u/Latter-Ambassador213

been thinking about this lately tbh.

i have this student. smart kid, nods at everything, says yes when i ask if he understood. but something feels off. like he's agreeing but not really there you know.

cant figure out if its my explanation, the concept itself, or he's just scared to say he doesnt get it

tried asking him to explain it back to me. sometimes helps. but today he literally just repeated my words back and i honestly couldnt tell if that was real understanding or just memory.

how do you guys deal with this? specially those doing 1on1 online. feels so much harder without being in the same room

I've been thinking about something that I can't get out of my head.

When you're teaching via video call, there's this invisible sync that happens between a great teacher and their student. You start picking up on tiny signals — the way they hesitate before answering, the words they choose, how they repeat your explanation back to you — and you adjust how you explain things accordingly.

But here's my question: how long does it take you to figure out how a specific student's mind works? And do you ever finish a session genuinely unsure whether they actually understood — or just nodded along?

I'm not talking about quiz results. I mean that gut feeling mid-session where you can't tell if the confusion is with the concept, your explanation style, or something else entirely.

Would love to hear how experienced teachers handle this. Especially those teaching 1-on-1 online.

I've been thinking about something that I can't get out of my head.

When you're teaching via video call, there's this invisible sync that happens between a great teacher and their student. You start picking up on tiny signals — the way they hesitate before answering, the words they choose, how they repeat your explanation back to you — and you adjust how you explain things accordingly.

But here's my question: how long does it take you to figure out how a specific student's mind works? And do you ever finish a session genuinely unsure whether they actually understood — or just nodded along?

I'm not talking about quiz results. I mean that gut feeling mid-session where you can't tell if the confusion is with the concept, your explanation style, or something else entirely.

Would love to hear how experienced teachers handle this. Especially those teaching 1-on-1 online.