I teach because there are few thrills greater than that "lightbulb" moment when a student, regardless of age, background or aspiration, looks up and says, "I get it now!" My job as a tutor is to find unique paths to lightbulb moments for each and every student, and in so doing, instill confidence and create opportunities for continuing success.

All too often, a child's classroom experience becomes one of frustration and discouragement. It's not the fault of the school or the teacher, necessarily. Schools only receive a fraction of the support they need and teachers are overburdened by large class sizes, mandated testing and restrictive curricula. As an individual tutor, I can assess a child's exact needs and address those factors that inhibit a child's success with patience and creative approaches that nurture curiosity and impart a sense of discovery.

For reluctant readers with lagging comprehension, who view the task as a chore, very often the problem is a weak vocabulary and a lack of contextual understanding. I encourage students to learn new words as an act of discovery and record each in their personal list, which they can take pride in enlarging. Contextual understanding can be achieved by offering stories and sharing the process of exploration and discovery, both online and in books.

Writing, where many students have the greatest difficulty, should be enjoyed as an expressive activity, not dreaded as a mysterious and difficult task they will never master. I teach rules of grammar and the best practices for composition as parts of the process of writing, which empowers children to be their own editors and relieves then of the fear of making errors, or "saying something wrong." When children realize that their ideas and words are valid and that they have the power to improve them, writing assignments can become opportunities for expression and sources of accomplishment and pride.

As a lifelong science nerd, I can help students who are having difficulty with science and math see that these subjects are neither abstract, nor useless. Science and math are, in fact, all around us and in everything we do and experience, from the simple physics of a subway ride or baseball game, to being able to use math to make predictions about weather or finances. I can show students how humans are part of the natural world and linked to every other living creature.

Likewise, history needn't be regarded as a meaningless list of abstract dates and events that must be memorized. I can show students who don't think they care about history that all those events and dates are linked to the world we live in now. I teach that we are linked to the past through the people we know and share my own personal knowledge and experiences of times they think of as historical, but that I remember first hand. History is about stories and I can make that subject real and important by sharing some of my own stories.

Most of all, I work to inspire students' own natural curiosity and desire to succeed. There are no wrong, bad or incorrect questions. I encourage all the students I work with to ask whatever questions they have during a time I set aside after our work is done and I promise them that I'll answer them all as best I can.