Aaron
Certified Tutor
Undergraduate Degree: University of the Pacific - Bachelors, Music Management
Community, music, global learning
AP Economics
AP Music Theory
Business
CAHSEE Prep
CAHSEE ELA
CAHSEE Mathematics
College Economics
College English
Comparative Literature
High School Business
High School Economics
High School English
Homework Support
MAP Prep
Other
Study Skills
Study Skills and Organization
Summer
What is your teaching philosophy?
Confidence is the key to long-term success. By affirming what the student already knows, we build confidence and develop a foundation on which to build new knowledge and understanding.
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
In a first session, I will talk to the student about specific areas of strength and struggle, identify personal motivators, encourage specific strengths, and diagnose areas of weakness in order to develop an individualized strategy.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
I help students build their confidence in the subject matter and develop problem-solving skills so they can become an independent learner, absorbing and understanding new material through the lens of previous success.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
I offer frequent encouragement incorporated with academic challenges in order to affirm the student's strength, and affirm the student's progress in areas of growth.
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
If a student is having unusual difficulty learning a skill, I first check to see if there is a fundamental skill that needs to be strengthened. If fundamental skills are solid, then I express the skill or concept in other ways, considering the student's personality and learning style, until we find an expression that makes sense to the student.
How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?
I try to address fundamental gaps for students struggling with reading comprehension, such as phonics, vocabulary, and sentence structure. Then, I model effective reading for understanding, and I work to develop engagement with the meaning of the text by asking the students to paraphrase, summarize, and interpret the text. Often, this benefits from using texts that are of interest to the students.
What strategies have you found to be most successful when you start to work with a student?
Getting to know the student's personality is essential when working with a new student. Students who have struggled often have emotional barriers to learning, and removing those is an essential first step.
How would you help a student get excited/engaged with a subject that they are struggling in?
I always encourage the things a student already does well in a difficult subject, to affirm that they have the ability to learn. Then, I try to keep the student engaged through using examples that are relevant to their personal interests, and keep them excited by ensuring continual success and visible progress.
What techniques would you use to be sure that a student understands the material?
When working with new material, we move from a teacher-led model through a teacher-student partner model and into a student-led model. Over time, the support is pulled away and the student independently uses and explains the concepts to demonstrate mastery.
How do you build a student's confidence in a subject?
I build a student's confidence through encouragement and affirmation of the skills and knowledge they already have. We then set attainable goals so that we can constantly see and encourage measures of success.
How do you evaluate a student's needs?
I evaluate a student's needs by talking with the student, and sometimes a parent or teacher, about their academic goals and their academic struggles. With those in mind, I assess the student's current ability and develop a strategy to bridge from where they are now to where they want to be.
How do you adapt your tutoring to the student's needs?
My whole method is built on creating a strategy for each student to fill in any gaps from previous learning and continue building knowledge to achieve the student's goals. Topics covered, teaching style, examples, and sequence of topics all adapt to an ongoing assessment of the student's needs.
What types of materials do you typically use during a tutoring session?
I typically use placement evaluations, practice materials, and resource materials, and I reference lots of relevant material available online to customize each learning experience.