VIPKid 200th class update! Tools, Tips, Questions, What I Wish I Knew, Extras, FAQ's

9/23/17

I meant to write this post a few days ago, when I actually hit the milestone, but, 200 classes! I would have gotten to this point sooner but I took a lot of time off this summer, and I don't really teach on weekends, the beauty of a flexible schedule!


I want this blog post to be as helpful and beneficial as possible to those wondering about VIPKids so please, leave questions/comments if there is something more you would like to know!

I'll start it off with some tips that I wish I knew prior to hitting my 200th class

Tips

  • If you plan to teach weekends, open the bookings (with the 24 hour booking option clicked) with less than 24 hours notice. Why? Because this will enable students to last minute book you, and for you to earn an extra $2 for each of those classes
  • Make/use your own reward charts. Get creative. Set yourself out from other teachers
  • Make your classroom (background) interesting but not distracting. Having a good "bulletin" that supports the learning environment but doesn't distract from your lesson is important (see links below). Changing your bulletin seasonally also keeps your students engaged (not necessary but you may find after teaching a while that this will be a good option)
  • Tools/props. Find a good balance that works for you. You might not feel comfortable putting on a Broadway performance with puppets and that's fine, but find a method you're confident with and stick with it. I have a few staples that I use (links below)
  • Creativity! In your reward charts, in your teaching, it's all important!
  • Feedback. Should be detailed, insightful, provide encouragement and also provide working points for the students so they can practice when they aren't in the classroom with you. Something else that I have found frustrating is that it's sometimes extremely hard to get students to leave you feedback. I have taught 200+ classes but only have 63 feedbacks. To me, that's not a good response rate. Something that I started doing as part of my feedback to students was a request for feedback. Something along the lines of "if you enjoyed our lesson today please don't forget to leave 5 apples, feedback is very important for me as an instructor". 
  • If you are referring people, help them! Goodness don't make them go into it blind even if you had to! Give them tips, pointers, anything to make their hiring go smoothly!
Moving forward here are some things that I'm going to work on to improve as a VIPKid teacher and to bring the best experience to students, to keep things lively, and to hopefully keep drumming up business! 

  • Seasonal backgrounds. This will inspire discussion and also freshen up the classroom
  • Keep updating the classroom, I have gotten comfortable with my background and haven't refreshed it. It works but I also want to do better about incorporating lesson concepts into the background, maybe a letter we are working on, or a picture of something we are working on.
  • New reward systems. I created a gumball reward system using a gumball machine and the students earn gumballs to fill it, they love it and so do I, but there are other options and I owe it to my repeat students I've had from the beginning to give them something new and exciting. Any ideas? Create a pizza maybe?
I've been with VIPKid for a little while now and have learned a lot. I went into this experience blind and was pretty skeptical about it. It's been wonderful and very rewarding.

How can I help you? Please respond in the comments!
  • What do you want to know about being a VIPKid teacher?
  • What would be helpful about future blog posts relating to VIPKid?
Interested in becoming a VIPKid teacher and working from home on your own schedule? Apply here!

Here are some links for some of the tools/background things that I use very regularly within my classroom. I have found them to be very useful and hope that you do to!

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