The elementary schools help the students to constitute a greater portion of their underage education. It typically covers children from five to eleven years old. During this substantial period, a child will study a lot of subjects starting from basic arithmetic to reading and writing skills and learn many social skills that will help in establishing a foundation for secondary education and beyond.
Tutoring online is a boundless job that provide many opportunities for online tutors, whether you are a retired or active teacher, teen with a good knowledge on a specific topic. Online tutoring platform is a growing field and the global tutoring market is expected to reach into another level. It has become a profitable source for income for either in a part-time or full-time basis. The following guide will help how to become an online tutor by outlining certain insights.
Why choose tutoring as a career?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports, the professionals earned an average salary of $25,000. The learning potential of tutors influences the pay of tutors. The job growth is also very high as more than 1.2 million tutors employed in the US. This number is going to surpass in 1.3 million by 2024. You can start online tutoring if you have a spare time from home or anywhere with a PC and active internet connection. If you have the ability for tutoring, the following steps can help you to provide ways to tutor elementary students online.
Requirements to become an online tutor:
The tutors help the students to improve their grades, prepare for exams, understand concepts, and motivate them. They also prepare for academic examinations, offer feedback, and help someone to grow and learn. You can experience a huge difference by becoming an online tutor with a little preparation.
1. Choose your subject topic:
Think about the skilled topics you are comfortable in teaching. Consider the classes you want to cover for the elementary students. You should have a formal education like a diploma or a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, while an advanced degree in a particular field is necessary for higher education.
It is important to choose an area of expertise before moving into online tutoring whether it’s Math, English, Science, or any other topics. You can also share your knowledge apart from teaching that will help to enhance the hobbies of students like learning guitar, piano, cooking, Spanish, yoga, painting, etc.
Make sure you understand the topics very well. This helps in maximizing the effectiveness of yours during the tutoring sessions. Understand the curriculum by reviewing notes, fresh research on the internet, and reading books, etc. Get aware of certain general topics which will help you to teach comfortably. Be assured about the thorough overview of complete syllabus. It is very important to focus on choosing a subject area so that you can market yourself better from others.
2. Enhance the skills:
There are several pathways for tutors to enhance their skills in the market. You can get a tutoring certification program in high demand subjects like English, Math’s, or Science. There are also certain additional training programs available for tutors by some tutoring companies.
Enhance your student’s skills: You can create games about the topics whether it may be a board game, card game, or a game that gets the players touching. Encourage the students to practice the topic through learning with fun games.
Create a specific hour where students have the freedom to choose what they want to learn. Discover new creativity for students and encourage students to connect with the community around them. Provide the students with a set of questions, give notes, and let the students practice this online. Last but not least, inspire your students to read more and more over the vacation period which helps to boost their reading capabilities.
Solidify your teaching methods: Create more engaging topics through power-point presentations and interactive activities in a fun environment. The educational games, activities, storytelling, etc. will help to make the learning more oriented while the students can focus more on enjoying their studies.
3. Earn Certification:
Some parents want the tutors to be certified for their children. This is because the formal tutoring certifications have credibility in itself and also help in advanced learning with new techniques. Tutor certifications also help in recognition of your qualifications involved completely in your discipline. Now let’s dive in how to become a certified tutor?
The National Tutoring Association helps the tutor with its program NTA-certified tutor. You need to attain a membership in the organization followed by some procedures and pay the required fees and then you’ll be able to be a certified tutor after the processed application. There are also other certifying bodies for tutors like the American Tutoring Association and Association for Tutoring Professionals, etc.
4. Choose the right medium:
Once you choose a comfortable topic, the next step is to find the right medium for tutoring. You can choose from the several options like sign up on tutoring websites or create your own online tutoring platform. There are certain pros and cons to each of the options. Let’s have a look at these options in brief.
- Get online tutoring clients:
When you work as an online tutor on a specific website, you don’t have to invest money for finding students. You can work as an independent tutor or a freelancer and teach the students. However, you have restrictions for time schedule and work hours.
Many websites require a subject related proficiency test before allowing you to teach. The tutors should successfully complete an online training program on their preferred skills and online instructional practices. There are many best online learning sites for elementary students and tutors like Chegg.com, Wyzant.com, Revolution Prep, Smarthinking, Tutorhub, prep point, K12, and many more.
For example, Classof1 is an online tutoring platform that hires tutors to teach English, math, and science. It also offers assistance with homework for tutors. To become a tutor on this platform, an individual must have a college degree with basic knowledge of computer.
Tutor.com also provides online tutoring services in a 24*7 environment. You just need to pass the extensive screening test to enter into the platform. Tutors can work a minimum of 5 hours per week and paid a monthly basis. All the rates are completely based on the number of subjects tutored to children.
- Start your own tutoring business:
If you run your own website, you have more flexibility with your schedule, choosing your targeted students, and setting your rates. However, you have to set up the business, find your own customers, and marketing your product. You can easily establish a tutoring business with a low startup cost. You only need a website to launch your online tutoring business.
If you have expertise in a specific skill, then you can choose this option. You can manage the availability of your own educational videos, animated videos, documents, and games for the elementary students on your own. You have the adaptability to access student performance by devising new approaches from time to time with your own website.
You can recognize your own learning style and differentiate them from others by making the learning more accessible and fun on your own website. They can help students with new technologies like providing integrated whiteboards, video conferencing, and many more. You can offer classes and one-on-one coaching for students for a successful tutoring business.
Closing Thoughts:
If you want to teach the kids about math, science, art, or any other skills, there are many opportunities popping up for you. For teaching elementary students, you need to teach them each letter, each word, and its significance. You need to be more patient with the students as they are in a transition stage. Help them to choose the topics according to their level of learning. Keep the parents informed about the progress of the child. Never try to inflate student’s abilities. Encourage them. You’ll be a good tutor.