In the series of Edtech discussions with eminent personalities impacting the world of education, this time we had Stephanie Kalina-Metzger. She is not only an Award-winning writer but also an English & writing tutor. Let us catch here a brief of her discussion with the host and TutorEye's academic head, Amandeep Singh.
As Amandeep asked her about how the pandemic has affected the learning of their students, Stephanie pointed out two relevant effects. Firstly, the students have been living in isolation a lot. This has impacted their mental health to a great degree. Secondly, she talked about the popular app, Zoom. While Zoom has its place, there have been several important drawbacks to it. For example, students would often keep their cameras switched off. This leads to little idea to the tutor how much the student is paying attention, or if he is even present. Besides, a lot of students do not get their tests back. This is preventing them from understanding where their mistakes are happening.
Stephanie recollects a certain girl who had emotional issues that were hampering her learning. Her parents mentioned that she had trouble following instructions because she would cry a lot. As a tutor, it felt like a challenge to teach such a child, but Stephanie took it up. The girl would cry, but Stephanie's composure put her to ease. Stephanie mentioned to her that not following the studies was still okay, and there was no harm in trying. She tactfully shifted the attention of the student from crying to studying. As a result, over time, the student has developed significantly at studies and cries a lot less.
Stephanie remarked that writing has always been a challenge among students and the common problem students face is spelling. This has increased due to the usage of digital apps that work on auto correcting errors. It is important to put pen to paper if a student wishes to improve writing. And writing essays and assessments are important for the student's future. She also added that students who read for fun, excel at writing.
Her advice to budding writers is to practice a lot. She recollects that once a teacher told her that to be proficient at anything, one needs to spend at least 10000 hours practicing that skill. She has been writing for many years, and when she looks back at her writing 10 years earlier, she cringes. She still has goals to write and improve her writings.
Stephanie mentions how having an up-to-date LinkedIn profile has helped her bag significant writing projects. Hence, she advises young writers to do the same. Besides, they can also keep sharing on their social media accounts what they do and what skills and experience they have at writing.