Tutoring for a tutoring firm - good or no?

[VivaTequila]

To tutor or not to tutor (for a firm)?

So basically I'm all about tutoring. I'm the living learning. I love teaching and I'm shooting for academia if I don't get into medicine, and as it stands, it's a pretty sweet gig to support yourself through uni because frankly you get money thrust into your hands for just divulging your wisdom upon those who want to join the ranks.

I had an interview today with a tutoring firm that offers small classes weekly - they pay $25-$35/hr. That's not too shabby for a tutor with only 8 months experience. Now, thing is, I normally charge $30/hr, but obviously I can only do between 1-2 hours at a time. That sucks, because it means I can only sorta fit in 5 students tops in a week with my other job at an internet cafe where I work an easy ~25hr/wk. I'm thinking if I drop the internet cafe job (which mind you is absolutely soul-crushing work, 80% of our business is through people coming in and watching pornography and looking up escorts) and instead work for this tutoring firm in my spare time, I could make a lot more money. Think about it - if the students are all coming to this small firm and I don't have to travel to wherever is convenient for them, then that means that I can just tutor long shifts of up to 8hrs. That's an easy $200-$280, and my rent is covered for the week!

I'm hesitant though because it goes against everything I stand for. This company isn't chill - they're all about professionalism, and that really doesn't bode well with my pedagogy. When I tutor, I'm all vulgar, contemporary, and fresh, and I've been told by my students that it's why they come back to me and hire me out - because I can spell it out in terms that your prototypical student is gonna understand.

See, this company is going to make me tutor like a teacher as far as I can tell. They're going to make me be politically correct, and explain everything how it should be taught from a professional standpoint. That is not how to tutor. The way to tutor is to state everything how it is. Macbeth (Macbeth) is a greedy cunt, Mompellion (Year of Wonders) is a sexist bastard, and Anna (Year of Wonders) is a champ. Blanche (ASND) is unfathomably retarded, but that's the point of the text - it's becoz she's so stupid and unbelievable that we as the readers of the play are meant to just be outraged. In the 1950's that was all the rage, but now it just makes us think it's a stupid book. So long as you can understand that, kiddo, and write about it, you'll get good marks, so do that.

That is legitimately how I tutor - just explaining the events of the novel in terms that students will understand and connect with. If that means being colloquial to the point of poignant informality, then so be it, because my students will understand the text on meaningful terms. From there, it's just a matter of converting it into well scripted English, on paper, y'know. And when that gets them the marks they're after, then it's win-win, I have fun tutoring them in a way that's effectively just shock-tactics, and they love it and embrace it and get what they want out of it. And that's why they come back to me.

Obviously, my students often scoff when they first meet me and hear me say these outlandish generalisations about the whatever book they're studying, because they've never heard it like that before, but by the end of the hour most of them embrace it and love me for it.

But I don't think that's gonna fly with this tutoring firm, because they commented that I was extremely casual when I was trying to impress them by being all tactful and diplomatic.

So, what do you guys reckon? Should I give it a shot? Has anybody got any insight on how these tutoring firms actually work? Are the tutors uptight stringent tutors who are really hard to connect with, or do they actually become your pals? If you've been tutored by them before, what are they like? Do they just drill you with the typical 'DO CHECKPOINTS QUESTIONS, WATCH THIS AND ASK QUESTIONS, GET HIGH SCORE' or are they chilled and happy to help you with what you need, when you need, and do they become a mate that learns about your girlfriend, your latest juvenile escapade, and your family history and holidays?

I dunno. After that interview, which they were highly impressed with as far as I could tell (minus my supposedly colloquial attitude) and I'm positive I'll get into the next round of meeting with the English coordinator. But will I enjoy the job if I have to bend my tutoring style to being cold and callous and unfriendly and directly there for help with questions?

Experiences as tutors or students in these firms welcome and appreciated, cheers

[Menang]

I came across this company a few months ago and thought they had an interesting take on running a tutoring company. Perhaps their style and philosophy suits yours a little more?

http://www.99plus.com.au/
http://99plus.tumblr.com/

(Yes, they have a tumblr, and I'd say it's worth a browse.)

[paulsterio]

I reckon if that's the style that suits you, maybe you're looking at the wrong sort of firm, like you probably should search around and find firms (probably the younger ones like Connect) who seem to connect (excuse the pun) more with the way you teach. Because in the end, you want to achieve two things - teach in the way that is best for you to get information across and teach in the way that students will learn the best.

Personally I recommend private tutoring, just because I think eliminating the middle-man is a good idea - like the firm probably gets a decent cut at your hourly rate whilst all they do is set you up with a student. You could look into different forms of advertising yourself as a personal tutor. I've also found that teaming up with friends is a good idea. I have a friend who teamed up with someone else and basically he teaches Maths while his friend takes Chemistry, so it broadens your student base whatnot.

[brenden]

Macbeth (Macbeth) is a greedy cunt, Mompellion (Year of Wonders) is a sexist bastard, and Anna (Year of Wonders) is a champ.

Excellent character analyses. +1. Altruist? Nah, she's a champ!

[John President]

I came across this company a few months ago and thought they had an interesting take on running a tutoring company. Perhaps their style and philosophy suits yours a little more?

http://www.99plus.com.au/
http://99plus.tumblr.com/

(Yes, they have a tumblr, and I'd say it's worth a browse.)

These 99plus guys all look pretty up themselves. Not to say they can't be good tutors though.

[VivaTequila]

Macbeth (Macbeth) is a greedy cunt, Mompellion (Year of Wonders) is a sexist bastard, and Anna (Year of Wonders) is a champ.

Excellent character analyses. +1. Altruist? Nah, she's a champ!

Damn fucking straight she is!

Great advice guys, especially on those 99+. I'm liking the looks of them more than this tutoring firm.

Private tutoring isn't bad, but I find that travelling and finding them all takes a lot out of you. It's fine if they ALL came to you, one hour by one hour and then 5 hours later you've +$150, but if they don't, well, then :x

I know the middle man will take a cut of my money, but they're also willing to set me up with a tonne of consecutive students. So hey, that seems like a pre sweet deal to me.

I'll keep exploring I guess! More ideas and opinions welcome!

[paulsterio]

Well the other option I'm thinking about is just go with the company, but tutor how you normally tutor. It's not like they're going to be having people in the room listening on what you say, so I don't think it should be too much of a concern.

You're right - the travelling is a pain - but generally I make students come to me these days - like I just think if they're willing to travel to other tuition firms, they can travel to me as well. If not then I just add a multiplier to my rate depending on how far away they are. I don't want them to rip me off, so I figure out the amount of time it takes me to get there and add a little amount for petrol on that and I think that's fair.

[Truck]

Well the other option I'm thinking about is just go with the company, but tutor how you normally tutor. It's not like they're going to be having people in the room listening on what you say, so I don't think it should be too much of a concern.

Yeah I reckon you consider doing that, worst situation you get fired and you're back where you started anyway .