This week will mark my one year #Anniversary as a #remote English teacher and 11 months with Preply and I am both excited and slightly overwhelmed to #celebrate my remote learning journey so far.
It started as an idea I had no clue how best to pursue. I had a plan but no clear execution thereof before me. It was a gamble and, after a year, my plan is showing signs of realisation.
I could not have gotten this far without partners like Edumo.io and Chalkie AI, I will be completely honest. My initial teething period was much shortened using their tools and support. My very first students, taking a risk on an unproven (at least on the platform) teacher, who left me excellent reviews.
I have learned some lessons myself, as well as teaching nearly 1500 of them to others.
1. Determination; giving up when it gets hard means it’ll never become easier. I could’ve walked with my pride intact many times but I stuck at it and am glad I have.
2. Flexibility; as an educator I must also be ready to be educated, this is a common mistake people in my profession often forget. Learn, adapt, and keep learning!
3. Value; I intentionally set my starting rate low, to bring in students and establish myself on the platform, to demonstrate my ability and have it recognised. I am an experienced teacher and tutor but in the more traditional sense, online and remote were new so I had to earn my value. I increased new student rates after I felt I’d earned that and it, too, has been successful.
4. Stamina; you’ll have good weeks and bad weeks; good and bad days, excellent and awful months and you have to ride those waves if you’re ever going to get past them.
It’s been a heck of a journey and I try to make sure I am honing my craft every step of the way; creating my lesson content and types of learning, adapting to the needs (ongoing or changing) of my students, their changing schedules of even enduring the disappointment of a student ghosting you.
It reminds me of the famous maxim; “you can rarely control the circumstances you face but you can control how you react to them.” It’s a valuable lesson I have been reminded of time and time again!
And what would I say to anyone considering entering this game or just starting? A few nuggets of acquired wisdom, perhaps;
1. Every student is your only student. Regardless of how many students you have, to each one of them, you are THEIR tutor or teacher, not anyone else’s. They pay for your time and expertise so they deserve the best service you can give them.
2. You’re going to have to be flexible. Many of our students will be professionals or working adults. I have a lot of Latin American students living in Ireland and, as they need to improve their English to get a better job, they may be in shift work and need to accept changes and overtime. I roll with it and will reschedule unless they make it too regular a habit.
3. Set boundaries. You’re at home, you’ve got your desk, nice chair, snacks and tea/coffee/etc nearby so you might think you can be a shade more generous with your availability. Do. No. Do. It It starts to hurt after a while.
4. Plan for Holidays and Festive Periods. You often might not think about it in advance but Christmas, Easter, New Year, etc can cause a significant drop in your income while the school summer holidays can bring a drastic increase to them. Plan ahead, expect to perhaps even half your income and prepare for it.
5. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. You are going to if you’re new to the #remoteclassroom environment or you’re not as prepared as you can be (or if you’re simply nervous). Make them as learn from them.
6. Build a good patter/pitch. Preply has a system where interested students can book a trial lesson with you before committing to a subscription but you don’t get paid for it. Even though you are giving a class for free, these trial lessons are vitally important. Students want to see your personality, your confidence and what you have to offer. You need a patter or pitch ready, or at least a base to build on and add or subtract from as needed. You need pre-prepared trial lessons for different ages and proficiency levels. Why? Because you know your material and are confident with it, your come across as organised, prepared, and efficient.
7. Never Blame your Tools. Started on a fibre connection I shared with the entire house, using a snap decision headset and below average webcam. I got into endless arguments with my kids and justifiably lost a few early students due to performance issues. Constant freezes, lags, judders, and disconnects are going to cost you and wearing a headset 6-8 hours almost straight in summer is no fun. So I signed up for Star Link and only I use it, I bought a decent desktop microphone with nice little tripod, and some good speakers. Now my lessons are smoother, more focussed, and less laggy than ever. Plus it suits my style, I’m a #fidgeter and fidgeting while wearing a headset can cause all kinds of feedback!
8. Set days off and make one of them your prep day. OK, I’m maybe a little Gen-X and slightly obsessive in my prep but it makes for a far more relaxing week of classes if you’re all prepped up for each unique class in advance. I do mine on Saturday afternoons and, while you don’t have to use #vibecoded Google Calendar conversion tools and fancy spreadsheets like I do, I think it’s good to have your own reference and – for want of a better word – timesheet. I’ll be happy to share or talk about any of my timesaving tools if anyone is interested or, unduly stressed.
I’ve learned so much and experienced so much in this journey, far more than I ever thought I would; I’ve met and worked with some excellent people; students and partners both, I’ve discovered my absolute passion for teaching children; their enthusiasm, drive, perspectives, and the unique challenges inherent in keeping their attention and focus. I’ve meet people like me, absolute geniuses and inspirational figures, I’ve had deeply philosophical, amusing, weird, and sometimes passionately defended discussions. I’ve met some genuinely beautiful and amazing people. I’ve learned how to fuse my passions for language, writing and literature, philosophy, animals, and creativity together with my undying love of the teaching profession. I’ve learned some hard lessons and I’ve learned things I never knew about myself. Overall, I have had one heck of an amazing remote learning journey so far!
Overall, there is no tried and tested Path To Instant Success (TM) because each of us is different to so too is each and every student. I’m sure neither or my lists are exhaustive or definitive but they’ve worked for me and will, hopefully, work for you too.
Good luck out there and remember, we’re all in the same boat and have all passes through the same doubts and stresses, if a formerly disorganised, impulsive, and somewhat lazy person like me can do it, anyone can.
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