Chelsea
Certified Tutor
Undergraduate Degree: Fairfield University - Bachelors, Psychology
Graduate Degree: The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Washington DC - Current Grad Student, Clinical Psychology
My hobbies include fashion, makeup, and spending time with my pitbull, Penelope!
What is your teaching philosophy?
Every student deserves to do well in their academic career; however, every student has individual learning needs. It is important to adjust my teaching style based on the specific needs of each student to ensure that I can be the best help and resource.
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
During a first session, I would like to outline the goals of the student. What would they like to get out of my tutoring? I would also like to gain an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses in the subject area. Lastly, I would like to come up with a collaborative and tentative plan of how we will approach the goals that they have indicated.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
By providing students with learning techniques and self-confidence through encouragement, reassurance, and resources, students can become independent learners. Once they feel confident in their own abilities, they can utilize effective learning strategies and resources to help them gain independence.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
Maintaining motivation can be difficult when a subject is difficult. Helping a student to revisit their goals can be helpful to keep them on track and focused.
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
There are several ways to approach difficulty learning a skill or concept. One way is to change the teaching modality. For example, if the material was originally presented in a lecture format, it might be necessary to use a visual aid. Using teaching modalities that are engaging and relatable can also help with learning a difficult concept.
What strategies have you found to be most successful when you start to work with a student?
Getting to know a student and their academic interests can help to frame the work that you do with them. It can put your overall work into perspective. It is also important to understand the student's goals. What do they want to get out of the course they are taking? How can I be most useful in helping them attain those goals?
What techniques would you use to be sure that a student understands the material?
One helpful tool for checking understanding is having the student teach the material back to you. Another way to check understanding is to ask abstract questions about related concepts in order to determine if the student has a big picture understanding of the material that has been presented.
How do you build a student's confidence in a subject?
By providing encouragement, celebrating small achievements, and taking things at the student's pace are all ways to help build a student's confidence in a subject.