Welcome to Aardvark Learning Academy!
The A+ Instructor Resource page is designed to provide Aardvark teachers with information on:
1) Online Learning with Zoom or other platform
2) Monthly report format: One report each month - each student
3) Tutoring session methodology & lesson planning
4) Materials & lesson plan submission on Canvas LMS
5) Blogs
6) Payroll Form & Monthly Payment via Interac E-Transfer
7) Availability
8) Preparation Time
I shall discuss these items in more detail below. Please keep in mind that there is really only one criteria for success = teaching excellence. When clients & students are satisfied with our performance, we create a cycle of win-win --- students win, tutors win and the company grows.
Next, we acknowledge that there are several pathways and methods to teach a student successfully and we are open to new ideas that enable students and clients to achieve their stated goals. Having said that, we would like to see the items below in your teaching, lesson planning and tutoring at Aardvark Learning Academy.
Should you have any questions or concerns with any item on this page, please contact Jeff or Kayo at 705-417-3276 or email [email protected]. Text Jeff 705-627-6323.
Note: This page is Private, NOT open to the public and remains password protected. Information enclosed in the documents below is to remain private and not to be shared with any third party for any reason. The page password is A+ala
1) Online Learning with Zoom
ZOOM the basics
Feel Free to Improvise: Skype, Wechat, Google; Facebook
Next, Teachers are free to choose the communication platform, technology that they feel most comfortable with. In addition, you can also manipulate / select the best timing for your lesson. For me personally, I have found that Adult ESL students can do 2 hours online provided I am really prepared. The focus being on the quality of LEARNING that happens Online. You can edit the lesson time down to 1 hour if you believe that is best for the student.
Please do not exceed the number of hours paid for in each Contract. For example, if one student has 8 hours in his or her contract, please do not teach 9 hours. You would be amazed about how many clients over the years have stopped our service after we trusted them to renew.
2) Reports Due Monthly
Aardvark Teachers are expected to write reports on student progress (monthly, every 4 weeks) in order to receive full payment at the end of the month. Please ensure that you are keeping track in your running record of:
ZOOM the basics
- Sign up for a free account https://zoom.us
- You send an invitation to meet you at the appointed lesson time
- MAKE SURE the MUTE button is turned off for both video and audio. See meeting settings in zoom dashboard.
- Practice with Family members using the features that Zoom has to offer: SCREEN share, whiteboard, chat.
- Youtube has several videos on how to use Zoom.
Feel Free to Improvise: Skype, Wechat, Google; Facebook
Next, Teachers are free to choose the communication platform, technology that they feel most comfortable with. In addition, you can also manipulate / select the best timing for your lesson. For me personally, I have found that Adult ESL students can do 2 hours online provided I am really prepared. The focus being on the quality of LEARNING that happens Online. You can edit the lesson time down to 1 hour if you believe that is best for the student.
Please do not exceed the number of hours paid for in each Contract. For example, if one student has 8 hours in his or her contract, please do not teach 9 hours. You would be amazed about how many clients over the years have stopped our service after we trusted them to renew.
2) Reports Due Monthly
Aardvark Teachers are expected to write reports on student progress (monthly, every 4 weeks) in order to receive full payment at the end of the month. Please ensure that you are keeping track in your running record of:
- What is taught & why
- What challenges the student is facing (remember personality & proclivities here)
- How you plan to overcome these challenges & improve student learning in the tutoring session. Below are two proforma examples that can be downloaded (rename the file in word for your student) from Aardvark Instructor Darian Vander Veen - Grade 10 Math.
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Please feel free to download the Weekly Report above (format) to keep a record of your lesson and Tutoring progress with K-12 students & Adult learners at Aardvark Learning Academy. The reports are also how Instructors are evaluated at the Academy and the information is often shared with Clients when renewal appointments are scheduled. The reports demonstrate that we are different type of tutoring company and our clients appreciate that. Please remember to submit all reports before the 30th day of every calendar month or post them on your personal LMS Canvas page.
Since Clients renew contracts monthly; the student report is essential evidence of progress & challenges to be addressed.
Since Clients renew contracts monthly; the student report is essential evidence of progress & challenges to be addressed.
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3) Tutoring Session Methodology & Lesson Plans
Tutoring Sessions & Lesson plans should follow this simple PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production) format at Aardvark Learning Academy: Step 1: Objective (lesson purpose): Tell the student the lesson objective in the tutoring session: Teacher: "Today the objective is to study _______________. T: What does objective mean? S: "Purpose..." (Note: Step 2 & 3, for written lesson plans only) Step 2 : By the end of this lesson students will know: - - - Step 3 : By the end of this lesson students should be able to DO; make sure students are doing much of the work. - - - Step 4: Tutoring & Lesson Stages PPP 1) Presentation: Introduce the topic in an interesting & relevant way to student 2) Practice: Drills and Differentiated practice 3) Production: Student uses lesson independently, teacher guides but does not interfere Step 5: Teaching Technique -Explore: Student should explore concept in their own words / pictures (draw, concept maps, visual aids) (Grade K-12) -Explain: Student should explain concept in their own words or pictures -Teacher Guides, Questions and Responds and begins to teach concept AFTER student has explored and explained, not before. Step 6: Assessment Check and Review At the end of every lesson / tutoring session with Aardvark Learning, spend 5-10 minutes reviewing the class & reinforcing what student learnt today (stated objective). This is important because students will forget if you do not Check and Review. With 5-10 minutes to go - Tutor reviews the major concepts covered and student can work out problems already demonstrated / SOLVED during the lesson. The purpose is for the student to feel good & build confidence and love our tutoring service. Sample Conversation Tutor: What does assessment mean? Student: Uh,,,, T: Check and review, right? S: Right! T: Give me an example of the past tense of has? (Give me an example of metaphor, exponent, long division, algebra, calculus) S: HAD T: Make an original sentence with Had... (focus: closed questions with answers the students already knows) T: Great job, homework is_____________. See you next ____________. 4) CANVAS LMS Upload: Lesson Plans & Materials Materials used during the tutoring session with Aardvark students are also kindly requested to be uploaded on Canvas before the end of the month. In this way, we can develop a solid base of resources, materials & curriculum to SHARE Online with our LMS CANVAS in K-12 Math, English, ESL & Special Education that all of us can utilize as a resource. For instance, here is Grade 9-12 Math (zip file) materials submitted by Chris a former ALA teacher for you to use. Next, you will also be able to upload information directly to the LMS Canvas website. Each of you will receive an email message from our web page that will allow you to upload, download, edit blogs, and manipulate pages on your personal Dashboard to contribute to our Accelerated Learning Curriculum. Those that decide to participate in extra Lesson Planning (outside of normal tutoring), Blogs and create new quizzes (K-12) will be paid 14$ for each item submitted within reason. |
A+ Instructor Madison Wagner PPP approach in Early Literacy:
Presentation Practice: Differentiated Instruction
Production: Student uses activity reading freely
Canvas LMS Video |
| teaching_material.zip |
5) Blog & Video Lessons welcome!
Every Instructor is more than welcome to write a blog / lesson videos (paid at 14$ per item) on issues that are relevant to teaching, learning and the benefits of tutoring for students. The blog should be sent to Jeff by email ([email protected]) for editing, then we post it from there. Please write the blog in a format (not google docs) that is easy to upload on our website (microsoft word). Typically, blogs start with: As a teacher I often notice that ____"ESL"_____students struggle with ____"pronouns"______".
Below is a sample Blog and Video provided by Steve Murphy Nov 25, 2018. The issue is relevant and important to our clients.
Every Instructor is more than welcome to write a blog / lesson videos (paid at 14$ per item) on issues that are relevant to teaching, learning and the benefits of tutoring for students. The blog should be sent to Jeff by email ([email protected]) for editing, then we post it from there. Please write the blog in a format (not google docs) that is easy to upload on our website (microsoft word). Typically, blogs start with: As a teacher I often notice that ____"ESL"_____students struggle with ____"pronouns"______".
Below is a sample Blog and Video provided by Steve Murphy Nov 25, 2018. The issue is relevant and important to our clients.
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5 Ways to Teach Boys with Attention Difficulties
By Steven Murphy
K-8 Instructor for Aardvark Learning Academy
Teachers, parents, and tutors all know it can be difficult to keep the attention of children, especially boys. A lot of young male students have difficulty staying on task, and this can have a substantial affect on their school work, which then affects their grades. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) appear to be more commonly diagnosed, but even boys who don’t have these disorders can have trouble focusing in school. Personally, I have found ways to help boys become more interested in what they are learning, which has improved their focus and cut down on wasted time in a lesson. Here are five ways to improve your teaching to help boys become more engaged in a lesson.
1.Relatability
An easy way to get a student’s attention and interest is to make the work more relatable to their life. One way to do this is to use real-life examples that the student understands and is interested in. For example, instead of using the bland basic questions about Susie having 17 apples and David taking away 5 apples, you can change the names and the objects to something the child likes. Most boys like video games so change the name to their name, change the apples to video games, and automatically the question has more appeal. I often create my own word problems or paragraph topics based on the students’ interests and hobbies. You will be surprised how much more engaged they are when they are talking about sports or video games instead of subtracting fruits or writing about generic school topics.
2. Competition
Everyone has a little competitive edge inside of them, but in my experience, boys seem to thrive in competitive atmospheres. I try to use the competitive nature of boys to spark their engagement in learning. Whether it is a game against the tutor or a challenge against themselves, most boys will rise to the occasion. I use competition in one-on-one games against the students such as a simple card games involving math skills. Even though many of these games are based on chance, a little gentle trash-talking about who’s going to win will often perk up the student and sharpen their engagement. If they see that the tutor is into the game and competitive, it becomes more fun for them and ignites their competitive edge. Another form of competition is to use timers to have the student complete challenges in a certain time limit. By simply tracking their scores in challenges such as times tables, each session becomes a new opportunity to break their own record. This gets the competitive juices flowing and gives them a tangible way to see their own progress.
3. Games
In my experience I have found games to be the determining factor in whether a boy says that being tutored is fun or boring. Just the word game seems to have a positive effect on boys’ engagement in a lesson. As an athlete growing up as a kid, I found practices to be boring, but the excitement of knowing I had a game that night got me through the whole day. It goes the same with learning. Tell a kid they are going to practice their times tables and they lose interest quickly but find a way to turn times tables into a game and they will have so much more fun they will not even realize they are practicing times tables. So, in a short lesson, it is pivotal to use creative ways to implement games, whether you find them online or create them yourself. Also, I always like to finish a lesson with a game as this leaves the student with a positive feeling as they leave the session, which often makes them more excited for the next one.
4. Short Tasks
In the age of technology, it is no secret that kids have short attention spans. So many teachers and tutors like myself know how easily kids’ minds can drift away from a task, and it can be super hard to get them back on track. One solution to this problem is to find shorter tasks with a clear ending. For example, if you hand a student a worksheet with 100 addition problems, their automatic reaction is to worry about how much work is in front of them. Even if you say they only must do the first 20 problems, visually the task seems overwhelming. Therefore, it is more beneficial to find or create a worksheet with fewer problems, so they can clearly see how much is in front of them. Especially for elementary level students, I aim to keep every sheet, task, or game to under 10 minutes. Anything longer than that and you risk losing their attention.
5. Have Fun
This is one tip that seems obvious but believe me it is not always the case. To put it simply, if the teacher or tutor does not look like they are enjoying themselves then how can we expect the students to enjoy themselves. Obviously, you can’t be laughing and joking the entire time or no actual work will get done, but find appropriate time to joke with the students, be a little silly with them, and laugh at yourself if you made a mistake to show them that mistakes are okay. Young boys love to laugh and have fun, so showing them that learning is fun can go a long way towards inspiring them to enjoy learning on their own time.
These five tips may not work with every boy, because there are always going to be outliers that may not like games or competition. However, generally boys are simple. They love talking about their interests, they love playing games, they love the spirit of competition, they want short achievable tasks, and most of all they just want to have fun.
I hope these tips have helped in some way. If you are a parent of a boy with attention difficulties, then here is a video that focuses on what you can do to best set them up to succeed. Whether you are setting up a space for them to complete their homework or preparing them for their tutoring, here are some things that you can do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kR9kqI9yqM
By Steven Murphy
K-8 Instructor for Aardvark Learning Academy
Teachers, parents, and tutors all know it can be difficult to keep the attention of children, especially boys. A lot of young male students have difficulty staying on task, and this can have a substantial affect on their school work, which then affects their grades. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) appear to be more commonly diagnosed, but even boys who don’t have these disorders can have trouble focusing in school. Personally, I have found ways to help boys become more interested in what they are learning, which has improved their focus and cut down on wasted time in a lesson. Here are five ways to improve your teaching to help boys become more engaged in a lesson.
1.Relatability
An easy way to get a student’s attention and interest is to make the work more relatable to their life. One way to do this is to use real-life examples that the student understands and is interested in. For example, instead of using the bland basic questions about Susie having 17 apples and David taking away 5 apples, you can change the names and the objects to something the child likes. Most boys like video games so change the name to their name, change the apples to video games, and automatically the question has more appeal. I often create my own word problems or paragraph topics based on the students’ interests and hobbies. You will be surprised how much more engaged they are when they are talking about sports or video games instead of subtracting fruits or writing about generic school topics.
2. Competition
Everyone has a little competitive edge inside of them, but in my experience, boys seem to thrive in competitive atmospheres. I try to use the competitive nature of boys to spark their engagement in learning. Whether it is a game against the tutor or a challenge against themselves, most boys will rise to the occasion. I use competition in one-on-one games against the students such as a simple card games involving math skills. Even though many of these games are based on chance, a little gentle trash-talking about who’s going to win will often perk up the student and sharpen their engagement. If they see that the tutor is into the game and competitive, it becomes more fun for them and ignites their competitive edge. Another form of competition is to use timers to have the student complete challenges in a certain time limit. By simply tracking their scores in challenges such as times tables, each session becomes a new opportunity to break their own record. This gets the competitive juices flowing and gives them a tangible way to see their own progress.
3. Games
In my experience I have found games to be the determining factor in whether a boy says that being tutored is fun or boring. Just the word game seems to have a positive effect on boys’ engagement in a lesson. As an athlete growing up as a kid, I found practices to be boring, but the excitement of knowing I had a game that night got me through the whole day. It goes the same with learning. Tell a kid they are going to practice their times tables and they lose interest quickly but find a way to turn times tables into a game and they will have so much more fun they will not even realize they are practicing times tables. So, in a short lesson, it is pivotal to use creative ways to implement games, whether you find them online or create them yourself. Also, I always like to finish a lesson with a game as this leaves the student with a positive feeling as they leave the session, which often makes them more excited for the next one.
4. Short Tasks
In the age of technology, it is no secret that kids have short attention spans. So many teachers and tutors like myself know how easily kids’ minds can drift away from a task, and it can be super hard to get them back on track. One solution to this problem is to find shorter tasks with a clear ending. For example, if you hand a student a worksheet with 100 addition problems, their automatic reaction is to worry about how much work is in front of them. Even if you say they only must do the first 20 problems, visually the task seems overwhelming. Therefore, it is more beneficial to find or create a worksheet with fewer problems, so they can clearly see how much is in front of them. Especially for elementary level students, I aim to keep every sheet, task, or game to under 10 minutes. Anything longer than that and you risk losing their attention.
5. Have Fun
This is one tip that seems obvious but believe me it is not always the case. To put it simply, if the teacher or tutor does not look like they are enjoying themselves then how can we expect the students to enjoy themselves. Obviously, you can’t be laughing and joking the entire time or no actual work will get done, but find appropriate time to joke with the students, be a little silly with them, and laugh at yourself if you made a mistake to show them that mistakes are okay. Young boys love to laugh and have fun, so showing them that learning is fun can go a long way towards inspiring them to enjoy learning on their own time.
These five tips may not work with every boy, because there are always going to be outliers that may not like games or competition. However, generally boys are simple. They love talking about their interests, they love playing games, they love the spirit of competition, they want short achievable tasks, and most of all they just want to have fun.
I hope these tips have helped in some way. If you are a parent of a boy with attention difficulties, then here is a video that focuses on what you can do to best set them up to succeed. Whether you are setting up a space for them to complete their homework or preparing them for their tutoring, here are some things that you can do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kR9kqI9yqM
6) Quizzes
The FIRST lesson of any tutoring contract usually begins with a quick quiz / assessment to determine students actual ability. You can download the quizzes here and use the format to create an original quiz specific to your clients needs in K-12 Math, English, ESL. The questions usually range from easy to start, medium, difficult at the end of the quiz. Please remember to submit all quizzes to the Academy at the end of the month. Additional tests made outside of regular tutoring will be paid at 14$ per submission. We encourage Quizzes as a means for tutors to monitor students progress and identify areas of further study. Please exercise common sense here, we want to teach our students demonstrable skills not just test for results.
The FIRST lesson of any tutoring contract usually begins with a quick quiz / assessment to determine students actual ability. You can download the quizzes here and use the format to create an original quiz specific to your clients needs in K-12 Math, English, ESL. The questions usually range from easy to start, medium, difficult at the end of the quiz. Please remember to submit all quizzes to the Academy at the end of the month. Additional tests made outside of regular tutoring will be paid at 14$ per submission. We encourage Quizzes as a means for tutors to monitor students progress and identify areas of further study. Please exercise common sense here, we want to teach our students demonstrable skills not just test for results.
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Payroll Form & Payment
Payment is made by Interac e-transfer on or before the 1st day of each month. Please ensure that all reports (ONE each Month), lesson plans that have been taught to students during tutoring have been submitted. Please be sure we have your correct email address that you check regularly to receive payment. Be mindful that there are 24 hours in a payday and I will send your money as soon as I am available.
We are not in the business of chasing any adult person to submit reports & lesson plans at Aardvark Learning Academy. This is part of the contractual agreement signed between the company and teachers from the beginning. We do encourage you to submit all items (reports & lesson plans you taught in tutoring sessions to the student) before the 1st day of each month. If you do, you get paid on time, if you don't, you will not be paid until these items are submitted.
Availability
Instructors availability changes frequently. Please let us know your situation Monday-Saturday.
Client No Shows = Full Payment for Teachers
Clients & students occasionally do NOT show up for their tutoring session; they often do this WITHOUT letting anyone know in advance. Should your clients / students NOT be onsite or online when you arrive at the appointed time, please wait 15-20 minutes courtesy and text message me (705-627-6323) that they're a NO SHOW. You get paid as usual for being on time and ready to teach.
Small, small Bonus Payment July 1
A small bonus payment will be made to all teachers that are Actively teaching students at Aardvark learning academy. In order to receive the bonus a few criteria are listed below:
Bonus Payment Criteria
Bonus payments will be made to Aardvark Learning Instructors that adhere to our NO DRAMA policy as follows:
-You enjoy teaching here and the students & parents love you
-You submit reports & payroll on time by email or Canvas LMS
-You add value to our students, company.
-Create BLOGS for the website
Preparation Time
Aardvark Learning Academy cannot pay teachers preparation time. In fact, we have lost clients because we requested this on behalf of teachers. In May of 2018, we had a client continuing with us until we requested preparation time in June. The CLIENT strongly rejected this idea, feeling perhaps that it was a deliberate policy of bait and switch type situation with our company and immediately stopped / ceased our tutoring service. We refunded their money but still that client remains bitterly angry over the situation. From the clients perspective, its easy to understand why.
As a result, Aardvark lost a valuable client that would have likely been with our company for the remainder of 2018. In addition, this means we can no longer help this STUDENT who desperately needed the tutoring service we provide.
Although this was an unfortunate incident, it was also an important opportunity for me as a business owner to learn how to navigate our tutoring business in the future. As a small business, I simply cannot risk losing future clients (as above) or afford to pay Aardvark teachers preparation time and remain open. As a business, if Aardvark Learning Academy is not profitable - we close - and no student or teacher can be helped by our tutoring service in that case.
This means that when a teacher decides to accept students (K-12) from Aardvark Learning Academy, please be mindful that no planning time can be paid. Naturally, we will do our best to ensure Teachers are well compensated through hourly pay and bonus payments as best as we can. One reason that Aardvark is still in business today is because we share in our success, economically and personally with our amazing teachers.
Best of luck to you and allow us to express our sincere thanks for your contributions to learning excellence at Aardvark Learning Academy!
Jeff & Kayo Hawkins
April 20 / 2021
Payment is made by Interac e-transfer on or before the 1st day of each month. Please ensure that all reports (ONE each Month), lesson plans that have been taught to students during tutoring have been submitted. Please be sure we have your correct email address that you check regularly to receive payment. Be mindful that there are 24 hours in a payday and I will send your money as soon as I am available.
We are not in the business of chasing any adult person to submit reports & lesson plans at Aardvark Learning Academy. This is part of the contractual agreement signed between the company and teachers from the beginning. We do encourage you to submit all items (reports & lesson plans you taught in tutoring sessions to the student) before the 1st day of each month. If you do, you get paid on time, if you don't, you will not be paid until these items are submitted.
Availability
Instructors availability changes frequently. Please let us know your situation Monday-Saturday.
Client No Shows = Full Payment for Teachers
Clients & students occasionally do NOT show up for their tutoring session; they often do this WITHOUT letting anyone know in advance. Should your clients / students NOT be onsite or online when you arrive at the appointed time, please wait 15-20 minutes courtesy and text message me (705-627-6323) that they're a NO SHOW. You get paid as usual for being on time and ready to teach.
Small, small Bonus Payment July 1
A small bonus payment will be made to all teachers that are Actively teaching students at Aardvark learning academy. In order to receive the bonus a few criteria are listed below:
Bonus Payment Criteria
Bonus payments will be made to Aardvark Learning Instructors that adhere to our NO DRAMA policy as follows:
-You enjoy teaching here and the students & parents love you
-You submit reports & payroll on time by email or Canvas LMS
-You add value to our students, company.
-Create BLOGS for the website
Preparation Time
Aardvark Learning Academy cannot pay teachers preparation time. In fact, we have lost clients because we requested this on behalf of teachers. In May of 2018, we had a client continuing with us until we requested preparation time in June. The CLIENT strongly rejected this idea, feeling perhaps that it was a deliberate policy of bait and switch type situation with our company and immediately stopped / ceased our tutoring service. We refunded their money but still that client remains bitterly angry over the situation. From the clients perspective, its easy to understand why.
As a result, Aardvark lost a valuable client that would have likely been with our company for the remainder of 2018. In addition, this means we can no longer help this STUDENT who desperately needed the tutoring service we provide.
Although this was an unfortunate incident, it was also an important opportunity for me as a business owner to learn how to navigate our tutoring business in the future. As a small business, I simply cannot risk losing future clients (as above) or afford to pay Aardvark teachers preparation time and remain open. As a business, if Aardvark Learning Academy is not profitable - we close - and no student or teacher can be helped by our tutoring service in that case.
This means that when a teacher decides to accept students (K-12) from Aardvark Learning Academy, please be mindful that no planning time can be paid. Naturally, we will do our best to ensure Teachers are well compensated through hourly pay and bonus payments as best as we can. One reason that Aardvark is still in business today is because we share in our success, economically and personally with our amazing teachers.
Best of luck to you and allow us to express our sincere thanks for your contributions to learning excellence at Aardvark Learning Academy!
Jeff & Kayo Hawkins
April 20 / 2021
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Aardvark Learning Academy ® Registered Trademark in Canada
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Business Licence # 240916452 HST # 708981725RT0001
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