Experience Summary
I have over 15 years experience instructing martial arts to children as young as pre-school age to young teens; and the past 5 years as an academic tutor for students ranging from elementary through middle school. Through my tutoring services, I’ve tutored students in Mathematics, but the majority of students I assist are struggling readers. To help struggling readers, I believe in strong intervention guided by planning, personal attention, positive reinforcement, and parental participation. All remedial instruction must begin with a plan, and for each struggling student my strategy is to establish an attainable "end goal" and a path to meet that goal.
Once the plan is established, I believe in working with the student individually, or in small group. These sessions are important, because they provide a quiet, anxiety-free setting for the student, while enabling me to track progress across important abilities such as phonemic awareness and overall comprehension.
Teaching Style
I attempt to increase student self-esteem in my teaching style, promoting trust through clear communication. Students differ across cultural, financial and personality traits. Accepting and respecting these differences is key to providing each child with the best possible education. I’ve learned to develop respect and trust through clear communication of expectations, establishment of boundaries, positive reinforcement and encouraging students to provide feedback. I also work to increase student self-esteem and sense of achievement. As a martial arts instructor, I’ve developed the skills to ensure that even the meekest child can become a leader. I achieve this progress through a disciplined environment and through the use of formal recognition, which increases each student’s sense of accomplishment.