Finding a Good Chemistry Tutor!

A good chemistry tuition teacher need not necessarily be the most qualified i.e. straight As or first class honours or even a Phd. In my opinion, he or she needs to have a well balanced chemistry of empathy, aptitude, fun and discipline. We strive to achieve these whenever we search for our chemistry teachers and would like all of them to have the qualities.

Finding a good chemistry teacher is not easy. In this series of finding a good chemistry teacher, I want to share some of the most important qualities to be a good chemistry tutor or teacher. I do not profess to be the best chemistry tutor in singapore, but having been in this business for close to 20 years, I have seen my fair share of students.

As there are too many qualities and things to consider, i will be sharing them in bit sized information.

The first thing I want to talk about is the fact that chemistry tuition teachers or even parents who talk too much to their students often inspire resistance that may appear in the form of tuning out or even as rebellion through arguments or refusal to act. Once agreements have been made to do things a certain way, good chemistry tutors or teachers and students should be able to expect behaviors from one another. The good chemistry teacher should not constantly remind the student nor does she or he criticize. Speak once and expect to be heard. Over nagging often have disastrous results. Let the student speak more and let the teacher listen more. Results can be different.

Good chemistry tutors know that they cannot "force it in". Students are naturally interested learners and enjoy finding out about new things and are adept at memorizing certain information, as witnessed by their quick acquisition of the latest movies, gadgets, toys, celebrity gossips. When interest is high, the information is easily retained. Positive motivation is critical in promoting deep and lasting learning.

Similarly the good chemistry tutor must make the information understood in terms of its usefulness. Standing and delivering information can only go so far. It must be accompanied by the active participation of students in experiencing some information gathering, using and sharing.

Here is an interview with Ace Scorers Best Chemistry Tutor:

If you do a simple google search, you will find that most chemistry tutors in Singapore are males. Today we feature an interview with one of the rare female O level chemistry tutor in Singapore – Miss Joyce, who has been tutoring Secondary school students for O level chemistry for the past 18 years.

Interviewer: Hi Miss Joyce, understand that you have been teaching o level chemistry tuition for 18 years, how do you keep yourself motivated and enthusiastic to teach O level chemistry after so many years?

Chemistry Tutor: The key to motivation is to love your job. I truly love to teach o levels chemistry tuition and I find that it is one of the best thing in the world to see students improve. So in a way, the improvement in the students motivate me to work harder and help them.

Interviewer: Why do you think there are less chemistry tutors who are female?

Chemistry Tutor: Actually I think there are quite alot of them. Just that most prefer to remain low profile. And I most certainly think that they are as competent as the male counterparts. I guess the majority of the female chemistry tutors prefer to work quietly behind the scenes. I do hope that more female chemistry tutors can join us as I think sometimes tuition can become too commercialized. Female tutors will perhaps be able to be openly more sensitive towards students needs.

Interviewer: Do you think there is a difference between female and male chemistry tutors?

Chemistry Tutor: Qualification aside, I think female tutors tends to be more meticulous and can be more naggy or motherly. Haha. As mentioned, female tutors probably consider the emotional aspect of the students more. Male tutors on the other hand are more direct and to be honest, sometimes it suits the student. I have both male and female tutors in my centre so I can observe the difference. Hence I would say yes there is a difference, and of course individual tutor style also plays a part.

Interviewer: What do you think is more important to be good in studies? More love or more work?

Chemistry Tutor: I think you need both. You need to love your work!

Interviewer: We saw that in the testimonials, you manage to help students love the subject. How do you cultivate student’s love for chemistry?

Chemistry Tutor: First we must understand that everybody loves progress. Even students who are failing or whom have given up. Hence I like to show students that they are making progress. Once they have progress, their love for the subject increases a little more. This motivates me to do more for them and then the students experience more progress and so on. From my experience, and of course baring any past bad experiences, once students have progress, they will like the subject. Most students who are upset with chemistry have not seen progress previously. Sometimes, because of the tremendous progress that they have experienced in chemistry, they suddenly like chemistry more that others. Haha.

Interviewer: How about homework. Do you think it is necessary to do alot of homework?

Chemistry Tutor: Yes do as much as you can. But the key is balance. Every student has many subjects to handle. So it is only reasonable to expect time management. As a chemistry tutor, I cannot be expecting students to only do chemistry and neglect the rest. However having said that, homework helps students focus on proficiency, which is lacking in some students.

Interviewer: Why do you think some students lack proficiency.

Chemistry Tutor: I think it is due to the hectic schedule that most schools and students have nowadays, that it cannot be reasonable to expect a school to organise so many projects and for students to take part in so many activities and at the same time expect them to be competent in everything. Teachers may be able to go through the chemistry topics, but whether students understand or not is another matter. Hence students need more time to absorb and understand whats being taught in class. At our centres, they solely concentrate on studies, and that’s where the deep learning can happen.

Interviewer: Then how is it that some other students are able to juggle school work, tuition, CCA, church etc so many things at once?

Chemistry tutor: We have to recognize that everybody is different. You cannot expect everybody to be the same and furthermore, not being able to juggle now does not mean that they cannot do it in the future. Hence we have to give them a chance to learn and improve their management skills.

Interviewer: Thank you for your time! I certainly learned alot and hope to be able to talk more about the subject of chemistry tuition!

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