John
Certified Tutor
I am a junior at Brigham Young University Idaho, pursuing my Bachelor of Science in General Psychology. I developed a love of teaching while serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder Day Saints in Santiago, Chile. Since then, I’ve found many opportunities to volunteer and be a tutor for Spanish to fellow students, and I’m proud to have the opportunity to go professional. I’ve developed a long and enduring passion for Spanish, and it fits in well with my lifelong loves of history and English. I’ve encountered setbacks in my academic career and have learned how to bounce back. These are valuable experiences that I can pass on to others facing similar challenges. My second job is Spanish Laboratory Coordinator for a volunteer tutoring organization at BYUI. Outside of academia and career, I enjoy listening to EDM or Latin rock, swing dancing, movies, or curling up with a good book.
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Undergraduate Degree: Brigham Young University-Idaho - Current Undergrad, General Psychology
EDM and Latin music, swing dancing, reading, movies, board games and finding to time to be with my friends.
- AP United States History
- AP US History
- AP World History
- College English
- College Level American History
- Conversational Spanish
- English
- ESL/ELL
- High School English
- High School Level American History
- History
- Languages
- Psychology
- Social Sciences
- Social Studies
- Spanish
- Spanish 1
- Spanish 2
- Spanish 3
- Spanish 4
- Writing
What is your teaching philosophy?
Adapt to individuals. As needs of the students change so should the teacher's approach.
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
The first step is getting to know you on a personal level, establishing a connection with you so it's not just about doing homework but making learning fun and individualized. As a part of the individualizing, I'd make efforts to verify your level of understanding of the material in order to help identify how to bring you to the next level.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
Form connections between what they already know and enjoy to the subject material. Understanding the student on a personal level is essential to do this.
How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?
One thing I'd suggest is to learn to read faster. It sounds contradictory, but the human brain has limited working memory, and if you're reading so slow that you forget what was in the beginning of the sentence, the meaning of the sentence is lost. I'd help the student learn to the speed of conversation.
What strategies have you found to be most successful when you start to work with a student?
Get to know the student, and also show them that you are a person too. A lot of students get intimidated by teachers, and don't feel like they are known individually in a class of 25. Showing them that you remember them and their personal interests, as well as letting them get to know you, helps to break psychological barriers to the material.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
I would tell them about the benefits of learning the subject material, and also help them to make it a personal desire to learn. Part of that is relating the subject to what the student already likes to do, and the other part is forming a personal connection with the study. This makes it so the student has three sources of motivation; personal interest, social obligation and extrinsic reward.
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
First step: ask them to explain what they know. Oftentimes, students know more than they think they do. Once the knowledge baseline is established, then build the concept from the ground up, working around what they already know. Use everyday examples when possible, as these are easy to relate to.