My Story
"Teaching is my life" is cliché, but from the time I was 6 where I set up my very own classroom of 6 teddy bears to mentoring and peer tutoring in high school, I knew that teaching was my calling.
Pursuing that goal and earning a BA in English and then a Bachelor of Education, I taught in public and private education sectors, and worked in curriculum development and skills training. Fast forward some years and with the addition of two lovely children, full-time teaching became part-time. And fast forward a few more years, our family welcomed one more, and that was when I made the switch to tutor English from home. From there, I established my tutoring business where I teach students ranging from pre-K phonics to IB English 12.
To this day, I continue to love teaching, but I've always wanted to reach out and do more. So 2020 became the year that I decided to do just that. As unprecedented as the year had been, it has taught us all to be resilient and adapt to change, and for me, that meant making the switch from face-to-face to online tutoring. Tutoring sessions also weren’t just English classes, but rather, they became motivational lessons where we had discussions about mindset and organization to help my students understand the changes and to adapt and keep positive.
My reaction?
I loved every minute of sharing these strategies. I started to dive deep into the learnings and research of the brain and the value of of growth mindset. I started sharing my findings with my children and my students and started throwing in little lessons here and there around organization and learning and mindset. I started speaking to the parents about goal setting strategies and organizing and how it affects learning.
Their reactions?
They loved it! My students started to apply the strategies into their learning, and the parents tell me they see a difference in their confidence and attitude about schoolwork.
So this has inspired me to develop online courses to reach out and help more students have an understanding of growth mindset and to plan their time and organize themselves to achieve excellence and independence at school, at home, and in the community.
So that's how the name and site was born. I am READY TO SET GOALS. I hope I can inspire more students to do the same.
With gratitude,
Ginny
Ken, former student
You taught me English and other subjects simultaneously through various activities such as singing, sports, and games. I remember how you motivated me to learn and I was able to achieve my goals and set more goals before entering high school. You helped and taught me skills outside of the academic context which really helped me to mature. I'm now working as a primary school teacher in Finland, but I wouldn't be here without having you as my teacher back then. Thank you Ginny. You're my best teacher!