Julia
Certified Tutor
Undergraduate Degree: Kenyon College - Bachelor in Arts, English and Anthropology
ACT Composite: 31
ACT English: 31
ACT Reading: 36
SAT Composite (1600 scale): 1500
SAT Verbal: 800
SAT Writing: 700
Singing, painting, horseback riding, dogs, reading, jogging.
AP English Literature and Composition
College English
College World History
Comparative Literature
High School English
High School World History
Other
Study Skills
Study Skills and Organization
US History
World History
What is your teaching philosophy?
I believe that teaching is the best way to learn. Accordingly, my tutoring philosophy is to encourage my students to learn alongside me, by exploring and explaining the information through engaged partnership within the material. I love seeing the excitement that students experience when they master their ability to think independently, question the content at hand, and "teach" it right back to me!
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
I begin sessions with new students by asking them to share their starting point with me. Some typical questions are "how comfortable do you feel with this subject?" "What is the hardest part for you about this class" and "what type of assignments make you feel like a rock star?" By learning how the student initially relates to the content they're working on, I can form a plan for the best way to improve strengths, tackle challenges, and improve efficiency and study habits.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
I help students to become independent learners by encouraging them to answer their own questions, while offering guidance along the way. I've found that most students are not nearly as "lost" as they feel when it comes to complex subject matter, and that the Socratic method does wonders when it comes to increasing student confidence and capacity for independent learning.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
I help students stay motivated by offering frequent praise, while continuously utilizing a "circle-back" method for the material. Through refreshing recently learned facts, theories, and notes, students are able to increase their retention rate, while feeling a sense of immediate accomplishment.
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
When students have difficulty mastering specific skills or concepts, I take a peripheral approach to the troublesome issue. For example, students who may find concept B difficult to understand in its entirety will be perfectly capable and comfortable exploring the components and related concepts separately (i.e., concepts A and C). I have found that once students realize that they can easily comprehend the surrounding concepts, and can master the skills necessary for tackling the larger idea, they become much less intimidated by the originally difficult concept.
How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?
Students who struggle with reading comprehension are, in my experience, often dealing with issues of attention, self-confidence, and a feeling of ongoing defeat. Many such students have shared with me that they feel the material they're tasked with reading is "pointless", as they don't think they're going to properly register the information from a given passage anyway. I find that "popcorn reading" (trading off reading with a partner), can be very helpful, as it requires the student to stay engaged throughout a passage. In addition to this strategy, I employ frequent "circle-backs", by stopping to ask the student about the previous word, sentence, or paragraph, which keeps things fresh and engaging.