Aleschia
Certified Tutor
Undergraduate Degree: Dartmouth College - Bachelor in Arts, Government
Graduate Degree: University of Michigan-Ann Arbor - Masters in Education, Urban Pedagogy
I enjoy reading, writing, watching movies, and doing yoga.
AP Comparative Government and Politics
AP US Government
AP US History
College English
College Level American History
Comparative Literature
High School English
High School Level American History
IB Global Politics
IB History
Middle School Reading
What is your teaching philosophy?
Critical thinking is key!
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
First, I like to understand the academic background and environment that my student is coming from. Second, I like to establish expectations for the student and the teacher. Third, I like to establish a structure that follows that gradual release of learning.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
I think it is important for students to take ownership of their learning. Therefore, I teach metacognition skills so that students know why they chose an answer and how their thinking influenced their answer choices.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
Encouraging students to establish goals per session, as well as long term, is always rewarding. Sometimes younger students need more material or extrinsic motivation, but usually achieving an obtainable and manageable goal is enough motivation. Setting high expectations helps!
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
It is important to try a variety of teaching strategies to address a concept. Also, I attempt to locate what is confusing the student.
How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?
I use a variety of teaching strategies, including main idea tree, story maps, webs, and t-charts for pre-reading and during reading. I also use several summarizing, questioning, predicting, and clarifying techniques. Also, I ask post-reading questions.
What strategies have you found to be most successful when you start to work with a student?
Building a relationship and understanding a student's aspirations, interests, and concerns helps to motivate and engage students.
How would you help a student get excited/engaged with a subject that they are struggling in?
It is important to deliver information in an engaging manner. Sometimes that may be explaining a historical concept in a narrative form, or it may be asking students to complete online interactive games or watch interesting videos. I have also asked students to create questions that they would ask, re-write narratives from a different perspective, and even to play review games.
What techniques would you use to be sure that a student understands the material?
I believe in beginning and ending each session with a formative assessment. Each session begins with a warm-up from the previous lesson, in which I can quickly address any learning confusion. Then I end each session with an exit ticket that reviews the material from the lesson. Usually this in the form of questioning or a formal quiz.
How do you build a student's confidence in a subject?
I constantly check for understanding with a line of questioning. This builds confidence, as students take pride in learning at least one part of a larger concept.