Blog7 April 18,2011
If you haven't yet discovered the TED talks, I strongly recommend that you check them out, if for no other reason then to inspire yourself. The TED presentations are made in front of people that have the ability to invest in new ideas, and as I understand it, they also offer prizes at the conferences for he best ideas. Before I get to far off of track, this particular TED presentation was made be a gentleman be the name of Khan who has started a project called the Khan Academy. The project started as a tutoring lesson for Khan's relatives and has exploded into a curriculum that is actually being used by a school system in California. I suggest that you watch the TED presentation and then visit the Khan academy to see how this project can help you with pupils that you may be tutoring.
Basically the lessons have been broken down into segments no longer then 12 minutes in length, and if your student is having problems with a particular lesson, you could just find that segment or lesson that explains the topic, and let them watch the segment as many times as they need to understand the lesson. also there is also a way that you or another mentor can sign up to be a tutor for the student, if they get stuck.
The concept that the use in the classroom is different than you might think. The teachers in the school system in California are assigning the segments from the Khan Academy for homework, and then they do the problems in class where the teacher can walk around the classroom to view student progress. Students are encouraged to work with other students and work ahead if they want. Their progress in all subjects is tracked by computer so that parents and teachers can follow their progress. Check it out.
http://www.ted.com/speakers/salman_kahn.html
http://www.khanacademy.org/
Web definitions
TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a U.S private nonprofit foundation best known for its conferences, now held in Europe and Asia as well as the U.S., devoted to what it calls "ideas worth spreading". ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TED_Talks