Relationships

What if how we feel about ourselves and others when learning predicts the way we'll perform? Although most research regarding teacher-student relationships investigates the elementary years, teachers have the unique opportunity to support students' academic and social development at all levels of schooling. Positive student-teacher relationships enable students to feel safe and secure in their learning environments and provide scaffolding for important social and academic skills. The foundation of the GiftEd approach is a relational pedagogy that places the relationship between tutor and student at the center of the learning experience. When our tutors form positive bonds with students, learning becomes a supportive space in which students can engage in academically and socially productive ways. 

Building Trust

What is alliance? It is the trust between you and your tutor that allows you to work together effectively. It’s what helps you to believe that your tutor is trustworthy and has your best interest at heart.

Have you ever tried to change the way you do something? It could be anything — the way you hold your tennis racket, blow into a flute, meditate — you name it. No matter how motivated you were to change, and no matter how much you knew that it would help your serve, musicality, or sense of inner peace, it can be difficult and scary to change even the smallest thing. In order to change, you have to give up your old way of doing something first.

That’s just what happens when students begin tutoring. The foundation of every GiftEd tutoring experience is the alliance between tutor and student. At GiftEd, students know that their tutor is there to help them, no matter how hard the going gets.

Brain Science & Research

What is learning, anyway? Learning is a biological activity. Since learning is about connecting neurons, and strengthening the connections among them, GiftEd tutors come prepared with what neuroscience and education research tell us about how to enhance each of the stages of learning. We can dramatically change how our students learn in school by understanding what ramps up the signal that gets new information encoded in our brains, knowing how to ensure that the information is stored and consolidated over time (and with sleep), and using strategies to make it easier to retrieve that information when and how we want it.