Notes From Tutorial: Virtual Day in the Life

December 2025
Gabriella Pena 

7:30-8:20 AM: I start off my first morning session teaching Algebra 1 Monday through Wednesday and ELA on Thursdays. While most would expect students coming into morning classes to be groggy, this is quite the opposite for this group. This group comes in eager and is focused on learning. A lot of the time, they wish to take an active role in their learning by coming up to the (virtual) whiteboard to demonstrate their skills and knowledge of the current topic being studied. 

8:21-9:15 AM: After my first 8th grade session, I give myself 15-20 minutes to dedicate to some sort of Pilates or yoga/meditation. This is a good way to allow myself proper movement as well as the time to clear my head. Once this is done, I allow myself to reflect on my previous session. Thinking of what I did and what I could improve not only helps me present the session effectively but to help improve myself as a tutor.

9:16-10:06 AM: My second morning session is another Algebra 1 session with the same set up as the previous session. One of the students in the group takes an active role in their learning by taking time to ask questions when they are not certain of something. This is something I always appreciate as asking questions can be a great way to gauge interaction if students aren’t comfortable answering questions. It also helps to let me know what they struggle to learn as well as how I can improve answering questions in a way that helps them understand the content better. 

10:07 AM-1:28 PM: I make lunch for myself. Sometimes, if my parents or sister are home, I enjoy my lunch with them as we talk to each other about our respective days. After a small break, I go back to my desk to go over the day’s lesson plan one more time and log in to the session.

1:29-2:19 PM: The last session of my day I work with 7th graders in math and/or ELA, depending on the day. Now this class is a bit different than my previous two sessions, some days the students come in eager to learn whereas other days they seem to be a bit distracted. 

After Sessions: After logging out of my afternoon session, I review the lesson plan for the next day. I do so ahead of time to allow myself to digest it and figure out how I want to go about presenting it in a way that will be effective for my students. As you all can see, there’s a lot that goes into virtual education besides simply being techy with a computer and showing up online. There’s also a lot of planning, as well as trial and error that is involved with effectively conducting a virtual tutoring session. On top of that, a tutor must be creative in coming up with ways to foster relationships with students when you aren’t physically in their presence. It’s so exciting to meet and be a part of these young individuals’ learning experiences. You can truly impact how they view topics they struggle with as well as being aware that there are people out there that want to help and see them succeed. 

Thanks for following me along on my day as a GO Virtual Tutor!