Tutoring Services for Middle School Students
Content Tutoring: We provide tutoring for both standard and specialized subjects. Our goal is to help all learners cultivate the knowledge, skills, and confidence to achieve their goals.
Executive Function Tutoring: Tutors teach skills related to task initiation, goal-directed persistence, time management, organization, and working memory. Executive function skills help students manage their time, stay organized, and complete tasks efficiently, enhancing their academic performance and overall well-being.
Standardized Test Prep: For exams like the ISEE, SSAT, or HSPT, we provide comprehensive testing strategies, including study skills, time management, organization, and practices for alleviating test anxiety. Each session is tailored to the individual student's needs, with the goal of fostering confidence in standardized testing.
Enrichment Tutoring: Through our individualized approach, we build upon existing knowledge and skills, inspiring curiosity and a love of learning. Students are guided by tutors to delve into specialized and/or advanced topics, personalized projects, and more. Like a customizable camp, this is a great option for summer!
Short-Term Support: We offer support without long commitments for tests, projects, or specific topics, providing flexible solutions for tight deadlines. Just let us know your urgency when you contact us.
Middle School Skill Support
Reading:
We tailor instruction to meet the individual needs of each student, offering support for struggling readers, challenges for advanced readers, and providing personalized activities and homework help as needed. Tutors guide middle school students in developing the skills needed to find success, and even joy, in reading.
● Reading Comprehension: Strategies such as visualizing, summarizing, identifying main ideas/key details, asking questions, and making predictions/connections help students understand what they read. Middle school students are also encouraged to apply critical thinking skills to their reading, such as analyzing, evaluating, inferring, and drawing conclusions.
● Vocabulary Development: Bolstering comprehension by building students’ vocabulary base and finding the meaning of unfamiliar words through context clues, word roots, and dictionaries.
● Fluency Practice: This can include timed readings, echo reading (where the tutor reads a passage and the student repeats), application of multi-syllable phonics skills, building sight word recognition, and repeated readings of the same text to build confidence and speed.
● Promoting a Love for Reading: Our tutors aim to foster positivity towards reading by exploring a variety of genres and topics that align with student interests. We encourage independent reading for pleasure and provide recommendations for books that students may enjoy.
Writing:
Our tutors guide students through the writing process of brainstorming, organizing, and crafting compelling essays, as well as encouraging creativity and enthusiasm through interest-based writing activities. Whether it's a persuasive piece or a personal reflection, our tutoring services ensure student voices shine.
● Brainstorming and Planning: Using graphic organizers like webs or outlines to help students organize their thoughts and structure their writing before they begin drafting.
● Writing Prompts: Helping spark students' creativity and giving them a starting point for writing. Prompts may be related to personal experiences, literature, or current events.
● Writing Conventions: Including grammar, punctuation, and spelling rules to help students communicate clearly. Editing and proofreading skills are emphasized to polish their writing.
● Writing Organization: Students are supported with scaffolding such as sentence frames, transition phrases, and questions to help them expand on their outlines and express their thoughts clearly in writing.
● Text Analysis: Learning how to apply text evidence to writing, such as for essays based on a novel read in class.
● Genre Study: Allowing students to explore a variety of forms, from expository essays to poetry. Each genre has its own structure and features, which students learn through analysis and practice.
● Voice and Style: Reflecting the author's personality and perspective; we encourage students to develop their unique voice and writing style.
● Revision: Involving rethinking ideas, clarifying language, and making improvements.
● Reflection: Helping students set goals and identify areas for improvement in their writing.
Math:
Whether it's support with multiplication tables, geometry, or word problems, we ensure that young mathematicians stay sharp and keep their math anxiety at bay. We offer personalized attention, nurturing relationships, and a commitment to lifelong learning.
● Building Strong Foundations: Locating any gaps in foundational math concepts and ensuring they are filled before moving on to more advanced topics.
● Homework Support: Helping students build understanding, confidence, and independence when tackling assignments in a variety of middle school math topics, including algebra, geometry, measurement, fractions/decimals, and more.
● Math Vocabulary: Introduced and reinforced so that students can fully understand and solve problems.
● Multi-Step Math: Supporting students with problems that involve identifying and following multiple steps in order.
● Critical Thinking: Cultivated by asking open-ended questions, having students explain their reasoning, and challenging them to explore multiple solution methods. Students develop the ability to analyze problems from different perspectives and evaluate the validity of their solutions.
● Test Preparation: Empowering students to tackle quizzes, tests, and exams with confidence by reviewing key concepts, practicing problem-solving and test-taking strategies, and becoming familiar with the format of assessment questions.
Executive Function:
Executive Function (EF) skills are the cognitive processes essential to accomplishing tasks/goals and self-regulation. By working on the following EF skills (and more) during tutoring, students can develop strategies to improve their academic performance and overall effectiveness in managing their personal and school-related tasks.
● Time Management: Effectively planning and allocating time to balance schoolwork and other responsibilities, including setting deadlines, identifying higher-priority tasks, and creating schedules.
● Organization: Keeping materials, assignments, and notes systematically arranged, using tools like binders, agendas, and/or digital apps to stay organized.
● Task Initiation: Starting tasks promptly without procrastination by breaking them into manageable steps and setting clear, achievable goals.
● Goal-Directed Persistence: The ability to stay focused and maintain effort toward achieving long-term goals, despite obstacles or setbacks.
● Working Memory: The capacity to hold and manipulate information in the mind over short periods, allowing students to use this information while performing tasks such as following instructions, completing an assignment, and making decisions.
● Self-Monitoring: Tracking and reflecting on one’s own performance and progress, adjusting strategies as needed to stay on track.
● Problem Solving: Systematically addressing challenges by identifying problems, brainstorming solutions, and evaluating options to find effective strategies.
