Matthew

Certified Tutor

There are few things more enjoyable than explaining and demonstrating to others things that you are passionate about. Teaching is often described in such terms, helping others learn the subject or subjects that keep life interesting. While I do not feel called to be a teacher at this point in my life (although I will be teaching English in the Czech Republic in the future), I see tutoring as an excellent way of teaching, and of sharing my passion, by finding strategies that work best for a single student and by having particular, well defined goals.

I graduated from the University of South Carolina with a BA in Political Science and a Minor in Philosophy, and through this liberal arts education stimulated my interest in everything from Human Rights Theory, Mathematics, the History of Warfare, and so on. I, so far, tutor in multiple historical subjects, Critical Reading/English, Writing, Social Studies, and Algebra.

Of these subjects, I am most comfortable in Critical Reading/English Comp. and History. My view on teaching these subjects is that a tutor's job is to find the intersection between a student's learning style, interests, and the subject at hand. This does not mean the student doesn't have to remember hard facts, ideas, and dates, but that this necessary process is best facilitated when students can connect what they are learning to the world they are currently familiar with, both on a day-to-day level, and also in terms of why the world is the way it is today. On subjects such as reading comprehension, students can be shown the importance of making distinctions, knowing the intended audience etc. by connecting such abilities to performance in areas they already feel are important, and then using these new skills to broaden their horizons educationally.

Overall I want to approach each student as an individual with unique needs and unique abilities. The advantage of tutoring is that this can be done fairly easily, whereas even a highly competent teacher may not have the ability to reach each individual student and unlock their full potential in a subject.

Outside of my academic interests (which are many), I enjoy hiking, chopping wood with big axes, shooting paper and flying clay targets, listening to bluegrass music, post-rock, and jazz music and watching (good) Westerns. While I oddly never have gotten into swimming, I enjoy sailing and kayaking on Lake Norman when I have time. I am currently trying to get into HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) and other combat sports.