Our Pedagogy

Every single team member at TSNY is an education professional. Teaching and tutoring are at the center of our careers. In addition to the training we go through to become high school teachers, arts counselors, college professors, and more, each of us completes rigorous, routine training to ensure that we provide students the best academic support we can. We stay on top of the news for all standardized exams, stay up to date on the latest in pedagogical theory, and constantly refine our methods over hours and hours of face time with our students. To learn more about the backgrounds of our tutors, meet our team, get in touch, or schedule a free consultation.

How It Works

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Our Materials

Building Helpful Habits

Step by Step Processes

Whether writing an essay or sitting for the SAT, it is critical that students have habits and processes they can rely on in the face of time pressure or uncertainty. Getting a question right on one practice exam means nothing if a student does not actually know the concepts the question is examining. We help students proceed through their work methodically, helping them identify points of weakness or unfamiliarity, so they can achieve sustainable results in their work. Standardized exams often try to trick students. Essay prompts or homework questions may contain details a hasty reader might miss. We emphasize detail-oriented, methodical approaches that students can apply to all of their academic work, regardless of level or subject.

A Big Picture Approach

When dealing with standardized exams, advanced coursework, or even just new material, it can be hard for students to keep track of everything they encounter. At TSNY, we work with students to synthesize new material with old material. We emphasize the use of learning journals, personalized “cheat sheets,” and study calendars to help students chart their strengths and weaknesses, plan courses of action, and keep track of critical information. Collecting deadlines and key formulas, recording difficult concepts to revisit later, and writing down useful tips and tricks allows students to externalize their knowledge in a single place, so they can revisit and think through their work more easily and effectively.

Working Smart

At TSNY, we believe that a student’s mental and physical health are vital to their academic and personal well-being. A good student isn’t always one who stays up until 3 AM drilling vocabulary words or memorizing dates. Burnout is a major risk to students, especially in high school. Sleep, rest, and recreation are integral parts of learning. Students who shirk these things often impede their own ability to focus and retain information. That is why we emphasize doing concentrated, focused work over the course of weeks and months. Deep learning and internalization are key components of sustained academic success. You can’t cram for the SAT. There is no reason to cram for your AP Bio exam when the work you do in October is on the exam in May. Our assignments and lesson plans dovetail with students’ schoolwork, allowing students to work step by step towards their goals.

Running the Marathon

Walk

When a basketball team gets a new play, they walk through it. When a dancer receives new choreography, they walk through it. The same is true for good test-takers. We work through new material slowly, so students can have the time, space, and low stakes necessary to make mistakes and learn from them. Starting slowly and moving up to full speed allows students to internalize and fully understand material, rather than relying on intuition and guesswork.

Run

Test-taking isn’t just about what students know—it’s about stamina, stress management, time management, and comfort. That’s why students supplement practice work and guided learning with timed practice, practice exams, and other kinds of assessments that help them prepare for exam day, big assignments, or whatever else they may face.

Use It or Lose It

Spending a week learning polynomial long division isn’t much use if a student can’t remember the method on exam day. As students walk and run, they also revisit material from previous weeks to ensure that they remain familiar with and can internalize the many facets of whatever exam, subject, or assignment they are preparing for.

Self-Guided Study

No Lectures (Mostly)

Students do not need a tutor to come to their home or appear on their computer screen to read them the contents of their workbook. While a tutor can be a useful accountability system, they are not an audiobook. Our tutors ask engaging questions that help students better understand the material. They share tips, tricks, ideas, and frameworks a given workbook, book chapter, or study guide might miss.

Helping Students Help Themselves

Though we are available between sessions, there will inevitably be times when students have to work through material for themselves. That’s why we utilize approaches that help students help themselves. We teach students how to work backwards through problems, how to utilize digital resources, and how to think through material so that they can engage with their work meaningfully, even if their tutor isn’t there. When students have the tools to pursue their own solutions, they feel more invested in their own success and empowered to achieve their best.

Student Investment Comes First

Teaching is not as simple as depositing information from one head into another. At TSNY, we pride ourselves on giving students the tools they need to learn and understand their material independently. For us, study is collaborative. Student agency and engagement is the critical part of the formula. When students are active and thinking about material in terms that feel natural and organic to their learning styles, they internalize and understand concepts in ways they never could if their tutor were simply explaining everything to them.