Musings

Google defines being savvy as possessing “shrewdness and practical knowledge, with the ability to make good judgements.” Any savvy approach to tutoring or coaching will take into account how an adult or child responds to strategies and identify the most engaging learning experiences and skills a student needs to succeed. The Savvy Tutor’s approach is […]

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the Common Core Standards as they have been widely implemented over the last few years. Parents and educators are gravely concerned about the over-standardization of learning and the overemphasis on testing at the expense of learning, and rightly so. This week in New York and elsewhere across […]

Some of the best strategies to help students get motivated and become more focused are the simplest. As they say, you can’t reinvent the wheel! I strongly believe that metacognitive strategies are very effective as they get students thinking about their way of thinking. Research shows that being able to define objectives helps individuals improve […]

Parental involvement in their children’s education is a critical factor for success, yet many don’t know how to best accomplish this. Most parents are invested in their child’s academic career, but don’t necessarily know the most effective strategies to advocate for their child when it becomes necessary. Some level of advocacy will almost always become […]

Parents and other adults who interact regularly with children and teenagers throw around the word “lazy” so often that I think we have collectively forgotten what the word means and connotes to those whom we label as such.  The word lazy is defined by Oxford Dictionaries as “unwilling to work or use energy.” I have […]

Parents and educators sometimes forget that games are some of the best teaching tools that exist. While no widely agreed-upon definition of game exists, to me a “game”, in its most primitive form, is a teaching tool. Ancient societies used games to teach essential skills to their youth; many of these early games may have […]