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(cc) Roger Jones

For too long learners have been let down by the way they’ve  been taught math.

In fact, a lack of math proficiency remains one of the biggest single problems shared by learners across the globe, regardless of country.

Sarah Bartram is an online teaching pioneer who is making a difference for hundreds of learners who are fed up and reaching out for help with math - online.

An out-of-the-box thinker, it’s not too surprising that Sarah has chosen to teach online. But it is interesting that her passion and commitment to teaching developed OUTSIDE the expected teachers’college.

Yes, you read that right.

While Sarah is college trained, she is not a “certified” teacher. Instead, she is a woman with a sheer love of mathematics, a person who enjoys helping people understand and solve math problems they find too challenging to solve on their own.

And she’s made it her business to help them!

Learners LOVE working with Sarah because she makes their needs her #1 priority.

It’s easy to see just HOW MUCH they love working with her, skimming through the hundreds of stellar reviews they have left for her on LivePerson.com.

Basing her work on the belief that everyone can learn math, Sarah uses her online teaching business and her face-to-face tutoring practice to make a very decent living doing exactly what she loves most - teaching mathematics.

(cc) Ben Cummings

How simple can you get?

1. Learners ask for and receive the math help they need.
2. Sarah makes a decent living doing what she loves.
3. Things start turning around for learners - Online.

I invite you to listen to Sarah talk about how she’s doing her part to make a dent in a global problem - that really doesn’t have to be a global problem.

…then I suggest you consider how you might start sharing your teaching passions DIRECTLY with global learners - online.

You don’t have to quit teaching to collect on your education!

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Michael Hodosh, aka Dr. Michael, is a 49-year-old clinical psychologist who is shifting his focus from face-to-face counseling to counseling online.

He’s making a lot more money online in a lot less time. And he feels he is able to help people more than he can many times in face-to-face conventional systems.

You can do the same! 

Dr. Michael does his work through Kasamba, newly acquired by Live Person.

There are dozens of online marketplaces like the one Mike is using. More are springing up every week. And people who can see new possibilities are starting to transition their counseling and life coaching practices from conventional face-to-face settings to working online through these marketplaces.

In fact, Dr. Michael is one of over 30,000 professionals registered at Kasamba (now Live Person) to help people find solutions to their most pressing problems.

With a doctorate in psychology and training as a coach through CTI, Mike currently earns from $5-6K a month in as little as 80 hours a month providing direct service to people who contact him at Kasamba, or through one of the other online profiles he maintains.

Over the course of his career, Mike has developed expertise in post-traumatic stress, shame, guilt, self-esteem, relationships, depression, anxiety, various forms of addiction, schizophrenia, and other kinds of psychotic disorders.

One of his greatest strengths is knowing how to make people feel comfortable talking about things they might never have talked about before.

Listen to Dr. Michael talk about how he’s leveraging his strengths and the resources available at Kasamba (now Live Person) to make more money in less time while helping people across the globe. You can do the same!

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Listening to Mark Cruthers talk about his experience teaching AP History online to a group of homeschoolers, what comes up for you?

If you haven’t yet heard this interview, see previous post to listen: “How to Make an Extra $25,000 A Year Teaching A Few Homeschoolers Online.”

The WizIQ free virtual classroom, Elluminate, Kasamba, Moodle, and the new tutoring environment at LearnHub are opening doors to brand new possibilities for teachers - of all kinds - and learners - of all ages.

We truly CAN teach and learn whatever we want, anywhere and anytime we’re ready.

Some of us want to enjoy this freedom now. But there’s way too much information to decide where to start.

We want reliable tools and strategies that will work for each of us. And we’re different.

I’m recommending that clients use these 9 questions to chart their own best course:

1. What do you want to learn live - and online - with others?

2. What could you teach in a free virtual classroom?

3. What would be the most fun to teach and learn with a group of people with whom you’re not co-located?

4. What might you need to translate about the way you work face-to-face so that you can create a trusting, vital, collaborative learning relationship with others in a virtual classroom or office?

5. What will you need from live teachers and co-learners for you to achieve your best performance?

6. What kind of help do you want navigating collaboratively with others? What would you prefer to explore alone?

7. What other questions come up for you when you think about teaching and learning whatever you want online?

8. Where and how will you evaluate the answers you find?

9. When would now be a good time to start experimenting with some new possibilities?

As you consider these questions, please choose one or more of them and share your thoughts and feelings below using text.

Alternately, you can share your thoughts using your microphone, telephone, or webcam on THIS VOICETHREAD.

Soon, I will convene a live session, using WizIQ, where we can explore our thoughts and share our experiences in this brave new world of live, online teaching and learning.

Watch this space for an announcement of the date and time.

Starting today, our radio show, “Teaching For A Living, Not Just A Paycheck” will now be hosted both here and on my profile page inside the WeAreTeachers Network.

Show #2 features an interview with Mark Cruthers, an AP History teacher living in Pinion Hills, California, where he teaches both face-to-face and online.

Monday to Friday, from 7:30am to 3:30pm, Mark teaches traditional high school students face-to-face. Then, after 4pm, Mark teaches teaches homeschool students - online.

Last year, he and his wife, Deborah, made an extra $25,000 teaching 13 homeschoolers AP History, AP English and AP Psychology using a free, virtual classroom tool called WizIQ. And every one of them passed their AP History exams with flying colors, too!

I’d call what Mark’s doing teaching for a living, not just a paycheck.

Listen to him talk about how he’s doing this here:

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I don’t know about you, but the more I talk about Web2 and the emergence of independent online teaching in places OUTSIDE online social networks, the more I feel like some kind of crazy Paul Revere (or maybe more like Lady Godiva) riding through the dark crying, “Web 2 is coming! Web 2 is coming!” And only a few people are waking up.In way too many face-to-face encounters, I keep having folks cock one eye at me, furrow their brows, and ask something like, “What IS Web 2.0, Meri?”

Well, for starters, it’s the end of business as usual for everyone. Across the globe! It’s the end of “authority” as we have known it and the start of a global rush into participation like we’ve never known before.

Despite George Bush’s best efforts to the contrary, it’s simply the end of command-and-control.

And it’s already happened. Only it’s not just the BRITISH who are coming… it’s the WHOLE GLOBE!

Web 2.0 is nothing less than a world-wide shift of power from the hands of a few to the hands of EVERYONE. And it’s already underway.

Web 2.0 is an all-encompassing revolution that is changing the very ground that business, government, teachers and learners walk on everyday.

So, if you’re someone who’s been too busy just coping with the avalanche of day-to-day and you want to better understand Web 2.0. I recommend you take 50 minutes to watch this video. It’s a conversation between a group of people at the 2007 World Economic Forum talking about the crucial issue: “What do we know about Web 2.0?” It’s a year old, but it’s still packed with great insights!

You’ll recognize the names of the participants:

Caterina Fake, Founder, Flickr, USA • William H. Gates III, Chairman, Microsoft Corporation, USA • Chad Hurley, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, YouTube, USA • Mark G. Parker, President and Chief Executive Officer, Nike, USA • Viviane Reding, Commissioner, Information Society and Media, European Commission, Brussels Challenger • Dennis Kneale, Managing Editor, Forbes Magazine, USA Moderated by • Peter Schwartz, Chairman, Global Business Network, USA .