Alex
Certified Tutor
Undergraduate Degree: University of Maryland - Current Undergrad, Biological Engineering
SAT Composite (1600 scale): 1560
SAT Math: 800
SAT Verbal: 770
SAT Writing: 730
I try to experience and learn as many new things and skills as possible. Parkour and Freerunning, martial arts, dancing, guitar and singing, and new languages are just some of the things that I try to occupy myself with. I love tackling anything that requires me to push myself, physically or mentally.
AP Spanish Literature and Culture
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
College Physics
Conversational Spanish
High School Physics
SAT Subject Test in Mathematics Level 2
SAT Subject Tests Prep
SAT Verbal
Spanish 1
What is your teaching philosophy?
The core principle in my teaching philosophy is flexibility. As someone with a very atypical learning style myself, I can appreciate how different approaches and different pedagogies can make all the difference when it comes to teaching. I believe in being able to communicate the same concept ten different ways, so that each student will find a way that makes sense for them.
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
I will spend a few minutes getting to know them and what kind of person they are, what they like to do, etc. This helps to A) establish a rapport, and B) gives me ammo for future real world analogies if I need to illustrate a point. Next I might give them a sort of conceptual pretest, and see which topics they understand, and which ones we will need to devote more time to.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
The secret to self-learning is to be passionate about it. I have self-taught a variety of different things, some with great success, others barely getting off the ground. You need to want to learn something because you like that thing. You need to find it fascinating or useful. If you feel obligated to learn something, you will need someone to drag you along every step of the way. It's exhausting, it's unpleasant, and it's inefficient. But when you are passionate about what you're learning, it becomes effortless. My three keys to developing a student’s passion and interest for even a mundane subject are enthusiasm, practicality, and informality. Enthusiasm is critical because students take their cues from the teacher. If a teacher is bored and uninterested, the student will be bored and uninterested. If the teacher is excited (within reason), the student will become more excited. Practicality is very helpful because most students never really see the use of what they are learning in the real world. Showing them how what they are learning can actually apply to their immediate circumstances is a very effective way of piquing their interest. Informality (again, with reason) is a surprisingly important way to develop a more comfortable relationship with a student. Speaking to them as a peer and a friend, using examples and analogies that they can actually relate to, speaking their *language*, these kinds of things help the student feel less like they're back in a classroom.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
Little goals are essential to long term progress. Human beings crave positive feedback, and every time we achieve a goal we've set for ourselves, even if it's a small and insignificant one, dopamine is released in our brains. We literally become addicted to making progress. I try to set many small, achievable goals for students, so that they can get as much positive feedback as possible.
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
I would first change the way I am explaining it. Use a different analogy, write my own problems to try and illustrate, maybe come up with a process for how to use the skill. I would change up the strategy. If that is continuously unsuccessful, and the student is getting frustrated, I would take a short break and talk with them about something unrelated to get their mind off of it. Insanity (according to Einstein at least) is doing the same thing and expecting a different result. If a student isn't understanding, it means I'm not doing something wrong. If I'm doing something wrong, I need to change something--that's the bottom line.
How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?
Reading comprehension, especially in standardized testing, tends to be pretty formulaic. They give a certain passage, and they look for you to identify certain facets of that passage. Many students have problems with this because they look at the text as a text, and not as an information bank. I help students to change the way they see what they are reading, so that instead of seeing it just as a cohesive narrative, they see the informational skeleton behind it and can dissect it as necessary. Exercises such as highlighting important things, and going through questions in reverse are very useful exercises.