Texting has become a routine part of communication to most subcultures in America, but it’s easy to overlook how important it is to teenagers. While to some degree it can seem like an adult “invading the clubhouse” (certainly the case...

According to report put out by the ACT, a college testing agency, the national average in the United States for college freshman retention rate in 65.7%.  That means that roughly one third of college freshman in American colleges will not...

“If a student is unmotivated, you might as well not even teach them, because dead cats aren’t good learners.” -Probably Mark Twain Diagnosing a student’s motivation can be difficult, and yet any teacher will tell you without an understanding of...

I often see a shortcoming in the instruction involved in integrating evidence in analytical essay in high school teaching. There is this notion that you have to have a complete sentence followed by a colon to introduce text. This understanding...

At a fundamental level, it’s really simple. Your topic sentence, or first sentence of every body paragraph, should serve three basic roles: Explain concisely and clearly everything that happens in the paragraph that follows. On some level it is an...

Helpful Tip: While I’ve experimented with Kaplan, College Board, Princeton Review, etc, the guidebook I’ve settled on is the Peterson’s. It has a diagnostic test that divides up questions by type and then provides the content and sample questions that...

Be sure to secure the area you will be tutoring in from outside distractions: children, pets, acts of God. While it’s customary to have the occasional distraction, it will signal to the student that they can take the same liberties...

Helpful Tip: For top performance on a three hour test, sleep during the several days to a week beforehand is critical for top scores. The nights preceding the night before the test are, in fact, just as important to cognitive...

I think we could all use a little lift right, so I’ll start throwing some gems at anyone who needs a little optimism right now. This one is from my favorite guy ever, David Henry: “I know of no more...

Make sure you make an effort to connect with a student personally before launching into the material for the day. It’s especially important to engage on this more informal level with online instruction, when being on a screen can, in...