
Alexander
Certified Tutor
Undergraduate Degree: Oklahoma City Community College - Associates, Pre-engineering
ACT English: 31
My interests/hobbies include: reading and writing screenplays, admiring the relationship between perceptual reality and the mathematical fabric of time and space, looking at puppies, cardiovascular exercise, tree-climbing, mountain-climbing, cardiovascular exercise, socializing, climbing, and public speaking
10th Grade Math
10th Grade Writing
11th Grade Math
11th Grade Writing
12th Grade Math
12th Grade Writing
High School English
High School Writing
What is your teaching philosophy?
I ask questions. I ask conceptual questions to my students with the intention that they realize the answer on their own. Learning is intrinsic, and I'm not here to teach. I am here to help those who want to learn.
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
The first session is all about learning for me. I have to understand how her/his mind works to be able to successfully guide the student towards understanding his/her topic.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
Motivation. This is the only way to inspire someone to learn independently. I motivate students by giving them the unparalleled gratification of finding the right answer on their own, only acting as a guide.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
I answered this in the previous question.
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
I will support him/her until he/she learns the concept. Learning is difficult; I relate to that, and I may share a story of my own struggles with studying. I will reinforce that the hard concepts take time and effort, but nothing is impossible to understand.
How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?
I don't correct them, not at first. I ask them what they think an excerpt meant to them. I ask more specific questions, and I instruct them on questions to ask themselves throughout the reading.
What strategies have you found to be most successful when you start to work with a student?
My most successful strategy is becoming friends with the student and just being real with them. That establishes the necessary trust that most instructors neglect.
How would you help a student get excited/engaged with a subject that they are struggling in?
I would think of things about the subject that would excite the student. Everybody's different, so I may need to use humor, or a scientific example, or a natural example -- it just has to be relatable to them to invoke emotions.
What techniques would you use to be sure that a student understands the material?
Repetition of questions. Ensuring the student is being honest in their understanding, and not trying to rush through the material.
How do you build a student's confidence in a subject?
By helping the student find the correct answers and the correct manners of thinking, on his or her own.
How do you evaluate a student's needs?
Psychoanalysis.
How do you adapt your tutoring to the student's needs?
I am always adapting my tutoring to the student's needs.
What types of materials do you typically use during a tutoring session?
Pencil and paper.