Shahbaz
Certified Tutor
Undergraduate Degree: University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth - Current Undergrad, Mechanical Engineering
Football, Soccer and mostly teaching (Math) classes.
What types of materials do you typically use during a tutoring session?
I use a lot of examples for the particular section I am teaching to help students understand the concept well enough. I also use textbooks, which can be the best resource to help yourself understand the concept and gain knowledge about the subject. I also use many different materials such as external online resources, online notes, textbooks and sample examples from different books of the same subject to understand the concepts in a wider manner.
What is your teaching philosophy?
I have always done one on one tutoring. I always make sure my students are able to understand the concepts before going through any examples. I try to start off by doing some sample problems to make sure they have a general idea of what the concept is about. After knowing that my students are able to know the general concepts, I try putting medium and somewhat hard level questions from those particular sections by using external resources or the book.
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
I try making sure I know, how much my student knows by asking him general questions about the particular topic we might be working on. Then I expand on the topic and make sure to teach them other ways to tackle the same type of problem. I always want my students to understand that there are many different ways to solve problems. And knowing different techniques helps you realize how you can use each technique at each situation or even in real life to easily find a solution.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
I always want my student to become an independent learner. I want my student to make education their first priority in life. Because it would only take us two, three or just four years to finish our degrees and get nice jobs. Because after that we can be enjoying the fruit of our hard work for the rest of our life.
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
I will try to know the particular subject/section my student is having difficulties in. I will maybe give my students a take home review and ask them questions in the particular subject they are getting tutored in. This evolution paper will help me see the areas my student is weak or lacks interest in. Then I could use worksheets focusing on those particular areas and teach them different concepts, making sure she/he understands them.