About Greg Bertsch, M. Ed.

About2024-08-05T16:14:23-04:00

Why I started Teaching and the road to Remote Tutoring

I loved learning about the world around me when I was a kid. I grew up watching the PBS show Cosmos with Carl Sagan and was drawn into the magic that made life so interesting. Looking up at the night sky filled me with wonder about our place in the vast universe. Curiosity is born from wondering about how things work. When we encourage kids to be amazed at the answers to questions in their brains, we allow their imaginations to develop and their love for learning to flourish.

  • “My son was in Mr. Bertsch’s first grade classroom and I worked as a substitute teacher for many years at the same school. Mr. Bertsch has one of the most thorough understandings of social emotional teaching that I have witnessed. He is able to connect with students as people, not just as students. His teachings around kindness ripples and how we are all part of a bigger world really resonate with children. Social responsibility is something that all students should be exposed to, and he definitely did that! Mr. Bertsch would also use music, puppets, and had a great reading style that entertained not only the students, but any adults that happened to be in the room!

    If you want your child to have a teacher who will not only give them what they need academically, but help shape them into little kindness warriors, then look no further!”

    Amanda

Enjoyment of Online Learning

My enthusiasm for teaching started with coaching youth sports. I discovered the power of helping kids develop skills that, in turn, created self-esteem and self-confidence in daily life. By giving them tools to deal with adversity on the field in a productive, positive way, children can become self-empowered and will take risks to get better at something. This translates to learning in the classroom as well.

Taking the time to let young learners discover their gifts and talents takes time and patience. All too often, when in public schools, kids are expected to learn in a certain way on a specific timeline that so often does not correlate with their learning style, interests, or ability level.

When you align a child’s learning style and include their passions of interest, teachers create an environment that will encourage them to enjoy learning and be engaged. More importantly, joy becomes the byproduct of the entire process because the student is treated as an integral part of the learning, not some standardized test being in the driver’s seat.

My Recent Background From classroom to remote instruction

I currently have a masters in both education and as a reading specialist. I am a fully licensed teacher and have taught in Massachusetts for over ten years as a first-grade classroom teacher. I left the public school classroom to start my online tutoring business. For the past three years, I have taught students to read remotely. During that time, I have created a classroom with platforms that are easy to use and engage the learning process. Helping parents teach their kids and empowering them to feel comfortable with reading has been excellent, and assisting them in getting their child caught up to grade level or better. The beauty of teaching this way 1-1 or in small groups makes it easy to address all specific learning styles and follow the natural paths of interest and inquiry. I have helped students make up a whole grade level in 2 months or less with 1-1 tutoring. It is important to educate in the specific window of your own strengths and expertise. Many remote tutors will exaggerate their skills and teach all grades and topics regardless of their education and experience level. Finding a highly qualified teacher to accelerate your child’s learning can finally happen in the convenience of your own home using remotereadingtutor.com.

“The fact is that given the challenges we face, education doesn’t need to be reformed — it needs to be transformed. The key to this transformation is not to standardize education, but to personalize it, to build achievement on discovering the individual talents of each child, to put students in an environment where they want to learn and where they can naturally discover their true passions.”

KEN ROBINSON, Educationalist

The Importance of Social Emotional Learning

While teaching 1st grade, I discovered much about social-emotional learning and the importance of joy and fun in the classroom. Kids only easily learn when they are included in the process. If a child is engaged, feels self-empowered, follows their line of inquiry, and can enjoy what they are doing, learning becomes fun, translating to the desire to become a lifelong student.

Helping students learn to write allows them to discover their voice in the world. Reading opens up the imagination and creates an avenue to unexplored territories. Science is all around us, encouraging imagination exploration and allowing students to collaborate in discovery. Education can be powerful if each child can walk their path and learn in their own way. Please come on this remote learning journey and allow us to sail the ship of discovery with your child steering the course.

The Kindness Ripples Story

Watch this video to learn more, and then continue on to watch my full collection of videos related to kindness.

Kindness Ripples Effect

Kindness generates better physical and mental health benefits both to the giver, the receiver and the observer of such an act of compassion and consideration.

Poetry

I am inspired by my experience as a teacher and by the work I do with my students.

Illusions

October 29, 2009 at 8:44pm

Two Trees reach across the water.
Their reflection shimmers with a gentle wind
The moving mirror distorts their trunks as fall leaves caress the surface
I imagine them not as an allusion but the truth in a moment of clarity
Ripples fan out in perfect concentric circles from the falling hands of the wooden pillars, carrying them to the shore where they will cling to the earth
Soon, winter’s cold finger will paint the brown wings with perfect crystals of frost
As I look longer on the surface of what I see
The two trees begin to shake at their foundations
I have to believe; Don’t I?
Because my eyes tell me what they see
But I stand rooted, steadfast, and the illusion wanes
Faded like the wind as if Heaven held its breadth for a moment in time
For me to see the simple truth of their splendid elegance
Standing by each other’s side, bending imperceptibly to the sky above
As if bowing to the Sun as it sets in the West
Their foundations waver not,
In the storms of time
Their arms reaching out in every direction, erected as perfect symbols to man as to the nature of things
The foolish one looks and sees a distraction to a view or materials that only separate him from the outside world
A wise One, on the other hand, sees their ancient wisdom within
Seeing One from Many
As Above So Below
Or simply, the Interconnectedness of a Perfect Universe.

Join Our remote Learning Community

Set up an initial private consultation with me to discuss the needs of your child and how we can work together to help your child’s learning.

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