Jonathan
Certified Tutor
Undergraduate Degree: Full Sail University - Bachelors, Recording Arts
Gym, plays guitar, reading, writing music, anime, sports, especially soccer, church audio engineering and production
10th Grade
10th Grade Math
11th Grade Math
11th Grade Writing
12th Grade Writing
1st Grade
2nd Grade
3rd Grade
4th Grade
5th Grade
6th Grade
6th Grade Math
7th Grade
7th Grade Math
8th Grade
8th Grade Math
9th Grade
ACCUPLACER Prep
Bass Guitar
Elementary School
Elementary School Math
Elementary School Reading
GCSE Prep
GCSE Maths
Guitar
High School
High School English
High School Writing
Homework Support
HSPT Language Skills
HSPT Math
HSPT Quantitative
HSPT Reading
HSPT Verbal
Middle School Reading
Middle School Writing
Music Theory
Piano
Summer
What is your teaching philosophy?
Students aren't computers; they are people like anyone else, and teaching methods have to take the individuality of a student into consideration before deciding a proper approach and course of difficulty.
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
I first like to understand where a student is coming from and hear their personal opinion of the current academic challenge they are facing. This can give me insight into how they think, as well as information that I may not find in the original profiling of the student. According to what I hear, I introduce concepts and material in a way that a student can be comfortable with.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
I tend to blend a dissection of concepts with a Socratic approach of learning. I convey information with questions that can engage a student to look for the answer, and by conveying the kinds of questions they can ask of material, they learn the difference between simply absorbing material and discovering answers they wouldn't have found before.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
In my first lessons, I help a student understand what they are aiming for, such as average grade or a test score. Through homework and drills, I show how their works scales with their base line abilities, and as they improve, I emphasize the difference between what they used to do compared to how they currently perform, which encourages them to continue their work and trust in their advancements.
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
I first try to diagnose where they are misunderstanding a concept. I then walk them through how I see it, putting emphasis on where they are struggling. By dissecting the idea where they are stuck, and relating it to information they know, I assist them in connecting the dots and seeing the relevance of what they know to the information they missed. I then reinforce the explanation by walking through a couple more examples where I provide a bit of assistance with the student's approach in understanding the idea.
How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?
I use practice materials to first assess what kinds of passages and subjects they are weak at. I then give them strategies that help exercise their comprehension of individual segments so that they can learn to comprehend on a paragraph level, which in turn relieves the pressure of having to understand the entire passage and focuses on understanding a passage one piece at a time.
What strategies have you found to be most successful when you start to work with a student?
Summary strategies have helped my students comprehend large chunks of passages, as well as chronologically sort out information that occurs in a passage. With math, I tend to review the basics of an idea, then give multiple examples with slight variations, utilizing a Socratic approach to questions and helping students see that by simply asking questions, the direction of a problem can be made clear.
How would you help a student get excited/engaged with a subject that they are struggling in?
Sometimes a student can feel very disappointed in themselves, their efforts, or their resources when they struggle to put things together. I first reassure my students, then guide them through small steps of exercises that rebuild their way of thinking and give them the proper fundamentals to grasp and solve a problem.
What techniques would you use to be sure that a student understands the material?
I have most of my students do their work out by hand, in both reading, writing and math. By doing this, a student is actively engaging material and is able to review any possible errors in retrospect, giving them insight into their own thinking and how to process their work correctly.
How do you build a student's confidence in a subject?
Knowledge is power. I first diagnose the issue of where a student is lacking with regards to a subject, then I introduce basic explanations that connect to general ideas which give a student context for the explanation, as well as the reasoning of why it makes sense, the same way a math idea may not make sense abstractly, but could look straightforward in a problem with actual numbers and depictions.
How do you evaluate a student's needs?
My conversations with students give me insight to how a student thinks, how they feel about subjects and work, whether they are motivated or not, and if their struggles are an issue with their comprehension or simply their comfort level. I then adjust my tutoring so that a student feels like they are properly interacting the material, reinforcing their confidence, and not simply going through the motions.
What types of materials do you typically use during a tutoring session?
I use a combination of online worksheets, worksheets from workbooks, and a student's materials, depending on what I am tutoring in.
How do you adapt your tutoring to the student's needs?
In some cases, students can have a specific need of a certain topic, but in that topic, they prove to be missing a few fundamentals. In these cases, I take steps back with the student in order to bring them up to speed, then help with the next topic. Sometimes I do this implicitly, by going over an example they are currently dealing with, and pointing out specific details they should be looking for when working. I tend to do implicit explanations when a student's need is urgent or needs to be explained with context.