Inspiration
How did The Tiny Tutor begin?
The truth is I am 4’11 ½’’, and I never leave that half out. I believe it constitutes the very tiny, yet very mighty part of my personality that I have to thank for the three accomplishments I’m most proud of to date, which also inspired me to create The Tiny Tutor.
I’m proud of my Master of Teaching Degree from the University of Virginia because I always knew I wanted to be a special educator. In middle school, I sat next to a dear family friend with Down Syndrome, while she lost her battle with leukemia. In high school I designed my own independent study in order to spend every afternoon with the “mentally retarded” class at my neighborhood middle school. Those were the days when that phrase was actually both socially and politically acceptable. Then by college, I found myself at my dream university, diligently following my childhood goal at UVA’s Curry School of Education. After three years of focused coursework in reading diagnosis and remediation, math instruction for special and elementary education, and behavior management, I finally got to translate my skills to the classroom. By the time I reached my 5th year student teaching practicums, the PC phrase had shifted to “mildly mentally retarded,” which was the population of high school students I taught in a trailer in Albemarle County, VA. I wore hoodies and let my students call me Ms. Mick because McNulty had too many syllables for them to pronounce. I taught these kind and loving students basic life skills that determined whether or not they would be able to live independently after 12th grade.
I wasn’t sure how to use my Master of Teaching when I moved to New York City in 2000. I knew there must be some way to combine my two passions and training up to that point (I had simultaneously received my BA in theatre from UVA and headed to NYC to audition for theatre, film and television). Teaching and acting seemed to coexist in my mind as a natural fit, but it wasn’t until a close friend from my Master’s Program (who was teaching math in the West Village) called with a very simple question, that I understood the place I would hold in the field of education.
That question was, “Can you tutor my student?”
Within one month, I became “Megan the Tutor.” I walked endless blocks and rode the subway from the Bronx to Battery Park to work one-on-one in my students’ homes, where they were most comfortable. I was teaching the way I had always envisioned:
1) fully utilizing the tried, true and tested strategies I had learned at UVA
2) creating fun tricks and techniques on the spot from my years as an actor who loved to improv
3) truly assessing my students’ individual progress, without the pressure of comparison against their peers or classroom standards.
Simply put, I figured out how my students learned best and that’s the way I taught them. It was the ideal version of the charter school I had created on paper for my graduate school thesis, except better, because for 45 minutes to an hour each session, it was just me and my student. Of course, every student was taller than me and my title of “Megan the Tutor” quickly turned to “Megan the Tiny Tutor.”
All of this provides an appropriate context for my second accomplishment, the tutoring business I ran in both NYC and LA. I began as an early reading and math specialist, but then ended up doing just a little bit of everything as I grew with my students. Phonics and fluency morphed into AP US History and Bio. Essay writing, test prep, comprehension skills, and organization took the form of countless college essays and supplements. I regarded each and every one of my many students through the years as “my kids.” They’d text after they aced a final and put out the bat signal when a big English essay deadline suddenly got moved up. I was their first call when they got their acceptance into their top choice college (my favorite call of all:) and I became an important part of their family dynamic. I ate dinner with them, went to their bar and bat mitzvahs, celebrated birthdays, graduations and everything in between. I would do anything for these kids and always gave them my heart. Then I had my own kids… which marks my third accomplishment and the last step towards inspiring this educational pursuit.
My girl took three days and my boy came in less than two hours. Talk about different personalities and what I continue to see in them as different learning styles. Mackenzie (Mack) and Huck (not Huckleberry, just Huck) changed my world for the better and after two decades of mentoring other people’s children, I was ready to teach my own!
It really all started with Mack however and California’s cut-off date of turning five by September 1st to start Kindergarten. My September 9th baby had to first do a year of what is now commonly referred to as TK (Transitional Kindergarten). During TK, Mack gained a solid foundation in her early reading, writing and math skills, but then was the oldest in her class when she could finally start Kindergarten at our beloved neighborhood elementary school. I quickly saw the need to supplement her learning at home. Mack was more than happy to become my new student and see what mommy had done in her “job” all those years.
So I made her a reading box, came up with a song to help her learn the months of the year (to one of her favorite tunes), and pulled my dusty math manipulatives off the shelf. That’s when a few mom friends from her old preschool asked me, “Can you show me what you’re doing with Mack ?” I hosted a playdate the next week. After the kids ran around and us moms caught up, Mack and I gave a few tutorials on word sorts, phonics games, building a sight word box… and that’s when The Tiny Tutor was really conceived.
Now that Mack is 8 and reading in 2nd grade, I’m starting all over again with Huck, now 3 and mastering his beginning sounds and concept of word. “Welcome to The Tiny Tutor” has become our favorite household phrase and I still have to pinch myself when I see my two loves fulfilling mama’s dream on our video tutorials.
I always said when I started my tutoring business back in 2000, that I would keep doing it until there were no more kids who needed to blend their CVC words or master their 9’s. It is my sincere desire to keep on mentoring for the next two decades and beyond, by giving all the parents out there the tools and tricks I’ve learned with my students and now my kids.
Tutoring is what I’ve done every day for 20 years. Now it’s just taken on a new format…