College Counseling Archives

Common Application Essay Coaching

April 8, 2020 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

“When I was still small enough to fit in the sun-drenched space between the armoire and the couch, I sat cross-legged and spun the world.”

“There I was, hanging from the precipice, muscles trembling, fingers aching, sweat dripping onto my spotter twenty feet below.”

“On one hot night in a dark room at the heart of Boston, I became friends with 19,580 people in one single moment.”

What things do these sentences have in common? They all feel like the beginning of a story. They all are specific enough that readers start picturing a scene. They all make us want to keep reading.

And they could all serve as the opening line of a Common Application essay.

As with other parts of the college application process, the prospect of writing the Common Application essay can be fraught with misconceptions: applicants worry that they will need to compose a formulaic piece under enormous pressure. It’s true that it is a high-stakes essay, with a hard and fast deadline, that tends to ascribe to a few broad conventions. But writing it doesn’t have to be so stressful. And as demonstrated by the lines above — from essays published by Hamilton, Johns Hopkins, and Tufts, respectively, as exemplars from admitted students — Common Application writers can produce essays that are vivid, memorable, and a pleasure to read.

We find that the factor that determines whether writers have a positive experience in creating their Common Application essays—and whether writers ultimately are happy with the piece they submit—is time. Applicants need time to get to know the genre, whose pieces tend to mix narrative and reflection. Applicants need time to try out a few different ideas and to compose several drafts, understanding that repeatedly revisiting the piece is a part of the writing process. In a departure from the text-based and research-based essays that dominate high school writing, the Common App essay asks students to draw upon their own lives for material. Applicants need time to generate ideas and to consider how their experiences and passions can help them share a bit of themselves with readers.

Each year, the Common Application itself “resets” in early August, so we advise rising seniors to wait until then to fill out its typable forms; similarly, colleges tend to post their individual supplemental essay prompts in August or early September. But the Common Application has already released its essay prompts for the upcoming application cycle, making spring an ideal time to begin the writing process—particularly this year. In a season when everyone’s plans have been upended, starting the Common Application essay injects a bit of normalcy. It allows students some control while challenging themselves creatively, with no pressing deadlines. It is one of the concrete steps that they can take in shaping their future, an opportunity to reflect on where they’ve been—such as a nook on a living-room floor, a treacherous rock wall, or a thumping concert arena—where they are, and where they will go.

If you’re ready to get started with your common application essay work, we can help to support your process with writing coaching and supplemental college counseling. Please contact us to further discuss your planning.

By Elizabeth Walters, MFA and Private Tutor, and Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed. and CEP

Online Learning: Anxiety Management

April 8, 2020 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

As the coronavirus pandemic continues and we all settle into new routines, chances are that you and your family are experiencing some stress and anxiety around the state of the world and the uncertainty that comes with it. This situation can be especially challenging if your child is already dealing with high levels of anxiety and/or a diagnosed anxiety disorder. Plus, it can be tough to help kids stay calm when you’re not feeling so calm yourself!

But while online learning and guiding children’s education at home are certainly unfamiliar hurdles for many families, the good news is that they can also be great vehicles for practicing anxiety management. There are lots of helpful tools out there for helping manage children’s anxiety, but it can be hard to find ways to actually practice them in day-to-day life. By making the most of your child’s new at-home school day, you can build anxiety management into daily routines and help your child develop healthy habits that will be help them keep their cool for years to come.

Set Daily Intentions

Studies show that children tend to benefit when they have clear—and high!—expectations to live up to. That doesn’t mean that you need to hold your child to an unrealistically high standard, but it does mean that they should know what’s expected of them each and every day. This is especially true now, when the lack of commitments outside the home can make kids feel like the days are all the same and the stakes are low. In turn, that sense of not knowing what to expect can exacerbate kids’ anxiety.

Accordingly, one helpful anxiety management technique is to start each school day with a predictable ritual that makes it clear what the rest of the day will hold. This should include a few key components:

A quick review of what the day’s schedule will look like. What will your child do first? When will they take a break? What time is lunch?
A rundown of the tasks that will be completed. This might be a concrete goal (finish chapter 3, for instance) or a set amount of time devoted to a topic (read for 30 minutes).
An assessment of what supplies will be needed, and where your child can find them. Will they need a calculator, markers, or a timer? Work together to gather those supplies now so that your child doesn’t have to waste worry looking for them later.

Then, it’s also helpful to include a “bonus” in your child’s morning ritual, so that they—and you!—remember that the day can be as much about fun as anything else. Be creative here—what does your child enjoy and find exciting? This could be reading a bit of a favorite book, spending time playing with a pet, or checking on the plants growing on your terrace. Any quick activity that brings calm and focus to your child’s morning is a great way to start off the school day on the right foot.

Make the Most of Breaks

Having enough time to just breathe is a huge part of effective anxiety management. If your child feels pressured to focus and achieve every minute of the day, they’re likely to have higher levels of anxiety—especially now, when they might be scared about the pandemic and having difficulty processing their feelings.

That’s why it’s essential to take plenty of breaks during the remote school day. Depending on your child’s age and personality, you might schedule short breaks in between subjects, have one longer break in the middle of the day, or try a 50/50 model—for instance, 30 minutes of work followed by 30 minutes of play. Experiment with different break structures and see which one works best for your child. You can even use different structures on different days to break up the week; maybe one structure is for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while another is for Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Beyond just taking breaks, it’s also important to build anxiety management tools into your child’s breaks as much as you can. They might just want to reach for an iPad game—and sometimes, that’s completely okay! But you’ll also want to encourage them to use more focused stress-busting activities when you can. For example, this might include:

Having a quick dance party to a favorite song—music and physical activity can both help relieve anxiety!
Taking a walk outside or even just sitting by a window for some fresh air and sunshine.
Spending a bit of time on a creative project, whether that’s playing with clay for a few minutes or coloring in a drawing page.
“Meeting up” with a friend for a FaceTime snack break. Kids need to keep in touch with their loved ones just as much as you do!

By being purposeful about breaks and what your child does with them, you’ll make anxiety management a regular touchpoint throughout the day.

Celebrate Small Wins

During these unprecedented days of remote learning, it can be hard to know whether you and your family are “doing it right.” But rest assured—there’s no one right way to handle this situation! It’s important to emphasize this point to your children, whether they’re used to getting straight As or struggling with the new requirements of online learning. Just by getting through the days during this uncertain time, kids and families alike are reaching a meaningful goal that deserves to be celebrated, and marking achievements (even ones that might seem small) is another great way to practice anxiety management.

To do this, try closing out your child’s school day with a rundown of what went well that day. These might be academic milestones, like a good grade on an online quiz, but it’s also helpful to guide your child in celebrating other kinds of success. For instance, did your child demonstrate any of these positive behaviors today?

Sticking with a challenging task
Helping out around the house
Caring for a pet or sibling
Coming up with a creative idea
Being quiet or focused when asked

Any chance you have to compliment your child and focus on how they’re succeeding is a chance to support anxiety management, so make this a daily habit to round out the school day on a positive note.

It’s an overwhelming time for most of us, and anxiety management is really critical. If there are any ways our team can help to support your family with online learning, school planning, or parent coaching, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

By Hannah Sheldon-Dean, MSW and Private Tutor, Brad Hoffman, MS.Ed. and CEP, and Faya Hoffman, M.A. and CEP

Online Learning: Supporting Elementary Students

March 21, 2020 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

The COVID-19 pandemic took us all by surprise. As we collectively braced ourselves for a different reality and adjusted to our new normal, our students’ school experience changed dramatically and shifted to online learning. Educators around the country took to the internet and quickly engineered a classroom experience without the classroom.

As we all swiftly settle into the world of online learning, it becomes increasingly essential that we equip elementary students with the tools and know-how to be capable, independent remote learners. Furthermore, it is pivotal that families have the tools and skill set to help support elementary students in that transition. For those only familiar with the traditional classroom experience, remote learning can be a daunting new world.

What is online learning?

Online learning takes on many forms and is largely responsive to the needs of the learning community–what works for teaching a group of fifth graders may be entirely useless during a private tutoring session with a first grader. The utility of each platform and set-up for remote learning is as unique as the students and teachers themselves.

Although new to many outside the educational field, the world of online learning was thriving well before we sat quarantined in our homes. Educators, school based and at-home, have utilized online platforms as a practical medium for teaching for years, often as a supplement to classroom instruction or a bridge between in-person tutoring sessions. So, while for many families, this may feel like uncharted terrain, most teachers and tutors have an expansive understanding of remote learning and have used it regularly to build their students’ skills and complement their curriculum.

We can classify nearly all digital learning as being either synchronous or asynchronous. Synchronous learning allows educators and students to come together in real time to deliver instruction, discuss understanding, and provide feedback. Asynchronous learning enables educators and students to work on tasks at different times. Most traditional schools use a combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning to replicate the classroom experience and move through curriculum. You might find your student’s online learning experience to reflect this combination, with a menu of self-guided tasks alongside a daily or weekly expectation to log on for live instructional streams from their teacher or tutor.

Asynchronous virtual learning is an expansive domain, covering everything from self-guided video lessons to skill-based learning games. Your student’s teacher or tutor is likely pulling from a number of resources to create a full and rich online curriculum to meet their learning goals. Just like in a classroom, some skills, such as building multiplication fact fluency, might be best practiced independently in game play with digital feedback, while others, such as multiplying fractions, are best left to a guided, video-based tutorial.

What does online private tutoring, or e-tutoring, look like?

Similar to the classroom experience, online tutoring is responsive to students and their individual learning needs. Tutors still work to provide individualized, dynamic support to students, often using synchronous, video-based instruction as the platform for learning. Video conferencing platforms allow screenshares and digital whiteboarding, so tutors are able to provide a full range of interactive and visual support during their session. By integrating digital slides and whiteboards into instruction, tutors are able to recreate the physical session experience, providing immediate feedback on students’ work and interacting instantaneously in response to their questions, comments, and concerns. Online tutoring can also add value to tutoring in ways that are hard to replicate when working on paper and pen. For example, tutors can support students’ writing process in real time as they work through an essay, providing organizational support and feedback nearly immediately on a digital document. A session spent working on the organization of online documents and folders through screen sharing can help students maintain order and build independence as they transition to becoming full-time remote learner.

How can I support my elementary student’s transition to online learning?

The unexpected move to fully remote learning is a big transition for everyone. Students, educators, and families all play a role in making sure that virtual learning is successful and impactful. Families can support their young students by building technological independence and keeping structured routines in the days ahead.

Most elementary school students are still growing comfortable on laptops and tablets. Giving your student practice in the basics of navigating the internet will prove exponentially useful in the coming days. Parents can host their own child in an online conference call using Zoom, Hangout, or Facetime. During this time, help familiarize them with the basic features of the platform–how to join, hang up, make the screen bigger or smaller, and react to items. Your child’s tutor or teacher might provide a similar tutorial, but it doesn’t hurt to get a head start. Especially with younger students, you may need to work alongside them in the beginning stages of online learning. But, fade that support quickly. Just because you can be there to help does not mean you should be there to help. Just like any other skill, gaining competence as a remote learner comes through exploration and making mistakes.

Routinizing the online learning experience will prove invaluable in the long run. While online classrooms and tutoring sessions might feel novel now, it is likely that students will be learning remotely for at least the next several weeks. Set a routine that works for your household schedule and stick to it. Allowing students to build their own schedule from a menu of necessities and options will not only provide them with agency during a stressful time but also build their capacity to manage their own time and tasks.

What do I need to make online learning successful in my home?

First and foremost, set up a permanent, designated learning station in your home. This should be outfitted with a Desktop, laptop and/or tablet, paper and writing tools, and any school books your student might need while working. If they already have a desk in their bedroom, make sure to clean off unnecessary materials or distractions before launching online learning. You may also want to consider having the workspace face a wall or set up a small privacy divider (easily made out of file folders) around the area–distractions are plentiful in a home environment and you want to minimize them.

It is also an ideal time to place an online supply order. Elementary school classrooms are well stocked with supplementary supplies and tools, ones that are often not present in the home. You will also want to invest in a headset with built-in microphone, if you don’t already have one. In addition to helping your student focus on the content, it will also optimize their participation in live sessions. A small white board and dry erase markers are also vital tools. They allow your student to show their thinking to teachers and tutors in an efficient way during live stream sessions. Writing paper, either with raised lines or traditional, is also essential. As students adjust to online math instruction, having manipulatives at home will also be crucial. Start with Base 10 Blocks, a Ruler, Fraction Circles, Fraction Towers, Wooden Geometric Solids, and Attribute Blocks.

And finally, the most important tool in this transition is your approach. Encouraging students to be flexible and adaptive learners on this new, unscheduled adventure is important. They will take their approach and outlook on remote learning from you. So, gear up, and lean in!

By Marisa Krohn, Ed.M. and Learning Specialist, and Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed. and Learning Specialist

Online Learning: Supporting College Students

March 21, 2020 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Some college students may rejoice to hear their classes have shifted to online learning, but the social context for that change remains stressful and it is a mistake to think that classes will be easier online. For students still in dorms, the distractions are endless. For students living back home, distractions and adjustments to family life contribute to the disruption. With the radical switch that most face as their instructors turn to remote learning, college students need to accept a greater level of responsibility for their education, all while being more patient with others and themselves.

The health crisis that is leading to self-selected quarantines and university closures is a massive change for everybody. Accept some disruptions as your instructors overhaul courses for online learning. Some may struggle with platforms they have largely avoided. Others may need to reimagine their course content. All are facing a barrage of updates on policies and practices and having to adjust accordingly. Some students are comfortable with online learning, while others aren’t. Some have impairments that complicate their access and use of virtual platforms. Patience with professors and classmates will help during the transition period into online learning for the rest of the semester.

Switching to online learning means being entirely self-regulated and governed. Plan study sessions for each subject. Dedicate a few hours throughout the week. Letting work accumulate becomes overwhelming and that stress leads to abandoning projects. Marathon sessions are not effective. Short but regular engagement works best. Put your study time into a calendar and stick with it because falling behind is very easy. In higher ed, professors don’t provide the same level of support that high schools do. College students need to be responsible for managing their time, their work, and their success.

Even if you are comfortable researching and working online, even if most of your assignments and tests required online posts, switching to exclusive online learning introduces new management expectations. Each week, instructors may use their educational platform (like Canvas or Blackboard) to assign a plethora of small assignments: videos with internal quizzes, discussion boards, textbook reading as well as articles posted to the site, automated quizzes, conference meetings, and much more. Keeping track is hard. Set aside a weekly period to look through your online course site and identify what you need to do. Some work may not have due dates, but your professor will expect you to complete it in advance of tackling other work. List all the work expectations, and track what needs to be done in a notebook or calendar.

Doing all the work for one class on one day typically fails. Some classes will require multiple posts a week. Cramming information makes it easier to forget. With online learning, there is less repetition of content so focus on any activity and extracting necessary details becomes even more important. The instructor won’t be there in class to revisit core ideas and answer questions, or simply respond to those heavy silences when students are unsure. If you know you don’t understand something, request a virtual meeting with the professor or TA. If the content appears in the subsequent week and you still don’t understand it, then you must address the situation immediately or face the likelihood of falling too many steps behind the material.

Recognize that the new types of work may require learning new platforms. Schedule extra time to complete assignments in case the system is not what you thought it would be. Watch tutorials and ask classmates for tips. Connect with other students through a video platform to work together. It can help as long as the work stays the focus.

The other side of the quarantine is feeling severed from friends. The isolation isn’t simply about being alone but about losing the kind of heartfelt contact that ‘hanging out’ provides. Video chats help a lot but everyone is on different schedules and connecting doesn’t always work. Just like scheduling study time, schedule chats with close friends or make group dates. Decide to have coffee together in the morning or to all eat the same thing. That small gesture can feel bonding.

For those at home again, after becoming accustomed to managing your own life, daily interactions with parents can create stress and discord within the family. Everyone is trying to adjust. The best way to show your parents that you have the maturity to study, eat, and sleep when you want is to listen patiently to their concerns and stay on top of your work. Recognize that they are likely adjusting to your lifestyle, too, and trying to make room for it in their own. If everyone finds a little more patience with each other, especially when we feel it the least, then as adults in these trying times we will get through.

By Charlotte Kent, Ph.D. and Private Tutor, and Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed. and Learning Specialist

Online Learning: Supporting Teachers

March 21, 2020 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

e-Tutoring and Online Learning:

With the Covid-19 crisis gripping the country, there have been major changes to everyday life: social distancing, cancelled schools, closed businesses and deep economic uncertainty. These changes are having profound impacts on education as teachers, schools, and students are forced to adjust to e-Tutoring and online learning. This shift can be challenging, thus we’ve organized a number of suggestions to help smooth the transition and aid educators in providing a positive learning environment for students in these difficult times.

Logistics and Tech:

For e-Tutoring and online learning, there are a few technological essentials. First, you need a mode of clear audio and visual communication with your student and luckily there are plenty of options! Services such as Skype, Facetime, Google Hangouts, or Zoom all provide free video conferencing. Additionally, it’s important to make sure that both you and your student have reliable internet access and a quiet location to work. Communicating digitally inherently presents a barrier and it is crucial to remove any additional distractions; lagging calls, freezing screens or a barking dog can all damage the effectiveness of your session.

Also, it is important to have some manner of a shared workspace with your student for online learning. We recommend a shared white board program such as Groupboard, or the screen sharing available in Zoom. For math subjects, it is essential to be able to work through problems visually together; a Wacom writing tablet (or similar type) will also speed up your ability to draw diagrams and write out equations. For English and grammar exercises, however, it may be preferable to work in a shared Google Doc. Your choice of shared workspace may change with your student’s needs, so it is prudent to become comfortable with a few different options. Simply put, writing out diagrams on paper and holding them up to the camera is not the most efficient or effective way to communicate with your student.

Finally, regardless of how you plan to communicate with your student, it is important to make these decisions before you start your online learning. This will give you time to ensure that both you and your student have access to and familiarity with whatever technology is required. You want to avoid spending ten minutes of your session trying to guide your student through the functioning of a Google Doc, unless the purpose is digital coaching a tutorial of this platform or tool.

Reducing Friction from Online Learning:

When e-Tutoring and delivering online instruction, it is essential that you and your student both have copies of the material. We recommend having a dedicated channel for file sharing. Whether it is an email thread, text chain or the chat option in your video conferencing program, you both need to know how information and documents will be sent. Then, if you need to add a worksheet to your lesson plan or send over another round of practice problems, you won’t waste valuable time logging into emails or sending links to the wrong place.

Additionally, if you are not using software that includes screen sharing, you should vocalize every time you change tabs. While it may seem obvious to you that you’ve moved from the digital white board back to the worksheet, if you do not explicitly tell your student, they may not change tabs with you and get lost. Each time you and your student are not aligned, you risk disrupting the flow of the lesson.

Finally, if a student is completing any homework offline, you need to ensure that you have a way to view it. This can be achieved with a document camera during the session, or by having the student scan their work and email it to you before the session. If students don’t have a typical scanner, they can take a photo and email, text, or upload it to a designated spot.

Maintaining Student Interest:

Because you will lack many of the non-verbal cues that indicate if a student is engaged with online learning, it is harder to know that your student is paying attention during a remote session. In order to keep them interested, it is key to have the student actively participating in the session. You should constantly ask questions and have the student rephrase any information you provide in their own words. Remember, the moment you are talking and your student is not, they may have opened another tab or drifted into a dream world.

Additionally, because you are no longer in the room with your student, you should aim to ratchet up your enthusiasm. Learning from a screen can feel stiff compared to learning in person, so it is up to you to compensate for that gap with fun and purposeful activities, a positive attitude and consistent energy.

Flexibility of Session Length and Schedule:

Because online learning doesn’t require travel, it allows you to be more flexible with your schedule. Breaking up a full-length session into two smaller sessions or scheduling short follow ups are now options that you can offer your students. Be creative! You can now schedule a session to outline an essay and another one to edit the final draft, or three thirty-minute sessions to do math drills and review content consistently throughout the week.

Providing Normalcy and Minimizing Disruption:

Given the current disruption to your students’ school life, you should check in on how they are handling the transition in their schools. Your students may have issues with their new remote classrooms and you can help them develop strategies to learn more effectively. This can be an ideal opportunity to model problem solving behavior; rather than prescribing solutions, use targeted questions to help guide your students to strategies on their own.

Additionally, be open to feedback. Ask your students about how your remote sessions are going and try to incorporate their suggestions. Check in about what they like and don’t like about online learning and be willing to adapt your approach to their needs.

Finally, in the midst of this crisis, online learning will act as an emotional support to your students. This is bound to be a trying time for your students; their daily routines, education and social life are all in upheaval. By continuing to provide the same warm, reassuring presence that you bring to your in-person sessions, you can be an important anchor of normalcy in their life. The very fact that you are taking additional steps to meet with them in the midst of a crisis signals your commitment to their education and general well-being — it will not be overlooked.

By Jacob Backer, Private Tutor, and Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed. and Learning Specialist

Common Application Essay Coaching

Online Learning: Anxiety Management

Set Daily Intentions

Make the Most of Breaks

Celebrate Small Wins

Online Learning: Supporting Elementary Students

What is online learning?

What does online private tutoring, or e-tutoring, look like?

How can I support my elementary student’s transition to online learning?

What do I need to make online learning successful in my home?

Online Learning: Supporting College Students

Online Learning: Supporting Teachers

e-Tutoring and Online Learning:

Logistics and Tech:

Reducing Friction from Online Learning:

Maintaining Student Interest:

Flexibility of Session Length and Schedule:

Providing Normalcy and Minimizing Disruption:

Company Overview

School Planning

Private Tutoring

Test Preparation