Originally from East Brunswick, NJ and currently living in Somerdale, NJ, I graduated from The College of New Jersey with a Psychology degree. Im currently a Family Medicine resident working at all three area Kennedy Hospitals. Some of my interests are health and exercise, current events, eating, sleeping, soccer, volleyball, swimming, frisbee, and trying to resurrect my high school track days. My first tutoring position was with a 7th grade student who had trouble keeping up in class due to a mild learning difficulty. This experience developed in me a great deal of patience and an ability to creatively try to explain concepts when it seemed that mere repetition wasn't working. With that student, I gained experience tutoring up to junior high level math, high school science, English, History, as well as SAT Verbal Reasoning prep. My experience with another young teen student showed me the importance of developing a quick alliance with the student enough to at least help them see me as more than someone their parents had hired to make them do something and more as someone who genuinely cared about them. This is an ever-developing skill of mine that I had a chance to practice during my pediatrics rotation having to help kids quickly feel comfortable answering questions from me, a stranger in a white coat!
In addition to my tutoring at the high school level, I have also tutored college level Biology to an art major. In this case, the simple rote memorization that seems to be main course on nearly every left-brained menu was less appetizing to this more intuitive, creative, visually-responsive student--a classic example of a need to not only constantly be refining my strategy, but also a reason why tutoring has been a great thing for me--it gets me using all parts of my own brain! In the same way, the different education levels and learning styles of my patients often requires creativity on my part.
In addition, I remember my own struggles to focus at times and the sense of dread that'd always come if I ever brought home bad test grades. I've been low on the academic ladder, and I know how hard it is to climb up. Its due to my own difficulties and training as a medical student that my tutoring strategies will focus not only on the subject at hand, but a lifestyle-and-health-targeted approach to optimizing the abilities each student is given and creating a routine most beneficial to focusing, retaining, and feeling positive about their progress. I believe learning is more than just a brain thing--its best when combined with nutritional and emotional support--and I plan on using my counseling psychology background as well as my medical training to offer that to my students.
Im thankful for the opportunities Ive had in my medical practice to better my ability to break down and assimilate difficult concepts for myself as well as the opportunity to tutor some of my classmates. I'm also thankful to all the students I've tutored in the past who have given me the chance to grow in my ability to explain difficult concepts more creatively, and from whom I have learned about the art of helping someone learn for themselves--more than I ever could have learned from a textbook.
