I am pursuing a B.S. in Mathematics at Indiana University Southeast. I have 10 years of unofficial tutoring experience and 5 years of official tutoring/teaching experience.
I thoroughly enjoy helping others learn and see their true potential. By giving a student the support, encouragement, resources, and information to excel, I hope to make a positive difference in such a way that will allow them to take that information and apply to other areas in life, so that they may succeed and achieve whatever personal or academic goals they have set out for themselves.
As I finish my last year in college, I have realized a few common characteristics that make the human condition a beautiful concept if given the right perspective. The first is that all people are unique and individual in their own right. No one person or student is like the other. We all think differently, learn differently, apply ourselves differently, and try to adapt to the ever changing world around us differently. The same concept can be said for learning. It is in the individual and unique approach that each student has when it comes to learning something challenging or new that I take the most pride in being apart of. I realize that as a teacher or tutor I am no more than a tiny fraction of the greater picture for a student's current and future life. However, I do not take that tiny fraction for granted.
As a tutor I try to do everything within my ability to help a student excel in their academic life as a means to helping them excel in other areas of their life. If I can be just a tiny yet positive and supportive fraction of the bigger picture that makes each and every student I work with so beautiful and valuable regardless of where they start or what walk of life they come from, then I have done my job as a tutor and mentor.
Secondly, I have realized that everyone makes mistakes. In school, making mistakes is a fundamental part of learning. Not only do these mistakes help us to define areas in which we need improvement, but they also allow us, as a collective body of self propelled learners, to truly appreciate a concept once it is understood. Mistakes, whether in school or in our personal life do not by any means define us. What does define us however is our attitude and approach to how we respond to these mistakes. I truly believe that by encouraging the student to be unafraid to make mistakes when learning something new, the student will then begin to see a problem from a more objective perspective and will allow themselves to slowly but surely embrace subjects, concepts, and challenges that they might not have otherwise approached or felt competent at out of fear of making a mistake. If we never make mistakes then we never learn.
In addition to realizing mistakes are valuable and necessary lessons, I have learned that grades are not everything. Though grades, especially in today's society, are very important, they do not define an academic student. In my opinion, it is more important that a student at the very least progresses from where they originated from. For example, say a student truly knows the information but on the day of the test they always seem to space out or go blank. But, if you ask the same student in casual conversation about a subject when they aren't being graded and evaluated, chances are they will be able to relay accurate and insightful information. It could be the case that this student has test anxiety or may not be good test takers, which is okay! In such cases, this often means that a student may have to learn how to take a specific test versus what is on the test. But it would be an unfair representation of that student to simply say that just because their test grades do not reflect test expectations, that they are thus not knowledgeable about the subject at hand. In all, grades are a very small percentage of what makes a student a studious and hard working student.
In conjunction, everyone learns at a different rate. Some students are slower learners than others. That does not mean that they are any less intelligent than the student who turned in the assignment first or raised their hand first. I have observed, even of myself, that slow learners simply learn a subject at a deeper level than those who appear to be quick to understand a concept. Often though, once they grasp the concept, they are capable of retaining it for longer periods of time that those who are faster to learn a concept. Though this is a generalization, it is an important one to understand in the sense that just because you need or want a tutor does not mean that you as a student are any less valuable or intelligent than those who may not need a tutor.
Whether it be a small concept such as learning how to count by two's or a more abstract concept such as learning why a formula works the way it does, once that understanding of such concept has been achieved you can use that knowledge to help better not only your grades but hopefully other areas in your life as well. As a tutor, I tailor my teaching techniques to match the student's rate at which they learn, with the goal that as they begin to understand the material, the rate at which it is applied becomes easier for the student through time and practice.
I sincerely look forward to working with each and every student I encounter, as I believe that each student, is uniquely intelligent and worthy of the satisfaction that is achieved when one reaches their individual academic goals and objectives.
