Kristen

Since starting out in my first year at the University at Albany I took every and any teaching job I could get my hands on (most of them without pay) just to get experience, teaching a year with AmeriCorps and a year with Junior Achievement. I would consistently pick the most difficult schools to teach in because I felt like that was where my talents were most needed. The more challenging the students, the more I wanted to prove that I could help them be a success in the classroom. My favorite teaching moments all include students who didn't believe they could succeed but proved they could once I gave them the right tools. Later in college I started teaching SAT and ACT test prep to pay for the portions of my college tuition that my academic scholarships didn't cover (and so I didn't have to eat ramen noodles every night). I have taught SAT/ACT prep for over 10 years and was one of the highest rated tutors (based on student satisfaction and test score increases) when I worked for a large company. I spent four years teaching at an all-boys Title One high school in Albany, NY teaching approximately 130 students each year and had a 100% passing rate on the Biology Regents, more than half of those students scored in the "Mastery Level" with over an 85%. Most of those students were in remedial math and ELA coursework and performing below grade level, this was unprecedented success for the students I was teaching. Working at a charter school often requires you to be a "jack of all trades", along the way I also taught Algebra, Earth Science, and Physics with similar success stories. I was the highest rated teacher at that school. With my test prep background, I provide students with invaluable skills that they wouldn't typically get from tutoring, these are skills and strategies they can apply. Our educational system largely relies on test scores to provide data of student success, I not only teach students the academic content that they need to be successful, but I also teach tests prep strategies to help them become better test takers for life. I am an outstanding math tutor because I hated math as a student and know what it's like to have to work hard to succeed at it. I didn't start to love math until I started teaching SAT prep and learned test taking tips and strategies to help me understand how it all worked together. Math isn't hard, you just haven't been taught it the right way! During my time as a biology teacher the principal of the school would request that I teach the sections of Algebra summer school/regents prep because it would really help the students to get the content from a different perspective. I had much better success with those students because I could translate the material into content that could be easily understood. I love science, and I'm willing to bet your student will too after working with me. I can motivate students and push them to think and work harder than they have before. I engage students by differentiating my lessons, focusing on student-centered learning, and helping students make science content relevant to their own lives. I have techniques for reaching even the most challenging of students and I hold all students accountable for mastering the content. Let's just say I've never had a single student ask me "why are we learning this?" or "when am I ever going to need this?".Let me show your student how to work smarter, not harder. A great tutor does more than just deliver content. I make the content simple to understand, I'm fun and engaging, I build students' confidence in themselves, and I teach all of the test taking strategies to make your student a successful test taker in every subject he or she encounters. You won't find another tutor with such a dynamic record of success.

Volleyball, spinning, yoga, gym, hiking with my dogs, cooking, & watching football.