At the beginning of 2014, Jared, a student who I have been tutoring for a year told me he got 85 in his Living Environment regents. Jared had been doing poorly in his classes and he was worried that he would not pass his Living Environment Regents. At first, it was hard to make Jared motivated; every time he got a wrong answer, he would become discouraged.
As we continued to work together, I realized that if I wanted to fuel his interest in the subject material, I would have to use the idea of positive reinforcement. I went through the old regents exams and chose questions that were relatively easy. His confidence level started boosting up as he started to get correct answers. After about two weeks, I added 5 to 6 difficult questions and interestingly, he was able to connect one idea with another. From Monday through Thursday, after finishing all his homeworks, Jared and I would work on old regents questions (20-25 questions per day). Eventually, his grades started improving and he was more interested in learning. I have used different techniques with different students and it has been working pretty well so far.
I am currently an undergrad student at Binghamton University. I started tutoring since the August of 2014 through a program called Upper Bound at Binghamton High School. Upper Bound is a federal program that provides support for students to succeed in their pre-college performance and higher education pursuits. I have worked one on one with mostly high school students from all ages and ethnicities. My subjects of interest are Maths and Sciences.
Through my experience at Upper Bound program, I have realized the importance of teaching and how one on one tutoring can truly affect students’ academic performance. One of my main future goals is to be a teacher and help students like Jared. I believe this job will not only help me become more independent economically but also allow me to follow my passion of teaching. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me.