Teachers of LearnCube: Neil Wilson

Meet Neil Wilson!

Originally from Cardiff and a graduate of Portsmouth University, Neil Wilson worked as a primary teacher in UK schools for over 30 years. He decided to retire early and start a new adventure by opening his own online tutoring business Sharpway Tutoring. 

Neil centres his business on 1:1 online tutoring. He teaches both Maths and Reading to UK Primary pupils between the ages of 5 to 11 years old. And he's also qualified to teach ESL.

"When I started teaching, it was just a job. I thought little of the impact I could have on the lives of others. Now, over thirty-two years later, bringing the best out of people and a passion for seeing them learn is what motivates me the most."

Neil describes his teaching style as "Relational, professional and focused". We asked him a few questions that we share below:

What are valuable tips and tricks you've learned from your experience teaching online that changed the way you're approaching classes now?

• Using the highlighter (both student & tutor) can make learning immediate.
• Keep a folder for each student and then a folder for each week of learning. You can then put worksheets, pictures, etc., in these and easily load them onto Learncube when you're ready.

Can you think of a unique story or experience you lived because of being an online teacher?

One of my long term students was going through a particularly tough few weeks at school, so I invested much of our lesson times over that period just chatting with him, encouraging him and offering advice. According to his mother, these times helped a lot, and he is now much more settled.

What advice would you give a new teacher/tutor to help them start their own online teaching business?

• Teach to your strengths, and don't get caught up in fads. Look out for online CPD
• Include Paypal for business on your website.
• You can invest and use a company to generate leads (I used Bark). But also, be patient! Eventually, you will get students through word of mouth. 

Do you have any creative ways of using our Virtual Classroom features for your classes?

Just make use of the interactive tools as much as possible (but not for its sake!)

You have also created a Youtube Channel. What was your inspiration behind it?

My Youtube Channel was inspired mainly by the desire to reach out to a larger audience and give parents' bitesize' advice/ideas to help their children learn at home. I'm hoping a knock-on effect will be to attract parents to my tutoring service and to the online courses I've written.

Thank you, Neil, for sharing your story with us!

Sharpway Tutoring is Neil's tutoring business. You can find him at www.sharpway.net and also on his Youtube Channel. 

About Teachers of LearnCube

This series focuses on highlighting some of our valued teachers' stories. LearnCube has incredible educators from around the globe using our virtual classroom software daily, and by sharing their experiences, we hope to inspire many more to start and grow their businesses.

If you're curious about our products, including our award-winning Virtual Classroom and Online School software,  please click here for more information.