By William Denning
Tutor — Platinum Edge Tutoring
This year I had the opportunity to support one of our amazing CBO partners, Breakthrough New York (BTNY), and teach a year-long SSAT prep class to the current cohort of seventh graders. While I had previously taught classes in person, teaching online came with a whole new set of challenges and strategies.
Test preparation can be tedious enough — but how would I be able to both effectively teach content during sessions and inspire kids to practice on their own outside of classes? It seemed as if our lessons might easily get lost in the sea of windows and open tabs on the students’ computer screens.
I was initially focused on mitigating the potential drawbacks of moving to an online platform and it wasn’t until after a few months that I actually started to recognize some of the benefits. Test prep is a unique field, one that combines functional knowledge with a game-like strategy. The test will always be the same — there are no surprises or secret sections. Therefore, confidence and familiarity become the students’ most valuable tools. As it turns out, working alone without the background noise or furious scribbling of their classmates bolstered some of the students' confidence. Madison, a student from the Manhattan class, noted that she finds middle school classrooms loud and distracting, which affected her reading performance. She said, “I’ll just lower my volume. Then it's easier to focus and there's not as many distractions as opposed to in a school building.” I hadn’t thought of this, but working by themselves can give the students who often compare themselves to others a new sense of confidence.
“Test prep is a unique field, one that combines functional knowledge with a game-like strategy … Therefore, confidence and familiarity become the students’ most valuable tools.”
That is not to say that working online didn’t have its own set of challenges, especially when it came to student feedback during class. Throughout the semester, our team developed new strategies for student responses such as polls, games, and shared documents. That way, students could have varied opportunities for contribution beyond simply just speaking in a session.
Homework, too, saw some adjustments. One of our most successful strategies was consistent vocabulary practice. The other tutors and I assigned the students weekly vocabulary words to learn and form sentences with. While, at the beginning, progress seemed slow as we were only adding 5 words per class, the pacing and spaced repetition was extremely successful with the students. I found my students remembering difficult words weeks and months after we had initially reviewed them.
A few of our BTNY scholars + Program Manager(s) and Tutor(s) :)
Another Manhattan student, Shaikh noted, “I would probably say vocabulary [is the easiest part of the SSAT] because math takes a bit more time to learn but vocabulary you could learn if you know the synonyms and roots of the words.” Some of my other students also noted their improved performance and confidence with our vocabulary building strategies.
For me, teaching test prep comes with the unique responsibility of not only teaching, but encouraging effective study skills and habits. I often used anecdotes about my own test prep or other students to help the BTNY kids to visualize their entire test prep process. After all, test prep should always have an ending point. Whether it is attaining a target score or building a subtle confidence, I encourage the students from the beginning to visualize their test day. Where are they taking the test? What is the first section? Furthermore, in which sections will they be pressed for time? In which sections can they relax? I found that this visualization exercise can be especially valuable for students who find themselves nervous and overwhelmed when the timer starts.
A few more BTNY scholars + Program Manager(s) and Tutor(s) :)
This summer, I’d like to continue to bolster their confidence with a greater emphasis on timed practice. Working with time limits can be the most nerve-wracking part for many test takers, and weekly practice with a ticking timer makes students more comfortable working at a quick pace and moving on when necessary. I am excited to work with the students as the test approaches, and will encourage them to make their own individualized list of strategies and reminders to review before test day. With a little more practice, I am confident that the students will be performing better than they initially even thought possible!