Andrea: Halifax tutor

Certified Tutor

I have always been drawn to teaching, and figuring out how to individualize lessons in order to teach all students.

I started my journey into the world of German my freshman year of high school in Meridian Idaho. Through that program, I was able to go to Germany for 3 weeks through GAPP (German American Partnership Program). There I was matched with a student my age and stayed with her family. A few months later, she came and stayed at my house. We exchanged culture and truly became sisters. She and her parents were even able to travel to Idaho to be at my wedding.

I have studied abroad twice, for the 2006-07 school year through my undergraduate program at Boise State University and for the 2009-10 school year through the University of Massachusetts Amherst, developing an advanced proficiency in the German language and culture. I bring my first hand experiences and passion into the classroom every day, in order to connect the language to a larger world view for my students. I have experience planning lessons targeted toward individual learning styles, including the incorporation of technology in the classroom.

During the 2010-11 and 2011-12 school years, as part of my graduate studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, I gained experience teaching German at the college level by teaching one section of German 110 during each fall semester and German 120 each spring semester. I created supplemental material in order to integrate technology into the classroom. During the summer semester in 2012 I was able to build on my knowledge of the university Blackboard and Moodle systems and I taught one section of an intensive 3-week German 110 online course.

From 2012-2014, I was the sole German teacher at Beverly High School in Beverly, MA. I was responsible for year-long sections of first through fifth year German. I worked closely with the local chapter of AATG (American Association of Teachers of German) and collaborated with local colleagues through programs sponsored by the Goethe Institute in Boston.

After moving to Washington, I taught as a Humanities Teacher from 2014-2016 at a private one-on-one school, tailoring lessons to individual students. I had English students ranging from Kindergarten early reading, high school German, middle school ELL social studies, and high school literature. I really love working with the younger students learning to read and write English, and that moment when you can really see their minds making connections. I remember the sparkle in a second grader's eye when he read an entire book by himself for the first time, and told me that he was proud.

My professional experience paired with my passion for education, culture, and advancing the use of technology in the classroom align with tutoring online. My experience reflects my strong work ethic and passion for teaching and promoting the German language and culture, as well as helping younger students break through whatever may be holding them back in the building blocks of reading and writing. Teaching high school literature allowed me to go back to the poems and novels that I read in my high school English classes. I was able to create units and shape lessons based on my new understanding of the works, reading them as an adult.

I currently serve as the President of the Washington Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of German.