Our TutorBird Portal
Tutoring online is not what you might be thinking… So often, we hear about when COVID was here, and the students were online, it was a terrible experience and little to no learning occurred. That time period was a completely different situation. The largest difference was (1) we (as school systems, teachers, parents, and children) weren’t prepared for online learning in more than one way… technology, curriculum, classroom management, emotionally… just to name a few. At SIS we also hear often … my child has special needs and can’t tutor online: ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, autism, short term and long term memory problems, executive functioning needs… and the list goes on. These are all students we have online with us. Yes, ONLINE! These students are our SPECIALITY and our PASSION.
How do we make learning happen?
First, we have highly trained and qualified teachers who don’t just have degrees but also have training in special needs and/or special types of curriculum or practices. We are not the tutor who is turning the next page in a workbook, working on classwork, or helping with homework. Those types of tutors can be found at a much cheaper price. We, at Southern Instructional Solutions, are INSTRUCTORS who are targeting the needs of the learner to fill in the gaps to help bring him/her up to grade level and sometimes beyond! On the team, we have a wide range of licensing, certifications, endorsements, and trainings such as: Florida Educator Certifications (or from other states); bachelors/masters/ specialists/doctorates from a wide variety of universities in Reading, English, ESOL, ESE, Autism, Gifted, Math, Early Childhood, Administration, Curriculum & Development; specialized trainings and approaches from Orton-Gillingham - IMSE (Comprehensive, Intermediate, Phonological Awareness), Linda-Mood Bell (Visualizing & Verbalizing, Seeing Stars), Project CRISS, R180/S44, Structured Literacy, MTSS, Instructional Coaching, SAT/ACT, FAST (Florida’s State Exam) & Florida’s Standards, plus more!
Second, the curriculum and materials we utilize for the students is designed and hand picked just for their needs and deficits after giving the learner a diagnostic assessment. Every learner has different needs, so once we talk with the parent and find out their concerns, then administer and analyze a battery of diagnostic assessments, we assign an appropriate instructor and make a supply bag with actual books and materials the student will use online during the lessons. These are REAL materials… books, notebooks, pens, highlighters, crayons, index cards, counting chips, fraction boards, kinetic sand, tens frames, handwriting paper, dry erase boards and markers, pop-it square, wikki-stix, sand timer…for more detailed idea of what’s in our bags, see the previous post. These materials provide for hands-on and multi-sensory experiences that struggling learners need.
Third, the technology. It’s not what you might be thinking. Since we are online, we utilize the Zoom platform through our Tutorbird secure portal. Students go to our website, log in, and enter the portal to the calendar and schedule of classes. On their schedule for the day is where the student will enter into Zoom to meet the teacher. The student will be in a waiting room until the teacher admits him/her to class. In addition to Zoom, the teacher AND the student have the same DOCUMENT CAMERA plugged into the USB port. The document camera allows both the teacher and the students to see each other’s hands, books, and materials. They can be on the screen at the same time or separately. So the entire lesson is hands-on with LIVE interactions. It’s not a video game style presentation at all so we cannot be considered ‘screen-time’ as it’s not in that category at all. We are able to maintain student attention through LIVE interactions with actual materials which change every 10-15 minutes to keep the student engaged and involved.
If you would like a 10 minute presentation of what that experience is like, we can book a demonstration with you. Just give us a call! 305.345.2357 We grow BRIGHT learners… even online!