
Stefan
Certified Tutor
Undergraduate Degree: University of New Mexico-Main Campus - Current Undergrad, Biology, General
Snowboarding, biking, piano, and Playstation
College Biology
High School Biology
Other
Summer
What is your teaching philosophy?
I believe everybody can tackle difficult concepts with some help. Confusion begins with misunderstandings that progress unheeded.
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
Introduce myself, and we get to know one another. Then, I create a curriculum based on the student and their needs.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
I hope to show students the benefits of being efficient students with their time, and I will advise on study habits.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
Students must realize the positive outcomes education provides, while also recognizing their contribution to bettering our society.
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
I would use various visual, spatial, and logical types of learning techniques in order to help them grasp an idea.
How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?
I believe that understanding prefixes and suffixes of words helps students to determine roughly what a word means. Students must recognize tone and mood, and use context clues to help them understand a passage.
What strategies have you found to be most successful when you start to work with a student?
I find that repetition helps students to learn the material. Starting simple, then continuing to more complex situations helps the student build a foundation for certain concepts.
How would you help a student get excited/engaged with a subject that they are struggling in?
I personally find real-world applications most interesting. I would take the time to research how a student's subject is used in everyday life.
What techniques would you use to be sure that a student understands the material?
Visual, spatial, and logical reasoning techniques allow students to interpret the information in their own way. The most important technique of all is repetition.
How do you build a student's confidence in a subject?
By starting simple, then building in difficulty, and attending to the student's misunderstandings as the lesson progresses. It is important for a teacher to be attentive and engage the student.
How do you evaluate a student's needs?
Students have various needs, depending on what they already know and what they do not. Pre-testing can show what the student needs help on, but conscientious students can articulate most needs directly.
How do you adapt your tutoring to the student's needs?
If time must be spent learning the basics of a concept, then that is more important than continuing with what the student might have needed tutoring for. A student must have a solid foundation in a subject in order to advance.
What types of materials do you typically use during a tutoring session?
Subject book, Calculator, Whiteboard/paper, Diagrams/visuals/tables.