Like most teachers, I like to do tutoring after school for those who need it, and are not in my class. I will usually meet a student at the local library for about an hour once a week in the evening, answering any questions they have about the week’s assignments or working ahead in the curriculum if there’s time.

Since I live and work in different cities, I can tutor students from both cities. But I never thought I would be given an opportunity like this:

I received an email from a father who was concerned about his daughter’s success in a junior level IB math class. The difference is, they live in Florida!

He ran across my name by doing a search of IB math teachers online. It’s a good thing my online presence is positive, because I think I was one of the first teachers he contacted, if not the first.

Once I agreed to tutor his daughter, it was time to figure out logistics. How would we communicate? How could I watch her work and point out errors as they come up? How could the father compensate me for my time?

After doing some research, we (the student and I) decided to communicate face-to-face using Facetime on our laptops. We also downloaded BaiBoard 3, an interactive whiteboard app, to our iPads so that I could watch her work and give written feedback on the spot as well. Surprisingly, the easiest part was working out the transfer of funds. Most banks have this and make it easy for customers, regardless of the bank they use, to transfer money from one account to another.

So, it’s all set up now. We met briefly yesterday just to introduce ourselves, and the father paid me in advance for the first three hours. We even tested the BaiBoard app by writing “Hello” to each other. And everything went very smoothly.

Our first session is on Monday evening, and I’m very excited about this new way of tutoring. Perhaps if I’m successful, I could look into tutoring more students in other states, and maybe other countries.

If you would like to follow my progress, please let me know, and I’ll post more as the sessions progress.