Casey

There are two main virtues that I focus on in my philosophy of teaching: patience and empathy. Patience is absolutely necessary to teach effectively. When I first began tutoring, I would find myself giving a short explanation of why I performed some step in a math question which I wasn't concerned about, and I would ignore if the student didn't understand that step since I was rushed to get to the main point of the question. Quality is more important than quantity when it comes to teaching. I would much rather walk away from a tutoring session feeling that a student deeply understands every detail of only one question than having a shallow understanding of several questions. Regarding empathy, I find it important to try to remember what it was like to struggle as a student. Learning from a tutor has an emotional factor to it, in that the tutee is struggling or wants additional assistance with something, and might be afraid of judgment from the tutor. They might think, "He might think I'm stupid," or, "She won't want to help me because I haven't been good enough." It is so important to me to ensure that the student does not feel stupid. In my opinion, there is nothing more inhibiting to a student's success than the student thinking he/she is stupid. Uplifting students (especially those who are in need) by putting myself in their shoes and treating them as an equal is something I always try to implement in my teaching.