Edgardo
Certified Tutor
Undergraduate Degree: Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus - Current Undergrad, Mechanical Engineering
Mathematical modelling, Computer Programming, Web Design, Science Fiction, Astronomy
10th Grade
10th Grade Math
11th Grade Math
12th Grade Math
Algebra 3/4
ASPIRE Math
C#
C++
CLEP Calculus
College Computer Science
Computer Programming
Elementary Algebra
GRE Subject Test in Mathematics
High School Computer Science
HSPT Math
Java
JavaScript
Programming VB.NET
Technology and Coding
What is your teaching philosophy?
My primary goal is to teach my students how to think in a way that is general, inductive, and out of the box so they can apply those same skills to any facet of their academic work and life. Some tutors solve exercises for their student, other tutors teach how to solve specific exercises, etc... My goal is to teach my students how to solve any exercise, but more than anything, to teach them how to teach themselves so they become autodidacts!
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
Get to know the student a little bit! Ask them why they are taking tutoring in order to assess their disposition. Check how challenging is the subject/course for them and provide reassurance if need it. Ask them about good/bad experiences during their leaning process to establish what the best way to help the student is. Get an outlook of their course and get to work! Probably on homework and/or current material the student is learning.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
I generally help a student become an autodidacts (independent learner) using the Socratic method. Through the years I have found it very useful in obtaining a high degree of scholastic independence.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
To help students stay motivated I providing interesting, inquisitive, and fun tutoring sessions. To this end, I talk to them about interesting examples from history, daily non-obvious experiences where the subject they are currently learning could be utilize, and anecdotes from my professional life.
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
Try a different approach by mapping the new concept to a common everyday life experience or hobby practiced by the student and come up with simplified, easier examples while gradually increasing their difficulty until the student can work the current problem.
How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?
To better comprehend a set of statements I would help the student by first asking if the student understand all the words that he/she is reading. Then break the each paragraph into each one of its sentences and think about what each of them means while pointing out relevant information. If the reading is related to math word problems, then translate each sentence into a relation, equation, or diagram.
What strategies have you found to be most successful when you start to work with a student?
I generally start by asking how they are filling about having to go through a tutoring session and motivate them a little if needed. Talk to them about the importance of the subject that they are learning, then move on to a quick review, and ask if they have questions about material studied during previous tutoring sessions. I believe motivation is the key!
How would you help a student get excited/engaged with a subject that they are struggling in?
By far, relating what they are learning to their hobbies and common, everyday life experiences. Diagrams and geometric analogies work well as well as anthropomorphizing the concepts in questions; anthropomorphizing works particularly well with female students!
What techniques would you use to be sure that a student understands the material?
Have the student work out a previously solved exercise, but with a slight change to it. This will boost their confidence and increase their enthusiasm. Then, have the student solve a new problem while he/she explains their procedure to me; in short, give them the opportunity to be a tutor!
How do you build a student's confidence in a subject?
To build a student's confidence in a subject, I generate for them simple examples easy to work and understand, and then gradually increase the difficulty of the examples.
How do you evaluate a student's needs?
To evaluate a student's needs I would start by asking the student simple questions, experiences, in order to assess their level of enthusiasm for the subject. Depending the student's answers, I might ask them to solve some exercises to estimate their mastery and speed.
How do you adapt your tutoring to the student's needs?
To adapt my tutoring to the student's needs I get familiar with the actual material the student is learning. I check the syllabus, textbook, and exercises, as well as ask some questions about their teachers and classroom atmosphere.
What types of materials do you typically use during a tutoring session?
Since there is plenty of didactic material already, most of the material that I use is generated in a per student, per session, per exercises basis; this allows me to identify weaknesses in the student's knowledge base and prescribe appropriate exercises to re-mediate them. In some cases I do also provide my own notes depending on the student, but I try to avoid this practice in order to avoid dependency, and therefore encourage a more autodidactic behavior in the student.