Matthew

Certified Tutor

Q: Why are you passionate about helping students?
A: I see students countlessly having trouble or at least having some weakness in a particular subject. Yet, I am more worried about the students who don't have the trouble, because I see the teachers as teaching things in a suboptimal way, as they settle with "good-enough", but if we want what is best for our kids (I don't have any), we should go straight to the top, to the best educators. One educator, whose book I read and found inspiring, was Rafe Esquith. I didn't necessarily agree with everything he said, but there were some things I found inspirational and helpful for tutoring myself, such as focusing on wrong answers to questions and the logic it took to get the answer wrong in that way, to be aware of the road to avoid so as to avoid it more easily.

Q: Can you describe your experience working with students?
A: Initially, it was a struggle for me, as I didn't know what I was doing, and I hadn't learned from the expert teachers who had accomplished so much. Even then, there were still glimpses of exactly how tutoring was supposed to be. I was teaching math to a student who was smart but math wasn't his thing. At the end of the tutoring session, I got him to say "wow", and he was someone that looked hard to impress, and of course math is a topic that is hard to impress with in general.

Q: What interests you outside of academia?
A: I love learning. I find it hard to not be learning on topics that are in the realm of academia. However, I will say that one issue I have on academia is that it isn't as practical-oriented as it could and should be. So, I want to change that. In terms of what I am interested in, I am interested in dealing with philosophy problems, with my own Catholic faith, with personal development, with starting a business or knowing how to start a business to be able to spread my ideas more successfully to more people as well as spread those ideas that I find to be already successful but not as well known, to share those. In terms of family, I enjoy interacting with my dogs, and I love to be around and play with my cousin's kids and babysit them whenever I get to see them.