What is your teaching philosophy?

I believe there is no way to devalue and avoid good, old hard work. Conceptual and "big picture" thinking is incredibly important, but laying down a strong, stable foundation is unparalleled. Therefore, I believe that only by putting down the groundwork and mastering the fundamentals can a student achieve, succeed, and thrive in any academic subject.

What might you do in a typical first session with a student?

I enjoy getting to know the student first-- their interests, hobbies, etc. By doing this, I can gain insight into the ways I can relate the academic material with their interests before getting familiar with their established studying habits (and correcting them, if need be). From there, I like to take the time to plan out the academic semester with them with a calendar-- laying down all due dates for assignments, essays, exams, and projects. This serves a dual purpose: we can easily strategize when to start which assignment or when to begin studying for an exam, and it often helps the student feel less overwhelmed when they outline the activities that need to be done, little by little daily. This way, the student is more likely to feel motivated to get their work done, knowing that it will only take about 2 hours of their time every day (as opposed to the anxiety of procrastination).

How would you help a student stay motivated?

I think oftentimes students begin to feel unmotivated when they feel overwhelmed or something along the lines of helplessness (i.e. "What's the point? I'm going to fail anyway." or "No matter what I do, it doesn't matter at this point."). Therefore, I think it is extremely important to address this feeling directly by breaking down their academic semester-- planning out upcoming assignments, projects, exams, etc. And even breaking down the work to prepare for these things a week or two ahead of the deadlines. By assisting them to strategize about 2 hours of work a day towards their goals, I often find that the students regain their motivation because the amount of work they need to do just for that day is completely feasible. It works wonders on a student's self esteem.

If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?

It has been really helpful for my past students to talk about and create many analogies for the concepts they have difficulty grasping. For example, the idea of facilitated diffusion through a membrane can be compared to partygoers cramped inside a small room. They see that an adjacent room has far less people in there (and so they want to go there), but it is guarded by a bouncer who controls the sort of persons permitted into that room. Permitted persons must fit all sorts of requirements before they are let in, like the transporter protein controls that sort out molecules that are let into the cell. Making comparisons and analogies makes it easier for students to understand a new concept or skill.