Experience Summary
I have spent the last two years teaching introductory biology at Virginia Commonwealth University while earning my MS in Biology. In addition to lecturing and grading papers, I have also spent a great deal of one-on-one time with my students reviewing the more difficult concepts and focusing their attention to the important aspects of biology amongst all the minute details. I have also spent a year each working as a statistics tutor and a writing center consultant at Maryville College in eastern TN. Though the majority of my experience has been at the college level, I have also worked with children ages 4-10 as the Environmental Education Coordinator for the Montreat Conference Center.
Teaching Style
I feel as though I have always loved learning and have excelled at school all my life. It wasn’t until I began tutoring in college that I discovered my passion for teaching as well. My approach to tutoring is to break down dense, complicated material into its simplest form and then build it back up, one layer at a time. Working with children has helped me rid much of the alienating scientific jargon that I picked up in grad school so that students can understand the concepts while they are working on memorizing the vocabulary. My proudest moments are contributing to the “A-ha!” moments that come with my students finally understanding what had previously eluded them.