Trail Session

Trial Session
Your progress
First Impression is the last impression. Nail that trial session with these highly useful tips. Plan ahead and do the magic!
Academics and Languages – 30-minute trial
Music, Chess or other usual 30 minute lessons (Including Vocal) – 15-minute trial
Introduction: [5-7 minutes]
  • Introduce yourself to the parent and the student.
  • Ask the right questions from the parent, their expectations, past experiences, short and long term goals.
Assessment and Teaching: [10-15 minutes]
  • See what the student already knows by identifying strengths and weaknesses for the student through a quick informal assessment. The assessment can be written, verbal or practical.
  • If the assessment is long, send it to the parent through Talentnook’s communication portal before the trial session. If the link is not available, send it through your Talentnook advisor.
  • Ask questions related to the subject.
  • For music, vocal or chess lessons, if the student is a beginner, the assessment can be skipped. The teacher can instead talk about the student’s interest in the subject.
  • Plan some time for actual teaching so the student can understand your style of teaching.
  • It will also help you understand students’ level of focus and communication.
Review and Plan [5 minutes]
  • Review the assessment and provide your feedback. If the assessment was done before the trial then have it reviewed and ready to be discussed during the session.
  • Provide a rough plan: What will the usual sessions look like? Will it mostly cover homework/exam practice or work on the areas the student struggles with. Recommend a session frequency.
  • Inform the parent how a report will be sent after each session to track progress/goals for the sessions and suggest to stay in loop for best results.
  • In case the parent is not around, inform the student that you will send a detailed session report to them.
Timings for next meeting [2-3 minutes]
  • If they seem to be interested in working out the timings for future meetings then spend a few minutes. If not, then inform them that a Talentnook advisor will reach out.
Closing:
  • Close the session with some positive words of reassurance.
After the session:
  • DON’T rush to send the session report. Instead, take some time to draft a detailed session report.
    • This will help the parent see your interest and drive their decision of continuing the lesson
    • It will provide a good understanding and clarity of your short and long term goals for the student
    • It will help you to maintain a progress track for the student and will make the upcoming session reports easy to write
  • What should it include?
    • Mention how the session went
    • Some insights into the assessment and results
    • Your observations about child and what kind of help will be needed
    • Some short and long term goals
Some Sample Trial Session Reports :
  1. James and I had a positive introduction. We got to know each other and talked about his progress in Algebra so far. He took an assessment during our meeting which helped me determine some of his strengths and weaknesses. We discussed a plan to help improve his study habits and how to work on homework moving forward. We have decided that we will meet once a week every Friday at 4:00 PM PST.
    It was a great meeting with you. Talking to you helped me understand some of his struggles in his work recently and I hope to see some significant improvements through our future sessions together. I am looking forward to working with James, he seems excited to get going. I will keep you updated with my detailed reports on James progress. Please feel free to contact me from your Talentnook dashboard for any questions.
  2. I enjoyed meeting Miranda and you today. Thank you for explaining to me how you want her to receive help working on her Biology class as she hasn’t done too well in her past assignments. Miranda laid out the topics her class is working on right now with me. I provided assistance on a homework problem to show to her how I can help along with some tips on how to tackle each problem.
    I suggested meeting twice a week initially till we catch up on the subject. Once we are stable, I will suggest moving to once a week sessions. We can start our sessions from Monday. I am available on Mondays and Thursdays at 4 pm, as discussed.
    I loved her pleasant and positive attitude during our meeting. She is willing to work and I am all in to make that happen. We will be going over the Reproduction and cell division test prep next time we meet.
    I will keep you updated with my detailed reports on Miranda’s progress. Please feel free to contact me from your Talentnook dashboard for any questions.