The following are questions that have been asked in our conversations with many of you. If you have more questions please submit them HERE.  We will continue to answer your questions throughout this process and update these answers once a week! 
 

 

1. For WK 2, we usually start at 6:30 with snack dinner, tutor an hour, play a game, play trivia, then have Club for the last 15-20 minutes ending at 8:15 pm. Since it will be hard to do a game and group trivia and not have a snack dinner, what is the new time schedule? 
   
   Your middle school site could be longer because older students have longer attention spans. Since there isn’t dinner the session will likely look like: 6:30 start with a trivia as people are logging in, 6:35 tutoring in breakout rooms, 7:15 Club Time (which will start with a short Zoom game). The plan is that the session is over at 7:30.
    

2. Can the sessions be longer? 
   
   Our summer tutoring pilot allowed us to see how kids of various ages (incoming 1st to outgoing 5th graders) would fare in the virtual environment. While the older kids had higher levels of attentiveness the younger kids started zoning out at about 40 minutes. 
    

3. How will teachers get forms to kids?
   
   Since many school districts are moving to all virtual or to a hybrid model Whiz Kids is making all of its forms electronic. We’ll send links to our school liaisons who can email them to families. Families will not need to email them back, they will simply complete the form and the information will be added to the database. Club forms will also be electronic and tutors will still email those to parents. 
    

4. Can we do the club lesson first?
   
   Yes, as long as students who have not been given permission to attend are not logging in to the call until after club time is over. 
    

5. How will sessions be supervised/monitored?
   
   Coordinators, Field Directors and School Liaisons will all be able to discreetly enter and leave each breakout room. This will allow them to not only be helpful to tutors, but will also allow us to monitor student/tutor interactions. 
    

6. Is this going to work?
   
   We’re praying and believing so! We know it will work better than if we did nothing at all! Be sure to take advantage of the training and videos we’ll have available. Those dates are coming soon and will be posted to the Whiz Kids’ website. 
    

7. Can two people in the same house on different computers get on the same call?
   
   As long as the individuals are using separate devices they can be on the same call. Depending on your internet speed the quality of your call may be diminished. And you’ll have to be sure to be far enough away from each other as to not get an echo or feedback. 
    

8. Can I tutor on my phone? 
   
   A laptop, tablet or computer are the best devices for virtual tutoring because it may be easier to get to the share screen and to read the online books. However, students in the summer tutoring program used phones and it worked for the students. 
    

9. If kids are home all day will they be able to log in? 
   
   We feel that kids will love coming to virtual tutoring because it will be different than online learning – because of the connection they’ll have with their tutor. Just like kids being in school all day and then coming to in-person tutoring, they love it because they are not just one face in a crowd of faces. They will have time one-on-one and in a group setting during club time. 
    

10. Will students remember? 
    
    Again, just like regular tutoring, we’ll ask tutors to connect with their families before tutoring to remind them. Since this is virtual we’ll even be able to connect with them 10 – 15 minutes prior to the program starting to be sure they remember! 
     

11. How will they do this?
    
    With and by the grace of God, lots of planning and training, and lots of communication with parents! We’re all in this together. It worked for our summer tutoring program which means it can be scaled!
     

12. Can we still use regular books instead of online books?
    
    Absolutely! Reading to students has always been an option. Just remember to keep asking your student questions and ensuring that you hold up the pictures so your student can see and remain engaged. 
     

13. My student moved on to middle school, so I would need to be assigned to a new student.  It could be a bit awkward starting with a new student using Zoom. 
    
    Yes, it might be just as awkward as meeting them for the first time, face to face. However, during the summer tutoring pilot we saw that kids were able to connect with their tutors right away. We will build in the same ‘getting to know you’ activities for virtual tutoring as we did for in-person tutoring. 
     

14. It will be challenging to be truly effective using this format.
    
    Maybe – but what if we’re MORE effective! Be sure to come to the trainings we’ll have available for tutors in September and for Coordinators at the end of August. Give it try it will definitely be more effective than not doing anything!
     

15. What resources will be available to be sure that there is something to work on?  What resources will be available to work with young students?
    Check out the Whiz Kids’ website where we have compiled resources for easy access. WhizKidsTutoring.com.  We have been using the online reading program RAZ-Kids for many years now. There are thousands of books available and the shared screen function on Zoom will allow you and your student to read the same book as if you were right next to each other. We are compiling video resources to help with math concepts as well as lessons tied to specific math standards for each grade level. 
     

16. Will I be able to continue tutoring online if I want to? 
    Yes! We will maintain an online tutoring cohort for those interested in continuing online once in-person programming is permitted.