Teaching MCAT classes for Kaplan- need advice

[suzygreenberg]

Hey SDers,

I just started training to become an MCAT instructor for Kaplan. I'm excited because I love teaching and, although it's sick to say, I enjoyed studying for the MCAT. However, I realized I won't be getting many hours, as I'm teaching Tuesday/Thursday evening classes only and a good chunk of the classes are taught to the students online. I'm thinking about nannying to spend the rest of my extra time this summer and earn extra money.

So I have a couple questions for anyone who has taught for Kaplan, TPR, EC, etc...

-Did you balance another job while teaching? Was it doable?
-How many hours a week did it take you to prep/teach/answer emails, etc.?
-Have any other general advice?

Thanks in advance

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[Abstractions]

-Have any other general advice?

#1 Pet peeve/common problem among new teachers is they won't admit when they don't know an answer to a question.Please, if you don't know just say "I'm not sure, but I'll look it up and I'll get back to you next session" instead of trying to come up with some convoluted answer that may be incorrect. Trying to appear all-knowing when you aren't is the quickest way to lose the respect of your students.

 

[suzygreenberg]

Concur to that. The best way besides simply saying I dont know, is to say I dont know, lets see if we can figure it out together.

Thanks, I absolutely agree.

 

[URHere]

I spent several years teaching for TPR. To answer your questions:

1) I can't imagine MCAT teaching being someone's only job. It simply doesn't offer enough hours for that.

2) The first class you teach requires more prep time than the following ones. For my first class, I spent maybe 2-3 hour preparing for each lecture. In later years, that was cut down to 20-30 minutes tops. Emails could generally be answered in 10 minutes of random time between classes, at work, etc.

3) There's a fine balance between being creative with the material and being confusing. It's absolutely a good thing if you can provide clinical examples or interesting facts for the students in addition to the prepared lesson plan…but overall, stick to what you are supposed to be saying. It's important when it comes to things like refund/retake policies and it works well for most students.

 

[suzygreenberg]

I spent several years teaching for TPR. To answer your questions:

1) I can't imagine MCAT teaching being someone's only job. It simply doesn't offer enough hours for that.

2) The first class you teach requires more prep time than the following ones. For my first class, I spent maybe 2-3 hour preparing for each lecture. In later years, that was cut down to 20-30 minutes tops. Emails could generally be answered in 10 minutes of random time between classes, at work, etc.

3) There's a fine balance between being creative with the material and being confusing. It's absolutely a good thing if you can provide clinical examples or interesting facts for the students in addition to the prepared lesson plan…but overall, stick to what you are supposed to be saying. It's important when it comes to things like refund/retake policies and it works well for most students.

Thanks, URHere. That is very helpful!