Jocelyn: Bergen County tutor

Certified Tutor

Hi! I am a St. Mary's University Alumna, class of December 2019 with a B.S. in Mathematics and a minor in Physics. Throughout my undergraduate career, I tutored groups as well as individuals in Spanish, Physics, and Math. The art of explanation and proof are beautiful and applicable in a variety of areas in life, so I strive to imbue a zeal for explanation into problem-solving and tutoring sessions. Students should note that tutoring is different from instruction and different from simply providing answers to the problems they are working on. Tutoring is a shared problem-solving session between student and tutor, where the tutor is more familiar with the material than the student and thus can be trusted as a guide. Tutors seen on a continuous basis may also provide supplemental instruction for a class or subject.

My favorite subject to tutor is math because of the logic involved. I have noticed that some students struggle with math because they focus on the answer rather than the solution. The difference is that while the answer is either right or wrong, the solution takes a holistic approach to the problem and thus seems less intimidating to find. Students often wonder whether the steps they are taking to solve the problem are correct so my teaching/tutoring philosophy is to motivate students to be fearless in their pursuit of a solution. I nurture confidence in a student's problem-solving skills by complimenting their right answers and offering support when they are stuck. I will often ask the student rhetorical or leading questions about the material.

I am looking forward to graduate school in math to become an instructor of math at the post-secondary level (high school and higher education).