ink, and we call that the Insult Hall of Fame.) She took my suggestion to use a longer insult and she acted it out with verve and enthusiasm, perhaps letting just a bit of steam out from all those long days of homework.
Rebecca wasn't the only one, though. Each year, this thing gets more difficult to judge. Many of the students showed their acting ability and took turns insulting each other. Calvin, last year's winner, upped the ante, dropping the popular style of insulting for a quieter, far more sarcastic, style. Calvin, you were very hard to beat!
What really delights me about the insult contest is that we can do it. Where else can you get a group of middle school students to memorize Shakespeare and then pretend they are insulting each other-- and not have it burst out into something that is unkind? This is a special group of students who seem to like each other well enough to engage in something that can't be done with most groups their age.
It always is the best part of the party, but there were many great pieces to the event. Doris Williams, a trained teacher and a classical and Celtic musical scholar, accompanied by Sue Casey, taught the students a bit about music of the times. Ria was there to spin for us again, students shared their projects, and Ms. McGillivray talked of some of her knowledge of the costumes of the times. And we can't forget the food! A loaded table filled with Elizabethan delights filled our bellies.
In the end, though, it was the students that made the day, and the highlight is always the insult contest. Thank you, all who insulted and were insulted. Remember, one always sounds much more intelligent when it is said in "Shakespearean."
It was a hit three years ago, when we first held it, but this year... oh, my... this year it rocked the house. I warned the sixth graders that the seventh grade was good. I was concerned that the seventh grade, with their experience, added to their talent along with their numbers, would be a insurmountable problem for the sixth graders.
Heh. Little did I know.
With an insult that seemed to go on forever, each line funnier than the last, delivered with sheer conviction by one of the nicest people I know, Rebecca insulted her way into the Shakespearean Insult Hall of Fame. (Well, her name is on my board in wet erase ink, and we call that the Insult Hall of Fame.) She took my suggestion to use a longer insult and she acted it out with verve and enthusiasm, perhaps letting just a bit of steam out from all those long days of homework.
Rebecca wasn't the only one, though. Each year, this thing gets more difficult to judge. Many of the students showed their acting ability and took turns insulting each other. Calvin, last year's winner, upped the ante, dropping the popular style of insulting for a quieter, far more sarcastic, style. Calvin, you were very hard to beat!
What really delights me about the insult contest is that we can do it. Where else can you get a group of middle school students to memorize Shakespeare and then pretend they are insulting each other-- and not have it burst out into something that is unkind? This is a special group of students who seem to like each other well enough to engage in something that can't be done with most groups their age.
It always is the best part of the party, but there were many great pieces to the event. Doris Williams, a trained teacher and a classical and Celtic musical scholar, accompanied by Sue Casey, taught the students a bit about music of the times. Ria was there to spin for us again, students shared their projects, and Ms. McGillivray talked of some of her knowledge of the costumes of the times. And we can't forget the food! A loaded table filled with Elizabethan delights filled our bellies.
In the end, though, it was the students that made the day, and the highlight is always the insult contest. Thank you, all who insulted and were insulted. Remember, one always sounds much more intelligent when it is said in "Shakespearean."