I received my education at SUNY New Paltz, acquiring a Master's in Education, taking the environmental studies strand. New Paltz has a solid education program and is set with the beautiful quartzite conglomerate cliffs of the Shawangunks in the background, where Biology and Environmental classes flourish. I have both a NYS elementary education teaching certification and a NYS high school biology certification.
I began tutoring, first as a peer-tutor, at Ulster County Community College for the Biology Department in 1999. I tutored a high schooI student for English 10 during my career as a NYS licensed daycare provider, and later performed informal tutoring for botany students at SUNY New Paltz having trouble with the subject. After receiving a NYS Biology teaching certificate in 2006, I tutored for Red Hook School District as well as substitute taught. One student was a freshman, unable to attend school and needing tutoring for all four major subjects. Eventually, after acquiring my Master's degree, I tutored again for the Biology Department of Ulster County Community College in 2009 before departing for California to join family in 2010. I have been substitute teaching for the past seven and a half years. My favorite subjects to tutor are Math and Science; Science is my passion, but Math is something I seem to be able to "make sense of" for students. I like to teach 3rd-7th grade especially because it is crucial that students learn those concepts very well in order to cumulatively build upon them in high school, and I like teaching them in concrete ways.
A quotation by Erasmus, "The main hope of a nation lies in the proper education of its youth," may closest resemble my disposition concerning education. The goal is to cultivate within a child a lifelong desire to learn that will lead him/her to achieve his/her highest potential, whether within the career world, community, family, or self. Educating a child to this end can be a multi-faceted process, taking into consideration factors such as personal learning styles, multiple intelligences, personalities, and so on. There is not a single infallible path to this goal, but as many paths as there are children.
The learning environment is an important aspect of education. Fostering an atmosphere of focused yet relaxed observation, inquiry, conjecture, discovery, analysis, and evaluation is the best learning "environment" for which there is no substitute.
Family involvement is important to encourage. Informative communication is essential; making families feel totally comfortable about communication is a priority.
Instruction that accommodates different learning styles, such as the use of manipulatives, visual and aural aids, demonstrations, and especially "hands on" activities, is enjoyable, but moreover, memorable. Of necessity, learning styles have been mostly overlooked in the academic worldvery hard to address in the classroom, with current standards, assessments, and expectations creating severe time constraints.
I hope to promote an interest in learning that remains with the students and continues to motivate as many as possible to higher levels of awareness, service, achievement, growth, and enjoyment throughout their lives.