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Joel

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I am a very outgoing and energetic person that loves to teach and work with youth. I love other cultures and language which is why I decided to study Spanish and ESL. I have completed both a Spanish Major and an ESL minor while pursuing a teaching degree at Eastern Washington University. The practicum, up to student teaching, has been completed to date. I tutor Spanish 1-3, English, and ESL. My personal favorite being Spanish or ESL because of the interaction not only with language but with the culture as well. I want students to gain a passion for learning, for language, and other cultures. I have traveled to Honduras 3 times and have had the wonderful chance to experience some of latin culture, customs, and ways of life, which has been by far some of the best experiences I have had in my life!

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Joel’s Qualifications

Education & Certification

Undergraduate Degree: Eastern Washington University - Current Undergrad, Spanish

Hobbies

Mission work overseas, hiking, soccer (both playing and coaching), art, music, and cooking

Tutoring Subjects

College English

Conversational Spanish

English

ESL/ELL

High School English

Languages

Spanish

Spanish 1

Spanish 2

Spanish 3

Q & A

What is your teaching philosophy?

I believe that having teacher student relationships is a vital and often overlooked part of education. If I, as a teacher, do not make the effort to create a foundation of friendship in class, it will deter and inhibit my ability to relate to, and effectively teach as well as encourage students. Teachers should know their student's names within the first week of classes to show they genuinely care about each student and that they all are equally important. I strongly believe that by building relationships with students I can be a more effective teacher and will be able to engage more students in my class. In addition, I believe that scaffolding is perhaps one of the most important words and concepts used in education today. Scaffolding is the process of teaching in which you build upon previous knowledge to create a higher level of thinking and knowledge on a given topic. If I do not create the foundation to build the next lesson upon, I am only setting students up for failure. In foreign languages, this will be very effective in teaching students and allowing them to build systems of meaning and understanding through their experiences and interactions in the classroom. To continue, by allowing students to learn through multiple learning styles and activities, they will build upon their scaffolding with new concepts and knowledge. I believe if I can engage students through their learning styles, I will be able to guide them through new concepts of Spanish, giving them keen understanding of the Spanish language. Furthermore, I believe in the 5 E's, engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. Within the evaluate process formative and summative or both assessments may be used. By incorporating the 5 E's into my teaching and expectations of students, the students will gain a deeper knowledge of the class content. Research has shown that students who actively engage in the learning process are the most successful. This is another reason scaffolding is so imperative. If a given student is engaged in the learning process they will gain a deeper understanding of the main idea, the steps needed to get there, and the reasoning behind the methods used. This all builds on prior knowledge as you move through each step, building scaffolding for future lessons. Moreover, I believe students benefit most from practicing and using what they are learning. In order for students to effectively learn Spanish, they must interact with the material visually, verbally, as well as through auditory methods. Students must reconstruct and demonstrate concepts themselves in order to exhibit understanding. To achieve these expectations the student, with guidance from the teacher, must build their knowledge by connecting new concepts with ones already known. This is only achievable with engagement and exploration of subject matter by the student.

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

I would take some time to build some common ground with the student. Getting to know them as a person - their hobbies, school involvement, what subjects they like and dislike, etc. I would also explore their school tendencies through their current grades, motivation for school, and also for the subject we will be working with. I then would start small that first session and begin working with them on their schoolwork - establishing where they are, what curriculum their school uses, and getting a feel for where they are at.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

By not giving them answers but asking leading questions to help them find the answers and think on their own. Teaching them study skills, how to take notes, and encouraging them.

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