Verified Tutor

John

Bachelors, History

10+ years of tutoring

San Jose State University

Norwich University

I originate from the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area and have recently moved to New York with my fiancée. While I miss the steady, temperate climate of the Bay Area (seriously, it’s either kinda warm or kinda cool year ‘round), I am looking forward to the adventure of living on the East Coast and experiencing legitimate seasons for the first time! Prior my move, I tutored AP US, AP European, and AP World History, AP Government, and taught SAT and ACT prep classes for a Bay Area based College Prep Academy. I also wrote several historical and literary articles for a startup educational software developer, and worked alongside my best friend on a successful political campaign for a local city councilman. In a nutshell, I am abundantly passionate about anything history related and/or political in nature. I earned a Bachelor’s Degree in History from San Jose State University in 2010 and capped it off with a Master’s Degree in Military History from Norwich University in 2013. In my downtime, I used to constantly tinker on my Ford Mustang. Unfortunately, the ‘stang could not make the trip back east, and is currently being store with my family in California. To occupy my free time, I binge watch hot rodding shows on the Velocity channel, read fantasy novels, play video games, or simply jam out to some epic Power Metal.

Q&A with John

I believe that every student has the ability to succeed if they work hard enough. Of course, much of any student's success is determined by his or her learning methods, which are not all the same. I do not believe in the standardized "cookie cutter" approach to teaching that is implemented in public and many private schools; instead, I try to analyze what each student excels at naturally and then cater my lessons to their strengths. Many of the subjects that I teach are widely regarded as "boring" or "dry" which, to be honest, is not an unfair opinion. The onus falls upon me, the teacher, to take these boring subjects and make them as interesting as possible to keep my students engaged. This is a skill I know I will never master, but I endeavor every day to improve.