Are you considering becoming a tutor? What about a teacher? Do you know what each job involves? You’re in luck because I have worked both jobs and am here to give you some helpful info about each profession! Here are some comparisons laid out for you…
Tutoring
Individual time and attention
As a tutor, you have the unique experience to spend uninterrupted quality time with a single student. This is a luxury that teachers do not often get! This leads you to develop and good and professional relationship with your students, becoming their mentor!
Student has chosen to be there, and has chosen you!
The student that you tutor will be attending your sessions voluntarily. They will have taken the time to seek help and find you! This gives you the chance to work with their eagerness and desire to learn. Most of the time, because you are helping them individually, they understand much more and you make a difference in their lives. Then, they will thank you for your time and enjoy having met with you.
Different age groups
You will most likely be working with students of all different ages. You might have a first grader, sixth grader, and eleventh grader all on the same day! The great thing about this is that you can actually choose the age of your students. This provides variety and diversity in your sessions. You will never be bored!
Flexible Schedule/hours
You have the freedom to decide which hours work best for you and create your own schedule! If you work mostly with school aged students, this means you work outside of the school schedule. Your tutoring hours will mostly be in the late afternoon, evenings, and some weekends. This also means that you can be a full time student and STILL be able to tutor. The hours are SO flexible and you can make them work around your schedule.
Most importantly, you won’t HAVE to wake up early, yay!
Hourly
Tutors work on an hourly basis and do not necessarily need a degree in what they are tutoring. This, again, gives you the freedom to work as much or as little as you want. Tutoring serves as a great form of supplemental income for college students. You will definitely enjoy the supplemental income that you receive from this part time job, and your earnings will be directly proportionate to the hours that you choose to work. If you have a passion for helping others, sharing your knowledge through tutoring is probably the job for you!
Teaching
Group focus
As a teacher, you must keep your attention focused mostly on coaching the group. You have multiple students that need your attention at the same time and you must divide your time to suit them. Also, students are at different levels of learning. Therefore, you have to work with students who understand concepts immediately while also helping students who need more time.
There’s always that one student…
Any teacher will tell you that there’s that one student (or multiple) that does not care about their class whatsoever. These students can be quite a nuisance to the learning environment!
Same age group
Most of the time, a teacher focuses on only one grade. If someone teaches classes with multiple age groups, the ages usually vary only 2-4 years. This happens more so in the Arts than in other subjects. Don’t think you don’t need versatility, though, because every class is different!
Same daily schedule/hours
You see the same students, at the same time, everyday. Even if you’re on a some kind of rotating schedule, you still see the same group of students on a consistent, planned schedule.
Teachers usually report between 7-9 a.m. (too early for me!) and leave between 2-5 p.m. You also get weekends and summers off; that is, unless you spend your summers tutoring, which a lot of teachers do! 😀
Salary
Most teachers receive a salary and benefits for their position. This also means you must have specific education and certification credentials in order to have a salaried job. Now, a salary may sound fine and dandy, but sometimes your summers aren’t even included! You are considered a 10-month employee!
If tutoring sounds like it might be the job for you, please feel free to fill out a Cognitutor Tutoring application here!