The Tutor Group™
#1829 - 3230 Yonge Street.Toronto, ON M4N 3P6 Canada
(mailing address)
Phone: (416) 221-0018
Fax: (416) 221-0057
Email
What Defines The Tutor Group Difference?
These five basic adjectives sum up The Tutor Group Difference. Here’s how:
What do you mean by PROFESSIONAL?
adjective: belonging to a profession
We Measure Ourselves In Order to Measure Up
We hold ourselves to a higher standard. We strive to be competent, skillful and confident in our work. In other words, we are professional educators, instructors, mentors and consultants not just in name or through our skills, but in our values, attitude and behaviours.
We Practice What We Preach
We model to clients: from our adult learners through our youngest students and their families, plus the education and support professionals who are our service partners. We not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. Our clients, especially our students and their families, appreciate this.
By doing so, we have become reputable within our field.
What do you mean by REPUTABLE?
adjective: having a good reputation
Our Reputation Matters - A Lot
Our reputation matters to us. It should matter to you as well.
Being a reputable company is much more than being established. It also means being dependable and trustworthy. Inviting us into your homes, schools and workplaces is a huge leap of faith. We never take this for granted.
Why We Don’t Advertise
You won’t see The Tutor Group on flyers or in pesky pop-up ads. In fact, we don’t advertise - at all. TTG has operated as a successful, 100% referral-based business for in-person and online tutoring, education consultation and guidance alongside other education-related services for over 35 years.
Our reputation is particularly important to us - and so is being experienced.
What do you mean by EXPERIENCED?
adjective: having knowledge or skill in a particular field, especially a profession or job, gained over a period of time
We Add an Extra Dimension to EXPERIENCE
The definition above fits us in part, but not fully. In education, repeating something too often or for too long can inhibit creativity, deplete energy and stifle innovation.
We’ve Been Around for a While...
The Tutor Group was founded by Janyce Lastman back in 1979. That year, McDonald’s introduced its child-themed Happy Meals; the Sony Walkman was the must-have teen gadget for a staggering $200 (that’s about $650 today!) and families flocked to theatres to see movies like Meatballs, The Frisco Kid and Kramer vs. Kramer. But today’s students are more likely to choose sushi and smoothies, teens have constant access to a profusion of gadgets, devices and screens, and families use streaming services like Netflix to select from thousands of films both old and new, in their own homes.
In other words, you’ve changed since 1979. So have we.
Age Alone Does Not Define Experience
At TTG, we share a passion for imparting knowledge, and a collective love of education. While experience allows us to know how courses are taught, which material is covered, how students are evaluated and what skills graduates need going forward, we also know these may change at any time – and we are ready.
TTG tutors speak many languages, have wide-ranging talents and interests and span the generations. We expect to encounter young people with new learning styles within novel family situations on a regular basis. We are up to the challenge. In fact, we rather like it that way.
As experienced educators, we know our field is always changing. Keeping our services personalized and programming individualized also helps greatly.
What do you mean by INDIVIDUALIZED?
in·di·vid·u·al·ized indəˈvij(o͞o)əˌlīz/d
verb (past tense): to tailor something
to suit the individual
We prefer Snowflakes to Clones
Our tutoring and consult services, both online and in-person, are one-on-one and strictly private for this reason. Each family’s pressing questions about a child’s development or future, every student’s academic struggles and triumphs, each classroom learning situation and every school or career choice dilemma is unique – just like snowflakes. While our common services share a definite structure, exactly how and what is delivered in each situation differs. This is where individualization comes into play.
Expect Some of Your Questions to be Answered With “It Depends”, At Least Initially
Why? Because it really, truly does.
- How long will our consultation take? It depends.
- Will my child be working at grade level soon? It depends.
- What’s the best school or program for me? It depends.
We don’t pretend to have instant answers. That is the advantage of offering individualized, personalized programs and services. But we promise to work toward finding out, to keep you in the loop, and work together as we go.
What do you mean by EFFECTIVE?
ef·fec·tive əˈfektiv/
adjective: successful in producing
a desired or intended result
It’s Not Easy Being Effective
The student who can’t pay attention, doesn’t focus in class, has concept gaps or struggles to take notes while listening, clearly needs additional support just to keep afloat. Optimizing the learning process is a later stage.
Private tutoring or mentor coaching can help students “get by”, gain skills and often shine – all certainly effective accomplishments. However, to make the transition to independence, assigned follow-up work and independent review must also be regularly done by the student outside of tutoring. Without this, progress happens more slowly, and support is needed for longer periods.
At TTG, we believe that our students can and should become increasingly more accountable for their own work, planning and decisions and evolve into more independent learners over time as a result. All students benefit from effective supports. But in the end, decisions about assignment details or homework completion become theirs to own, and test marks or exam grades are theirs to earn. While this can be a difficult lesson for some (including for parents - many of us have been there too!), we believe this is the ultimate type of effective learning.
Whose Results Are These Anyway?
That’s also why we don’t offer last minute support to new clients who contact us right before exams or essay deadlines – cramming is never effective learning. It’s also why our tutors won’t do a student’s (or parents’) work – and similarly, this is why we don’t guarantee a specific high grade, no matter how much a student may “need” or want it. See also “It Depends” above.