There are certain memories that we carry with us into adulthood — for they helped shape who we are. For many of us, those memories are hand-delivered by the teachers and instructors in our lives: adults that changed the way we thought, challenged us to be better people, and opened our eyes to worlds we had not yet seen.
I could go on and on about the rewarding nature of choosing a career as an educator. It is well known. Teachers sacrifice so much for a job that will never make them a millionaire, simply because of their passion for helping others grow and develop into successful people with the opportunities that education affords.
But, that is not the point of this blog. In a nutshell (and let's not tell my old undergrad
journalism professors that it took me this long to reach the point) this blog is about how to take that love of teaching, and turn it into a career that packs a different kind of punch.
Tutoring is different than your average teaching experience. It might be for you, it might not, but you will never know until you understand those differences — and that's where we come in. So, with no further rambling, here are Book Bros top three things that make tutoring a unique and rewarding career:
1) Tailored Learning
One of the hardest parts of being an educator is the fact that you are expected to teach in a "one size fits all" style. Every student in your classroom is different, with different needs, different backgrounds, and different learning styles. And yet, all your students are expected to follow along with a specific curriculum that you may or may not have even had a hand in creating.
Seeing a student struggling, simply because of a mental or learning difference, but lacking the bandwidth or funds to address their issues directly, is one of the most painful parts of our careers as educators.
Tutoring allows us to use our extensive professional talents to analyze the needs of a student, discover what works best for their learning style, and then implement those dynamic changes.
I will never forget tutoring a child early on in my career that had been diagnosed with ADD, but had an incredibly horrible reaction to ADD medication. Her parents were doing everything in their power to ensure that she was able to keep up with her class, without making her suffer through the negative side effects of the medication.
After meeting with her, I discovered that her greatest difficulty was her inability to think about her schoolwork, if she was focusing on trying to remain still. So, we threw the "remaining still" requirement out the window. I then spent the rest of her after school tutoring career, sitting cross-legged, in the fort section of her backyard swing set, while she swang, climbed rope ladders, and went down the slide. And suddenly, those vocabulary words that she could never spell — came easily spilling from her mouth. Those math problems that used to frustrate her to tears, were easily solved in a quick pause before she continued on down the slide.
Now, clearly, this is an extreme example. Not everyone can spend their workday in a children's playhouse (unfortunately). But, the point still stands. As a tutor, I was able to find the wall that was keeping her from being able to perform academically and blow it to smithereens.
2) One-on-one Coaching
If you have been following us at all (which is somewhat likely, as you are still reading) then you understand that, as a company, we have a few main areas of focus. The first, is the belief that the overall wellness of a human being directly correlates to their ability to perform academically and professionally. The second, is that the United States educational system is not set up in a way that is conducive to the success of marginalized communities, including people of color.
I always find this next sentence complicated to write, because the BEST way to fight these inequalities is to write and pass legislation that promotes overall equity, provides proper funding, and reimagines the educational system in this country from the ground up. So, I wont say that putting your energy toward one-on-one tutoring is the BEST way to seek change. But, it is certainly the most accessible way, the quickest way, and the clearest path you can take as an individual to change the way that we teach our youth and provide each student with the tailored education plan they require to truly optimize their learning.
By sitting down one-on-one with a student, everything from their culture, race, gender identification, sexual orientation, socio-economic background, etc. can be used to tailor their learning plan in a way that meets their specific needs, and makes most sense to them based on their day-to-day challenges and communities. At Book Bros, we turn no one away, and we are excited to accept the challenge of working with any student with the will to learn.
3) Creative Freedom
Anybody can read a lesson plan, and regurgitate it. Well, maybe not ANYBODY, but we all had those teachers in high school and college that spent the hour and fifteen minute class reading aloud the PowerPoint that could have been e-mailed.
At Book Bros, we look at our potential hires resumes much longer than the corporate recruiter average time of three seconds. That wasn't a joke by the way, that's the average length of time a recuiter takes to decide whether to pass on or move forward with your application based on your resume. Three seconds. That's not us. We look at your resume, we look at your online presence, and most importantly — we talk to you.
We are expanding quickly in so many areas. You may have noticed on our job listings that on top of requests for tutors that focus on common subject areas, we also ask for professionals with any skill they feel is valuable and teachable. When you onboard with Book Bros, you become more than an employee that follows a checklist — you become a business partner that helps develop that checklist.
Yes, we provide training. Yes, we ensure that all our tutors adhere to the high standards we have set for ourselves, and our company. But what we also do, is know when it's our turn to take a backseat. If you come to us with an idea, a skillset, or an out-of-the-box approach — we will be the first to tell you to give it a try and ask for you to educate us on your methods. We respect your expertise. We didn't hire you before we were sure of your abilities, so why should we doubt them now? We can't spend our days preaching the need for life-long learning, only to be close-minded ourselves.
If your priorities for your career line up with our priorities for the service we provide and the company we own, then reach out to us at info@thebookbros.co on Facebook @BookBrosCo or apply on LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/2667318896