Experience Summary
While earning my bachelor's degree from Brown University, I taught middle school math and upper school English for two summers at Cushing Academy. My students varied widely in terms of previous experience and motivation, and I strove to approach each at his or her level and to think of each of them as individuals, never just a member of a homogeneous classroom. Last year, I taught middle school music at the Dana Hall School; some of my students had never played an instrument or sung in a choir, while others had years of experience. From this experience I greatly improved my ability to work with middle schoolers. I also tutored adults preparing for the GRE. The math section of this test covers primarily algebra and geometry, and my experience at Cushing had prepared me to find an approach to each subject suited to the student.
Teaching Style
I believe the key to good teaching is understanding the subject from the student's perspective. As a teacher, it is easy to take for granted certain assumptions and prior knowledge that a student may lack. Each student brings a unique approach and starting point to the learning experience. The teacher's job is to find that starting point and lead the student from there to a place of deeper understanding and knowledge. If a student struggles to understand something, the teacher has probably "skipped a step" somewhere, and omitted some piece of the puzzle that the student does not yet have. When that happens, the teacher should go back to a place of mutual understanding and take smaller steps, being careful to take nothing for granted. My teaching style is especially well suited to a tutoring environment. With a single student, there is all the time I need to find and empathize with the student's point of view, and then develop the surest path to greater understanding.